Exhibited at the Kingston Contemporary Open Exhibition in 2007.
Purchased by John Lewis Partnership, Kingston, 2007 ( A1 block canvas).
John Lewis Partnership Foundations 1987 by Jenny Meehan
This available as part of an artist's signed and numbered edition on different substrates and in different sizes.
About this work......
This artwork was created from a photograph taken by me in 1987 as I walked over Kingston Bridge, and shows the foundations of the John Lewis building in Kingston- Upon-Thames, Surrey. It celebrates the positive and inspiring vision of partnership which John Spedan Lewis brought into reality within his own work, in his own lifetime, and now beyond that. As I looked at the company website and learnt about what he had done, I found a real pioneering spirit at work, and it inspired me to create this piece.
The involvement of John Lewis with the arts in the borough is also very much something to celebrate, and for this reason I specifically created this piece for the Kingston Contemporary Open Exhibition in 2007. It was selected for the exhibition, and purchased by Cliff Vanstone on behalf of John Lewis Partnership PLC.
In the image you see two men at work – a distance apart, but still with common aim. In many organisations today, the individuals desire to work together, whatever their relative status, is what will eventually result in constructive changes and these of course do not only come from the top but happen at many levels; people with faith and vision will carry on working even if the end result is not in sight!
The image is quite deliberately printed onto canvas – photographs on canvas might be considered “not real art” but the reality is that for an increasingly large number of individuals and companies today this is the way they will experience the visual arts in their own setting and this is no bad thing – value and status are not the same thing.
If an image makes life just a tiny bit brighter, more interesting, and stimulates thought and emotion, creates space for memory or vision, then it is well worth the effort and is a valuable kind of art.
With all the new building going on in Kingston, I really liked the idea of bringing forward an image from the past and representing it in a modern way; digital photography has completely transformed photography as an art form…it has now so much more in common with painting. But, this change has not destroyed its history, which is why I have manipulated it in a way to accentuate bright “paint” like areas and yet at the same time accentuated the grain present in the original negative. The presence of the past form is still very much felt, and while it is easy to tend to resist new developments, it is possible, with careful consideration, to have a good balance which works as a whole.
"Years Go By - John Lewis Partnership Foundations 2010" Jenny Meehan 2010
Created for the John Lewis Art Prize Competition 2010
IIf you would like to purchase a copy of the above work please contact me.
I am very happy to produce a signed one for you. It can be made in a variety of sizes and printed on many different substrates. Please email me; j.meehan@tesco.net for more information on pricing. Also, see the photography section for more information on editions.
