Art Works > Selected Works.1983-87. Gerry Gleason.

Quite often images come from memories of different periods of one's life and coalesce into a definitive image at a given time. The title came from a childhood memory of attending the Curzon Cinema on the Ormeau Road,where Rocket Man,dressed in strange attire,with a rocket on his back, was serialised each Saturday, this is not to trivialise what the work is about
This became a metaphor for the use of improvised mortars used during the Troubles,which at times could miss their intended target and hit communitiies beyond.
The image has several layers,the rocket could be a round tower used,they say,in the past as a place of refuge and lookout post.
It also has the shape of a rubber bullet (much sought after as a tourist momento at a later date) or the mortar itself.
The figure is covered by crosses for lives lost in the Troubles and embedded collage at its base to show a human presence.