Fionn Wilson

It’s possible, and I think healthy too, to believe in something but also be able to be critical of it. I’m a socialist, but I think it’s fair to say that ‘the Left’, as the general voice we hear, is not in a great position right now. Something that particularly worries me is the issue of free speech (George Orwell: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”) It seems as if an increasing number of people on the Left are now in favour of ‘no-platforming’ or ‘cancelling’ anyone proposing views which are in real (or supposed) ideological opposition to them. I’m surprised that there aren’t more artists/creative people expressing concern over this. Free speech is now an issue being taken up by the Right (albeit in an opportunistic manner) — meanwhile the Left looks like it’s losing itself in an obsession with identity politics and semantics and a kind of po-faced humourlessness, all the while disregarding what was once its main focus but has become the elephant in the room — class.

I was brought up a Catholic and went to a state comprehensive school run by nuns. My parents had split up and my early-teenage years weren’t easy as my mum struggled to bring me and my sister up on a student nurse’s wage. We were able to find accommodation in a housing association — Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ policy hadn’t yet decimated social housing. I was around 13 years-old when I learned about socialism and communism at school in History lessons and I was fascinated by Lenin (whilst being aware that Stalin wasn’t so great). It was a time when I was filled with youthful optimism regarding the Left and I became less interested in God and more interested in how politics might be able to make a fundamental difference to my life and the lives of others. I remember going to Revolutionary Community Party meetings and talking about issues such as abortion — hearing very apposite views compared to what we were being taught at school.

My current disappointment with the Left often feels like a hurt. But there are still left-wing figures and individuals who I admire and/or find intriguing — who for various reasons seem to be positioned outside of the mainstream Left. I’ve chosen to paint some of these people and I think this makes for a series of portraits representing a very interesting mix. Bob Crow was one of the great union leaders — he was the general secretary of the RMT (one of the most powerful unions in the UK) until his sudden death in 2014. James Heartfield is an ex-RCP member, writer (see The Blood-Stained Poppy and The European Union and the End of Politics) and historian. Dennis Skinner is a former Labour MP who will forever be associated with the Miners’ Strike, one of the hardest-fought industrial disputes in British history. Tariq Ali is a writer (see The Dilemmas of Lenin), historian and activist, who came to prominence in the sixties. All of these figures support/have supported leaving the EU. The Left has a long history of euroscepticism (see particularly the late Tony Benn speaking about the EU — there are many videos of him doing so on YouTube).

I’ve also painted the founder of Momentum Jon Lansman and Italian left communist Mauro Stefanini.

I’m an artist, not a political theorist, and the Left is complicated — it’s very divided (another huge problem, I think) and its different factions often very difficult to navigate. In my portraits of people associated with the Left, I’ve also tried to ensure that the person comes through — beyond the politics that make them interesting.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, I recommend you look at artist Alice Neel’s paintings from the thirties (see Alice Neel: Paintings from the Thirties, Wayne Koestenbaum).

I have two portraits (of Bob Crow (see below) and a painting of former Labour MP Dennis Skinner (Dennis Skinner at Pleasley Pit (2017)) in the public collection of the Marx Memorial Library:

www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk

#painting #portraits #portraiture #socialism #figurativeart #figurativepainting #art #acrylicpainting #politics #leftwing #bobcrow #jamesheartfield #dennisskinner #tariqali