Mr Keith Richards is part of my collection of Tactile Portraits ‘ I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM’.
The exhibition will be seen at River House Barn Art Centre, Walton on Thames 17th – 28th Feb.
I have to say first and foremost that I am not a great fan of the Rolling Stones. The reason I chose to include Mr Richards in my collection is because I had read about his library, love of books and his passion for naval history. Not long afterwards I saw a photograph of him in the papers, he looked so happy, was clearly having fun and I thought he looked great.
I bought his book ‘Life’ and it gave me a wonderful insight into the man. He talked in detail about his life, his love of music and books. I felt he had a great depth about him and it was for this reason I chose to paint a tactile portrait of him.
Mr Richards lives in America and he has a house near Chichester, only a few miles from where I live. However, I knew it would be impossible to arrange an interview, let alone take my own photograph of him, so I decided to work from the photograph in the newspaper. I tried in vain to find the name of the photographer. In the end, I decided that I would go ahead and just make the copy. If he or she should ever recognise the image, I am more than happy to acknowledge them.
A friend who is a great fan of the Stones asked me if I would love to meet Mr Richards. Of course I would, even more so, if I could see him in the library whilst he listened to Mozart.