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

N.Ireland Troubles. Conflict.
'Rocket Man'.
by
Gerry Gleason.
1986.
Mixed Media on Paper.
133.5x78.5cm.

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.