The painting reads from right to left, the lonely bicycle lost and abandoned in the city. Or so, it appears. Carefully locked to the railings, it retains its saddle and looks like a cycle should. The only suggestion of neglect is the flat tyres. Maybe that’s the reason it’s for its abandonment and the owner fully intends to claim his property? Or maybe not.
The picture is full, a tiny glimpse of sky in the top left but such is the dreary colour, that it could be more buildings. It’s hard to see otherwise.
Manchester’s city street is crowded, with details everywhere. Two buses come towards us, adorned with advertising. The details are lost in translation through the painting process. On the central island, two figures are lost in the details, obscured by railings, posts and shadows. Is a figure on the left wearing a rucksack or is it the building behind? We can’t even see the head of the right hand person. The bus markings fuse with the body to give an impression of a cartoon head. An unintentional consequence but a common occurrence with my painting process. I often find figures blend into backgrounds in my paintings. At first I used to take pains to differentiate them, but I’ll leave them be now.
Cities can be anonymous places where people feel lost and at sea. We see the places and the architecture, but the people change. It’s easy to feel lost in a city, to go about without speaking to anybody all day. Unless you go into a shop. And even then it depends where you are.
Where I grew up. It was commonplace to talk to people and to say hello in the street, even if you didn’t know them. Moving south to Oxford and then later moving to London, I found a complete contrast. Eye contact was avoided and a reluctance to pass small pleasantries. I’m reluctant to reinforce a stereotype, but on the rare occasions or have been greeted or someone has responded to me, I usually find a person who’s visiting from up north somewhere.
Back to our painting, even the street signs suggest we head left. And looking at the first bus we see number is 000, it’s out of service! This bus is heading nowhere.
Lost and abandoned in the city is predominantly blue/black with patches of brown. A few spots of vibrant colour lift and otherwise drab seen. The yellow sign and spots of yellow on the buses. The red phone box and logo under the Bank Chambers sign and spots of yellow and red on the buses.
Amid the confusion, we almost miss the sunshine. For it’s a sunny day, with dark shadows cast by the lampposts, railings and bike falling on the tarmac. The railings forming a barrier which divides the painting into an empty foreground and the crowded city street beyond. Regular geometric lines contrasting with frenetic paintwork and the fusion of shapes and colours.
