Syd

Posted on by
Syd

Syd

Syd Barrett 2007
With references to songs from
the first Pink Floyd album
‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’
Composition based on ‘Portrait of a Man’
by The Master of St Gudule
in the National Gallery, London
Artist’s collection

For a moment there

Posted on by
For a Moment There

For a Moment There

For a Moment There 2012

‘The Concert’, a painting by Sir Peter Lely c.1665, is a picture I greatly admire. It features musicians and has been described as being about artistic inspiration.

‘For a Moment There’ borrows from Lely’s original composition and introduces a modern scenario, which alludes to inspiration gained in the year when psychedelia percolated into English popular music, most notably with the Beatles album ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

A Victorian poster, acquired by John Lennon and which led to his song ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite’, leans against a piano. The unidentified female figure on the right represents the muse, with John looking to her as if in sudden realisation of an answer. A colourful scene seeps into the tent, with Derek Taylor looking on to remind everybody that the show is about to begin.

On 25 June 1967 the first ever-worldwide television link-up was broadcast, with the English contribution being the Beatles performing “All You Need is Love”. In the painting Paul McCartney is depicted in a similar attitude to the one in which he appeared on that occasion.

1967 was the year when, for a moment there, the promise of a better time for everyone seemed fleetingly possible.