The Battle Outside Rages (2020), depicts a 1960’s London apartment block constructed from concrete, whilst its architecture is in a ‘Brutalist’ manor the slight colour variations in the decoration interested me and showed the local authority may have tried to brighten up its austere appearance. However, this powder puff façade could not hide the overbearing sense of decay and poverty. The source image highlighted to me the feeling thousands of people have been experiencing over the last few months of Covid-19 lockdown and the inability for many to access green space and gardens, the sense of feeling trapped, restrained and restricted. This feeling is heightened in this kind of architecture due to its very nature, the walkway railings like bars of a prison and the cold materials hark back to darker days of our history.
The painting simplifies the lines and tones but tries to brighten the context. We are still in the grip of the pandemic, trust, optimism, and clarity are still in short supply, the barriers that are there to protect us also restrain us. Outside the fight goes on…
Michael Palmer 