MEDIUM: Pastel
SIGNATURE: Signed ‘Braaq’ (lower right)
DIMENSIONS: (framed) 10 x 12 inches (20 x 38.48 cm)
Like with the majority of his oeuvre, in ‘The Big Match’ Shields has created a very atmospheric work, depicting the somewhat bleak weather on a typical weekend afternoon in Northern England. The low horizon line allows the heavy, polluted skies and industrial fog to dominate the scene of a football match, which would normally take centre stage and yet here takes up less than half the image. The void of empty space created by the oppressive sky and the bright green pitch in the foreground mean that all of the action unfolds along the horizontal of the painting, distorting any sense of natural perspective, a technique which Braaq used often.