Capturing the pain of losing

10:16am Thursday 15th May 2008

THEY say the winner takes all, but artist Chris Gollon is attempting to redress that balance with his latest colourful work: an unusual study of the Henley Royal Regatta about the pain of defeat.

Commissioned last summer by the River & Rowing Museum, Gollon At Henley contrasts the devastation of the losing crew with a vibrant regatta crowd, which appears indifferent to the crew's anguish.

"What I hope people will take away from this is that losers should be given a bit more thought. Some people only lose by a foot, which is nothing really but makes all the difference between getting a medal and nothing at all."

Chris Gollon

Chris was inspired to create Gollon At Henley after visiting the event last year and learning only one team wins the regatta race. Those that come second or third place do not even receive a medal.

He explains: "I was fascinated by the fact that the losers don't get any kind of recognition. When you look at other paintings of the regatta, they never really show this.

"They are always quite colourful and happy, but I wanted to show something else."

The Surrey-based artist tells me he "likes things a little on the darker side, but with humour" and lists a host of artists who have inspired his work over the years, including Germans Otto Dix and Max Beckman, as well as Stanley Spencer and Pablo Picasso.

Chris' own artwork, which has helped established him today as one of Britain's leading contemporary artists, almost always looks at human emotion and drama.

It was in fact one of his other recently commissioned pieces, 14 Stations Of The Cross, which he completed for the Church of England, that first prompted the River & Rowing Museum to contact him.

Chris tells me: "Paul Mainds, chief executive of the museum, had seen 14 Stations Of The Cross and noticed the way I had composed the crowds around the crucifixion.

"That whole project is nearly all human emotion and about relationships. Paul thought I could translate something similar on the theme of the regatta."

Chris began creating Gollon At Henley nearly a year ago, after taking more than 300 photograph's at last summer's event. He worked initially with sketches and silkscreen prints of the photographs, before developing his ideas for the final version.

He reveals: "On my first work-up, I actually had all the girls sympathising with the losers, who appear limp and heavy. But then I came to realise that many people, after watching the regatta, actually just go back to drinking their Pimm's.

"If you look at the final version, the four girls, who are far more colourful than the dejected rowers, actually have quite different emotions.

"One has sympathy, another doesn't seem to care for the race and the other two are perhaps more interested in themselves than anything going on around them."

Chris adds: "What I hope people will take away from this is that losers should be given a bit more thought. Some people only lose by a foot, which is nothing really but makes all the difference between getting a medal and nothing at all."

Now Gollon At Henley will go on display until July at the River & Rowing Museum, alongside a selection of his photographs, sketches and silk prints for the commission. The exhibition will later tour the USA, before the main piece returns for permanent display.

Gollon At Henley runs at the River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, until Sunday, July 6. Details: 01491 415600 or www.rrm.co.uk