Painted in the washed out colours of memory The Danger In Jazz initially seems as threatening as a 1950s musical backdrop. But this is no Fred Astaire gig. Rather it’s taken from a video still of Lionel Ritchie’s performance at the 1984 Olympic Games.
The Danger in Jazz is one of a series of paintings depicting the ceremonies of the 1980 Moscow Olympics (boycotted by the Americans), and the 1984 LA Olympics (boycotted by the Eastern Block). Beneath the pop-gloss nostalgia for the 1980’s lays a subterfuge often omitted: a Cold War battle for ideological supremacy, where pop music and sporting events were staged propaganda.