Al Atkinson - From the Labyrinth
[ Private View - Wednesday 5th December 2001]
Bridlesmith Gate Gallery, Waterstones Bookshop, Nottingham to 25th Jan 2002.

From my early days at Mansfield College of Art in 1977, through Clarendon College and beyond, Al has always been there. One of those Nottingham characters who just keeps on turning up, time and time again. He was head of printmaking at Mansfield for years, but retired like the best of them, disillusioned with the current 'bums on seats' approach to art education. Like all of the lecturers I have respected, he was more than just a teacher, but a practicing artist in his own right.

Private View pics

It's been twenty one years since I last saw Al's mixed-media works, with their meticulous silk-screened panels, and I was certain that some old faces would show up at the private view in the Bridlesmith Gate Gallery at Waterstones Bookshop in Nottingham.

Riff and I turned up after work, armed with a 'glass fist' (digital camera) "I see you've brought your minder" said Al glancing up at Riff's six foot, two inch frame. Whilst making our way through the collection of small crafted boxes and large wooden panels, we bumped into Pete Bench our old Clarendon mentor. We reminisced about college days, filling in the blanks of the intervening years. John Spence also put in a brief appearence earlier that evening. but we missed him due the Christmas gridlock which delayed me by almost an hour.

Shrine Box: Mountain 1998

Al's deep, gravel-like voice was wrecked by the end of the show, though he still managed to talk about his work. He said the assembled pieces were the result of ten years work, confirming that none of them were for sale.
I was particularly attracted by a pair of wooden constructions that looked as if they had been burned. Al explained how they alluded to Dante's Inferno, adding that the metal parts were taken from a burned out car he discovered in Lambley. "Nowt to do with me, mind!" he quipped.

On leaving the show, I tried to imagine this sixty year old joy-rider hotwiring a neighbour's car in the middle of the night, so that he could join the boy racers who cruise around Mount Street Car Park.

Atkinson's Inferno

Gangster rap blasting from customised Vauxhaul Novas would sound very conservative compared with Al's particular taste in folk music. No doubt he would give the Nova-boys a real run for their money, head back to the quiet country lanes of Lambley, torch the car and return the next day for fresh supply of art materials.