Art

In the centre of this Yorkshire city you will find The Winter Gardens and connected with that large, modern glasshouse you soon find yourself in The Millennium Galleries. I had heard that there was a new exhibition there based upon "Football Art Prize" entries so I went there to check it out.

This is what the gallery blurb said by way of explanation:-

The Football Art Prize makes a welcome return to Sheffield to celebrate the passion, drama and unity the beautiful game inspires around the globe.

Coinciding with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Prize showcases the work of over 60 UK and international artists. See the heartfelt highs and lows on the pitch, the players that give it their all, and the dedication of the loyal fans who follow them, captured through a striking array of painting, drawing, photography, film and video.

I love football and I love art so what a great combination for me. Some of the exhibits were just so-so and I didn't think much of the overall winning piece - a video on a loop showing an Asian woman doing "keep-uppies" with a football.

My favourite exhibit by far was the picture of the French international midfielder N'Golo Kante shown at the top of this blogpost. It is not a photograph. It is a charcoal drawing by self-taught Kanmi Olukanni who said that the picture was inspired by Kante's man-of-the-match performance for Chelsea in The UEFA Champions League Cup Final of 2021. The picture has glass protection so I am sorry about the reflections. I tried my best.

Here are four more exhibits that caught my eye:-

From the top... the first one is a photograph of some boys playing football on a huge landfill site  in  Sylhet, Bangladesh. It is where they work, making tiny amounts of money from recycling other people's waste. The lad in the middle of the group is wearing an Argentina shirt.

The second item is an oil painting of a night game at Upton Park in London - the former home of West Ham United. Shirley and I once saw Hull City play The Hammers there. The painting is called, "Upton Park Days". It reminded me of standing on the Bunker's Hill Terrace at Hull City's old ground - Boothferry Park.

The third item is another photograph. It shows an artificial football pitch in a remote coastal location to the north east of Greenland. The photographer found the contrast between harsh terrain and a familiar field design appealing. By the way, has Trump grabbed Greenland yet as he once threatened to do?

Lastly it's an acrylic painting of the tough Irish midfielder - Roy Keane. It's after his football career has finished. The painter, Kyle King-Jagger has put him in a sandwich shop and titled the painting, "Roy's Rolls". Roy appears to be selling prawn sandwiches which he once derided as the halftime food choice of football club board members.

After visiting the exhibition, I sat in Tudor Square for half an hour and drank cold water from my flask while reading the book I am grinding my way through at present. I will tell you about when I'm done. Then I bought two T-shirts from "Blacks" on The Moor before catching a bus home. 

Earlier I had walked all the way into the city centre. That takes forty five minutes from our house. But the weather was fine and I had the time so why not?

Inside Sheffield's Winter Gardens earlier today