I’ve followed the ups and downs, mostly downs I must say, of Middlesbrough Football club for as long as I can remember. When I was a child I lived within a quarter of a mile of Ayresome Park, the Boro’s old ground, a stadium that has now been superseded by The Riverside Stadium. My father had a part-time job as a gateman, then counting the cash takings and then as a steward so it’s fair to say that the club is definitely my blood if not my DNA. Some of my prints were inspired by squad numbers, the town, the players and some of the more exotic foreign players that have pulled on the blood red shirt. In the print below a Premiership player has a coffee break on his allotment, the allotment number is his squad number, meanwhile his Jack Russell Terrier tries to cadge a piece of his ginger biscuit and cake, a somewhat bizarre scenario. In the background is the typical Teesside industrial landscape, something every Teessider knows because it means home.
Paul Ince’s allotment. Linocut in eight colours printed on 300gsm Fabriano Artistico Extra White HP in an edition of twenty. Image size 260mm x 440mm. £150.00
John Richardson Lino Prints 