About this Event
Premiered at the Barbican Centre in 2024, and subsequently in New York in 2025, this documentary gives a fascinating insight into the work of British painter Chris Gollon (1953 -2017).
“Easel painting has been declared dead pretty much since easel painting has existed, but at a time when most people relate to imagery through film, painters must find new ways to relate their work to people.” Chris Gollon (2014)
The film takes a fresh look at Chris Gollon's pioneering use of music, how lyrics from Bob Dylan, and collaborations with musicians Thurston Moore, Yi Yao and Eleanor McEvoy, helped him keep painting alive at a time when it was unfashionable. Via found footage and BBC archive clips we get to know the artist as he disarmingly reveals his creative process and innovative painting techniques. Moving montages of Gollon’s images, combined with music by The Skids, Gavin Bryars, Sleaford Mods, Yi Yao and Eleanor McEvoy, give an insight into how Gollon fused the two, and how one energised or changed the other.
The film not only shows Gollon’s empathy when depicting women, but also how his androgynous figures express a powerful common humanity. Thurston Moore, Yi Yao and Eleanor McEvoy reminisce about their musical collaborations with Gollon, with writers Nick Soulsby and Philip Clark adding insight and perspectives on these collaborations. Maggi Hambling CBE, Sara Maitland and art historians Tamsin Pickeral, Wilfrid Wright and Mary Rose Beaumont discuss the ongoing interest in Gollon’s imagery, since his untimely death in 2017, and its importance to us in the 21st century.
The screening will be followed by a short Q&A with the film’s Director Mark Calderbank, David Tregunna, Trustee, Chris Gollon Estate, and art historians Tamsin Pickeral and Wilfrid Wright.
‘Magdalene at the Base of the Cross’: for the duration of Lent, which includes Women’s History Month, Gollon’s painting ‘Magdalene at the Base of the Cross’ is on loan to the Cathedral, installed in front of the High Altar. The painting formed part of the artist’s national touring exhibition to English cathedrals ‘Incarnation, Mary and Women from the Bible’ (2014 – 2016). Prior to screening Reverend Canon Kathryn Fleming, Canon Precentor of Southwark Cathedral, and Reverend Dr Julie Gittoes, Vicar of St Mary’s & Christ Church, Area Dean of Barnet, will say a few words about this painting, and the relevance of Chris Gollon’s imagery to Women’s History Month.
Chris Gollon (1953 -2017) was a London-born artist who exhibited widely in the UK. His work is held in public collections including the British Museum. In 1998, Gollon exhibited at the Chisenhale Gallery with Yoko Ono, David Bowie and Gavin Turk in ‘ROOT’, an exhibition of contemporary music and art created by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. In 2004, Gollon exhibited in St Paul’s Cathedral, with Bill Viola, Maggi Hambling and Tracey Emin in ‘Presence: Images of Christ for the Third Millennium’. In 2008, his ‘Fourteen Stations of the Cross’––in which he controversially used his own son as the model for Jesus–– were permanently installed in the Grade I listed Church of St John on Bethnal Green, designed by Sir Soane. Blessed by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, they subsequently inspired Sara Maitland’s book ‘Stations of the Cross’ (Bloomsbury, London & New York, 2009). In 2009, Gollon was made a Fellow and First Artist in Residence at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, working with some of the world’s leading thinkers on the Being Human project. In 2018, Romsey Abbey purchased and permanently installed Gollon’s ‘St Ethelflaeda Diptych’. During Advent 2025, Chris Gollon’s large canvas ‘Virgin & Child’ was re-installed in Guildford Cathedral, on loan from the Chris Gollon Estate.
Refreshments will be available to purchase before the event starts.
Certificate: 15
Run time: 85 minutes
View trailer: https://player.vimeo.com/video/945886743?h=e9290cf106&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge, London, United Kingdom
GBP 5.28
