BHF and CCA Galleries collaborating at Art London

With the recent news that the British Heart Foundation will be taking a stand alongside CCA at Art London in October this year. I thought it would be pertinent to write some pieces about the stories behind the beautiful images in the Breath of Life portfolio that they will be displaying.

Just to inform any new visitors, CCA are helping the BHF to raise funds for their Mending Broken Hearts Apeal through an ongoing art project. In April we unveiled the Breath of Life portfolio of 15 original limited edition silkscreen prints by a unqiue group of leading British artists based on the theme of mending broken hearts. All profits from the sale of these pieces will go to the BHF. Each artwork in the portfolio (the artworks can be purchased individually or as a set) has a special story behind it.

I thought I would start with Duggie Fields' Madonna and Heart, one of the boldest and most daring images in the portfolio. I have to say that Duggie has been the most wonderful artist to work with; he agreed to be involved with the project with alacrity and has always gone out of his way to be supportive of the BHF's brilliant work, as well as being constantly charming and fun. I did not realise until well into the project that Duggie had very personal reasons for wanting to help, reasons which he is happy to share in order to raise awareness,

' I was very happy to be given the opportunity to contribute to the Mending Broken Hearts Art Appeal. My Father died of heart disease in the late 1960s so I am very aware of the devastating effect of it on peoples' lives. To make a contribution towards lessening it's impact on others was irrestistable, and it was also a great group of artists to be included with.'

It is always nerve-wracking going to meet an artist for the first time, especially when they are as cool as Duggie and double-especially when you are going to ask them to do a project for charity (most major artists receive dozens of these sorts of requests every week!). I manages to find Duggie's flat in a llovely red brick mansion block in Earl's Square. He has lived here since the mid 1960s when he was flatmates with Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd (did I mention he is pretty cool?). Stepping into the flat is like stepping into another world: Duggie World, and it is infintely more colourful, eccentric and surprising than the grey London streets outside. The flat is Duggie's studio as well as his home, and every room has been lovingly transfomed over the years to reflect his artistic vision; walls are painted and hung with his pieces, bright and beautiful mannequins are dotted about the place,  even some of the furniture has been created by Duggie. As we sit and have a cup of tea he tells me how even now- 40 years on- Pink Floyd fans still randomly turn up at his door hoping to see the place where Syd lived and strummed. What was Syd's room is now Duggie's main studio space. Although he does a lot of digital artwork on his computer in the sitting room, he still retains a large place in his heart- and a large amount of time- for his works on canvas. Duggie likes to work on a large scale and his paintings can take up to 6 months to complete.

Madonna and Heart is in Duggie's flamboyant signature hard-edged post-pop art style, which he describes as 'MAXIMAList'. I think the piece is particularly powerful because of the contrast between the contemporary and severe linear style with the traditional and sentimental subject matter. As is often the case with Duggie's work the choice of imagery could be considered controversial (his images of both Princess Diana and Michael Jackson have caused a stir in the past); removing the infant Jesus from this Catholic iconography and replacing him with an anatomical heart (perhaps suggesting that the body should be treated as a temple, or that health has replaced god in popular culture?). The bright palatte and dramatic lines of the piece give it a lot of impact on the wall, and it's certainly one of my top picks from the portfolio. Duggie also created a one-off digital print on canvas of Madonna and Heart which stands nearly 2 meters tall, and will be on display at a central London location in 2011- watch this space for more news.

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