Brian Barnes (artist)

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Brian Barnes (born 20 August 1944) is an English artist. He was educated at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design from 1961-1966 and the Royal College of Art 1966-1969. Based in Battersea, London since 5th February 1967, Barnes is noted for colourful, large-scale murals in Battersea and the London area, designed in collaboration with local groups. His most famous mural is The Good the Bad and The Ugly, also known as The Battersea Mural, at Battersea Bridge Road, designed in 1976 and painted by a group of local people from 1976 to 1978. The 276ft mural was demolished in 1979 by the Morgan Crucible Company.

Other important murals include Seaside Picture, Thessaly Road (1979), Nuclear Dawn in Brixton (1981), the HG Wells mural, Market Square, Bromley (1986) Battersea in Perspective, Dagnall Street (1988), and the Violet Szabo mural in Stockwell (2001).

Barnes works as a print maker, in particular dealing with local campaigns and issues, and was also involved in the long-standing campaign to preserve Battersea Power Station. He founded the Battersea Power Station Community Group in 1983, to see that the listed building is preserved and that local people are involved in the redevelopment.

Brian Barnes was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2005 for services to the community in Battersea, London.

[edit] Thessaly Road mural

Reporter Jackie Law, South Western Star, June 15th 1979 wrote "The murals and the Message. Battersea artist Brian Barnes admits he is in a dilemma. After six months of working on a 600 square foot mural of Thessaly Rd locals at the seaside he doesn't know whether to carry on. The half finished portrait of bikini-clad people splashing around on the south coast was to be a constant reminder to the local community of how they can influence their environment and have fun.

It stands in an area of GLC open space donated to the community as the first project under the Vacant Land Programme designed to utilise much of London's vast wastelands for local people. Ironically, the driving force that got the project off the ground is also making 34 year old Brian consider packing it all in.

For it is not mere coincidence that the project, started in a wave of enthusiasm when the 4,000 square foot mural in Battersea Bridge Road was completed, crumbled after that magnificent work was recently destroyed.

Brian Barnes first thought of painting local people's views of their community on the Morgan Crucible wall in 1974.

He and his Wife Aileen and the Battersea redevelopment Action Group campaigned for a year to persuade the GLC to turn two sites into public parks. Inspired by that success, they noticed that the wall of the derelict factory was a perfect place to portray their and other people's views of Battersea to the considerable traffic using Battersea Bridge.

After applying to Morgans, the GLC and Wandsworth Council to paint a mural, they spent some two months preparing the wall- filling cracks and the like- and canvassing to get ideas from people all over Battersea. On August 14, 1976 work started. Then with a lot of support from hundreds of local people and a list of images to incorporate, painting continued until February 18, 1978. The following day Sir Hugh Casson, President of the Royal Academy of Art, unveiled the plaque, donating the work to Battersea people.

The picture was a peaceful campaign to improve Battersea by the people powerless to affect it through conventional methods - money. It also gave pleasure to countless others who saw simply a good, harmless and colourful picture in the midst of urban decay.

On the left of the mural one saw how Battersea could be. There were parksand trees, people working on allotments they wait 5 years for, a nurse cycling and a boy on a skateboard. Then, with Battersea Bus Garage opposite, they copied a red double decker, emphasising the dependency of local people on buses.

"Battersea relies on buses because there are no Tube stations, and we were saying Battersea should have a decent bus service," said Brian After the bus there was Kent machinery factory - actually situated to the right of Battersea Bridge - which Brian said was to symbolise local feeling for smaller industrial workshops. (That site has been the subject of a Public Inquiry which ruled that industry should stay). The swimming pool controversy was also depicted, as were direct works labourers building the Kambala Road estate. Brian said:" We thought the Council direct works department should be saved and that low rise housing with gardens are what local families want." Then the Vicarage Crescent playground was illustrated showing children having fun, emphasised by rainbow, swallows, daisies and girl with balloons. That, Brian said epitomised children and served to contrast strongly with "the horrors of the other side." Still moving from left to right the mural showed a broom symbolising local people sweeping away the recent developments in Battersea the artists didn't like. These included the Morgan's and Garton Glucose factories which Brian said symbolised "inner city, obsolete, large scale manufacturing." Beneath these were the Pooh Corner restaurant and Mr Toad of "Toad of Toad Hall" which, Brian said, represented reaction to the Chelsea spillover. The Mickey Mouse caricature which brought with it problems from the Walt Disney copyright owners, was feedback from the days when the Forte Group had plans to change Battersea Park into a Disneyland. Then the Wandsworth Mural Workshop's angry broom swept away Wandsworth Chief planning Officer, Mike Tapsell, across an image of the Doddington tower block estate. Brian said this image along with Department of Environment blocks was" a symbol of the attitudes of the people who have power to influence community life." The Heliport in Lombard road is also swept away in the form of a red helicopter, as does the Swan pub in Battersea Church Road and its neighbouring luxury flats. In Brian's words, " Flames are the logical conclusion to a pile of old rubbish so we made a big bonfire to burn it." Those flames can still be seen on the only intact section of wall. And burning in their midst are Liz Brewer, who, at the time, attracted London's most affluent people to the exclusive nightclub in Battersea Square, and a white Rolls-Royce. Brian said: " We didn't like what was happening, the Rolls-Royce belongs to Richard Harris who owns a lot of Battersea. When some people from Bennett's daubed paint over our picture of Liz brewer we painted her again."

The final section, painted after the mural was officially opened shows Wandsworth Council's four, most influential members. At the time Dennis Mallam was leader of the Tory Council, Christopher Chope was chairman of the Housing Committee, Michael Chartris, chairman of the Establishment and General Purposes Committee and Maurice Heaster, Charman of the Town Planning committee. Known as the Gang of Four they were depicted running away from the raging flames.

Maybe Brian Barnes, an internationally respected artist is also running away. The fact that Morgan's could flex their mighty muscle and destroy the mural at 3am last Wednesday 6/6/79 proves the message of the mural. As a pretty picture it could change nothing. As the victim of the power and motive of money it makes a strong and valid point to all people in Battersea. The point could be capitalised on and exploited to make the Thessaly Road mural inspiration for greater efforts from local people to better Battersea as they see fit.