I loved meeting Noel Gallagher to film his thoughts on the painter L. S. Lowry.
We filmed in the upstairs of Grouchos – this living legend sunk into an armchair, wearing his black leather jacket and a big red ruby ring. I knew Noel likes Lowry, he really relates to him as a Northerner, he likes Lowry’s football crowds, he likes Lowry’s “mad eyes”, and he likes Lowry’s little dogs. In this unseen clip from our archive Noel wonders what Lowry would do with a Northern town today, the factories are all dead, textile industries closed down, there are no people. Crowds are gone…a bit like today.
Luckily they’re in Lowry’s paintings forever and in my film. Have a look…
During lockdown I’ve been painting the empty streets of London, with the sound of birdsong and sirens for company. No crowds. I remembered shooting my film about painter L.S Lowry, going out and reconstructing his paintings with my camera. I shot crowds on long lenses in train stations, skating rinks, parks, in the snow, shopping centres and rainy football stadiums. Ian McKellen responds to Lowry’s crowds in this amazing unseen clip – he totally gets the theatricality of Lowry’s work. I hope you’ll enjoy these sneak peaks from the archive which I’ll be releasing, featuring people who were inspired by L.S. Lowry, like artist Dame Paula Rego – his pupil at the Slade, Christopher Bailey’s Lowry Collection for Burberry and the one and only Noel Gallagher. Lowry marked out every character in the crowd with his paintbrush and placed them into his own unique world. You may not be able to get into the galleries right now, but his crowds are here now – enjoy!
My paintings of empty streets are on Instagram @margy_kinmonth
