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The love of going to the game - Brought to your home
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The beautiful game
Inventing the game and being the most influential nation in the evolution of football, England, with early innovation from Scotland in its developments, helped create what we now refer to as; ‘the Beautiful Game’.
By 1905, early footage of a game between league champions Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers showed that football had become the entertainment for the working classes, with crowds of up to 30,000.
It became ‘the game of the people’ and in the 1923 FA Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham Utd, there were estimated to be around 300,000 at the game, or at least attempting to attend.
Passion for the Game – The Artist
Back in September 1982, Nick attended his first match at Burnden Park to watch his hometown team play Newcastle United –
“I was 8 years of age and can remember little snapshots of this game…. In the ‘embankment’, crowd swaying with deafening roars and chants, hints of Black and White everywhere, Keegan scoring a penalty and some sort of bottle missing my head by a few inches, outside the ground – I was hooked. The atmosphere was electric and I had felt a passion for something I’d never felt before. From then on I would regularly walk the 2 and a half miles or so to Burnden Park from Farnworth, with my Dad. Opting for the long way ‘round so we could walk down ‘Manny Rd’ to soak in the atmosphere. That, being part of something bigger, the excitement and anticipation, the hint of danger and the feeling of hope for your team – all encapsulated within that walk to the match”.
The 'Art' of Football
Through his love for Football and Painting, there seems to be a logical synergy – creating from passion.
Predominantly working in oils, Nick attempts to encapsulate that sometimes nervy, excited anticipation of walking to a game with the ground as a backdrop, acting as a place of worship.
He wants to find a ground between Fine Art Painting and Popular Culture.
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“for me, as I get a little older, I feel more open to a wider range of subject matter – much more open to producing works of art from the passion within me and not being concerned or swayed by the snobbery of the art world”.
NICK
TAYLOR
Contemporary Painter
Nick Taylor is a contemporary painter based in his hometown of Bolton in Lancashire.
After studying for a BA in Fine Art at the University of Sunderland, he began working as a mural artist for the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, after his work was seen by a representative at the degree show.
He later studied for a teaching degree and taught for 17 years at The Manchester College to sixth form and pre-degree foundation students,
In August 2022, Nick completed a staggering 100 paintings in a month for a self-directed ‘Plein air, Landscape painting’ project, which have been exhibited around the North West of England.