IF A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS By John Garrett, Sheffield United Football Club Historian
I used to love drawing and painting. I would sit and spend hours doodling away and colouring things in – mainly football players and mostly in red and white stripes. Football tends to attract its fair share of artists, some good and some decidedly average. Sheffield United Football Club Chairman David Green is very much an appreciator of a good painting.Through collecting pictures, he became an avid fan of the work of a Yorkshire artist Bob Barker. Now the thing with Bob, aside of masses of talent, is that he is what it says on the tin – a working class Yorkshire lad who found he could do a bit with a brush and paint. Bob certainly has a totally individual and thought-provoking style.Though born in Leeds, he has been in Bradford for many years, and that is where his studio is based. His pictures, to me anyway, evoke feelings of being northern – never a bad thing in my book – and he highlights the joy of situations and life with a hint of stark colour against an intentionally bleak canvas.The results are both beautiful and striking.
As a result Bob has become a very-sought after talent, indeed. His prints exchange hands for vast amounts, as do the sets and themes he produces – the original far, far more. Now, David got talking to Bob at the right time for both parties. The Football Club chairman wanted an image to illustrate Sheffield United and Bob wanted to look for a different angle – perfect! Bob’s eye for turning the different and decidedly unexpected into something both thought-provoking and special has really come to the fore here.“That’s My Goal” brings to life a view that many will have seen time and time again, yet it epitomises both Bramall Lane and the city, which it has served for so long. Portraying all of the things that make us so special that we seldom shout from the rooftops – the heritage and history of the contribution we have brought to the beautiful game.
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