John Lennon, the art vandal, makes it to city show

Jun 3 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

ONE of the pictures in a new exhibition by painter Yankel Feather isn’t quite perfect. In fact, it’s scratched.

It used to hang in the artist’s city nightclub, and it’s on display in the Liverpool Academy of Arts after being defaced by a musician who took offence after being told to stop bashing on the club’s piano.

“He was trying to play Roll Over Beethoven. It was John Lennon. He scratched the painting with his keys on the way out,” Feather laughs.

Feather, 88 this month, is full of such incredible stories.

The artist, who was born in Stanhope Street, in Toxteth, in 1920, became one of the leading lights of Liverpool’s arts scene despite no formal training.

He was one of the original members of the original Liverpool Academy (“probably the last one alive”), and is best friends with abstract artist Sir Terry Frost.

He now lives in Hove, but has come back to his old stomping ground for a special exhibition, Seeing Things, at the Liverpool Academy of Arts, in Seel Street, from today until June 20.

It is the first time his work has been seen in the city since 1960.

He said: “It’s lovely to come back to Liverpool.

“I never thought that the paintings would fill this space so well.”

He has completed more than 2,000 paintings in his lifetime, tending to work from memory.

Included in this exhibition are works inspired by old Liverpool dance halls, including the Toxteth Rialto.

“I paint all the time. I’m interested in people, and movement, and colour and dancing, and this is just a selection of what I do,” he said.

The idea for the exhibition came eight months ago when the artist was interviewed by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Roger Phillips, vice president of the Academy, who asked if he would ever have another exhibition in the city.

“I said only if someone made a fuss. I didn’t think they would!”

“Sometimes I think if this had all happened sooner, it would have killed me.”

June Lornie, director of the Liverpool Academy of Arts, said: “We are really delighted to have Yankel here. I remember Yankel when he had a nightclub here [The Basement, in Mount Pleasant], and although I didn’t know him then we have become great friends.

“The artwork is fabulous and speaks for itself.”

SEEING Things is at the Academy of Arts between 10pm and 4pm Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays by appointment.

vickyanderson