Another brilliant animation from ARTIST ON THE BORDER, this time featuring the Syd Barrett classic “Gigolo Aunt” premiered on the official Syd Barrett YouTube page just yesterday:
Douglas Arthur Peter Field was born on the 6th of August 1945. 18 months older than Syd Barrett, Duggie was an upcoming artist in London who blended the imagery of cartoons, fashion and advertising with Dalí and Mondrian. For all he learned at art school, however, Fields’ real education, and fame, came from the milieu of late 60s and 70s London, where he was a regular at parties, recognizable by his quiff and penchant for eyebrow makeup.
18 months older than Syd Barrett, Duggie Fields shared an Earl’s Court flat with Syd Barrett. He was an upcoming artist in London who blended the imagery of cartoons, fashion and advertising with Dalí and Mondrian. Syd and Duggie were artistically very different, but close to each other in other ways. Interestingly, the trenchcoat that we can see Syd wearing in the famous photo shoots from the flat was Duggie’s. Perhaps also an inspiration for the trench coat in the opening lyrics of Gigolo Aunt!
In 2016, Duggie painted a 80.3 x 95.3 inch acrylic canvas called “Study for Syd (No Use Trying)”. The image is based on an iconic Mick Rock photograph of Syd leaning against his Pontiac Parisienne. In typical Duggie fashion, Syd’s head is partially missing. A nod perhaps towards old Greek and Roman sculptures. Or to a far more personal experience of what Duggie saw happening to Syd in those years together.
Duggie Fields left us on March 7th, 2021.
ARTIST ON THE BORDER: It is a privilege to have been given the chance to collaborate directly with the Duggie Fields estate on this project. Conceptually Duggie’s art brings a well needed splash of colour to an otherwise suppressed, almost faded artistic project. Duggie’s art may remind us of the early days of computer graphics with sharp lines and colours on the verge of exploding. And that was my folly. I thought this one would be easy, but it was far from. Even with years of experience, modern software and a barrage of filters and gimmicks, one doesn’t just filter a Duggie Fields painting into existence. For “Gigolo Aunt” I carefully disassembled 25 of Duggie’s pieces so that the various objects could overlap and move independently. For each of these I had to create a template that maintained the sharp fidelity of Duggies brushwork. A process which takes time and numbs minds. Imagine staring into several multicoloured suns and you’ll get the impression.
Gigolo Aunt was released as the B-side opener on Syd Barrett’s second album “Barrett”. In 2000-2001 David Gilmour remastered and released the track officially on the 2001 compilation “Wouldn’t you Miss Me?” and again later on the 2010 compilation “An introduction to Syd Barrett”.
