"TRUE NORTH" by Attila Richard Lukacs

The installation piece "True North" by Attila Richard Lukacs consists of four life-size portraits of British youths in their Doc Martens boots, jeans and Fred Perry shirts. The piece is painted in a genre reminiscent of Gainsborough & Stubbs, and explores how these boots have been co-opted by middle-class youth who yearn to emulate the skinhead style. Besides the four portraits, the installation contains a large steel table on which a casement encompasses the clothing and boots worn by the boys in the portraits.

The piece speaks of the advertising and propaganda of the eighties that catapulted the Doc Martens boot into cult status. Doc Martens boots were originally English workmen boots. Through neat packaging and marketing aimed at the consuming middle-class they have become a fashion statement. These portraits could be construed as slick advertisements for this product.

True North has been exhibited in New York, Toronto, and Banff and is currently being offered from a private collection.