Background

I was born and lived in London for most of my life. I am currently living in Stratford upon Avon (somewhere between Birmingham and Coventry).

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Education

Wood Green (White Hart Lane) School

Hornsey College of Art

Middlesex University

University of London (College of All Saints)

Central St Martin's School of Art

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Influences

Although I was born in a city (in a house that once belonged to Gracie Fields), I lived in dark, dank rooms above a barber's shop (from which the family were later evicted). The city seemed cramped, dirty dull. There were bomb shelters outside our door; and a Victorian railway station at each end of the road. Up the hill, Alexandra Palace - home of British TV - looked down on the neighbourhood and there was also the radio and cinema.

 

My mother took me to see 1940s Batman reels as soon as I could walk.

 

Whilst friends drew their houses with mummy, daddy and a garden, I drew blocks of flats.

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Over the years I have visited many cities, bringing back visions, memories and experiences.

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Or perhaps it was all one city....

Or perhaps I imagined it all...

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John F McCann