A couple of years ago I received a screen print of The Kiss kindly donated by Horace Panter from his Pop Art collection to help my bowel cancer fundraising. I'd contacted Horace's wife Clare to discuss the possibility of some kind of fundraising item, but I never thought that they would be so generous to send me one of these limited edition prints. The 8 colour silk-screen print on Colourset White 250gsm paper, and measures 36cm x 40cm (14"x16") Signed and numbered by Horace from a limited edition of 100, it was snapped up by Matt Downton with £200 raised for Beating Bowel Cancer, so my heartfelt thanks to him as well. Horace and Clare have been incredibly supportive of my fundraising, and on each occasion I have asked for help they have come through. I am ever so thankful for all their help.
I photographed Horace back in 2014 for the Lives & Times fundraising book, which has so far raised over £3750 for Beating Bowel Cancer / Bowel Cancer UK, and it's still available from my website www.bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk. My mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, and sadly passed away in 2016. All my fundraising is now dedicated in her memory. Bowel cancer claims 16,000 lives each year in the UK, and it is the second biggest cancer killer. However if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. More needs to bedone in helping to increase awareness and improve early detection rates of this awful disease.
Having met Horace and seeing his art close up I was so impressed that I ordered my own special print from his Cassette Editions. In the above example Horace recreated a blank tape I had from the 1980s and this takes pride of place in my house.
Born in Croydon in 1953, Horace graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Coventry’s Lanchester Polytechnic in 1975. It was there that he met Jerry Dammers, and together they formed The Specials, a band that went on to become one of the most defining British bands of the 1980s. He travelled the world (and its art galleries) as a musician and, from 1998-2008, was the ‘Head of Art’ in a secondary school. It was in 2008, when The Specials reformed, that he found he had the time to explore his own art practice. It's well worth taking a look at his website.
