:: 2018 :: 60cm x 45cm :: Acrylics, Inks and Markers on Canvas ::
This work has been six years in the making, and is the first in a new collaborative series with Andrew Follows, a partially-sighted Australian photographer who I've been friends with for many years. In 2012, he had a major exhibition at that year's Edinburgh Festival, and he took this as an opportunity to come over and visit. During the eight days he stayed with us, we visited the cities of Leeds, Bradford and York, and I got to see Andrew’s working methods close-up and in detail, as we wandered the streets with his guide dog Eamon.
One day in Leeds, we found some young parkouristas practising their acrobatics in front of the Leeds Art Gallery, and Andrew began to take lots of photographs of the action. However, the image that proved to be the most moving and remarkable was this photo of a parkourista deep in concentration just before a leap, preparing himself, getting ready. This image is the seed of our project – we called it ‘Ready Kid’ – and in 2018 Bruce produced a painting to demonstrate how the collaboration will work.
Ready Kid, Bruce Rimell, 2018
Ready Kid, Andrew Follows, 2012
