Inspired by Monty Python a founder of a Harrogate radio station reveals his surreal talent
The co-founder of a Harrogate radio station is winning plaudits for a new string to his bow.
Andrew Backhouse, who launched Harrogate Community Radio in 2019 with friends Stewart Thornton and Allan Smyth, is well known for a life led across a wide range of disciplines.
Over the last 20 years or more, he has contributed greatly to Harrogate’s ‘alternative cultural scene’.
Already a self-confessed “radio geek, field recordist and dub musician, the multi-talented creative type is also a web designer by day and an artist by night.
Such is the impact of his quietly beautiful but surreal digital collages, which tend to bring together the precision placement of figures, flowers and butterflies on a vertical but empty white background, that they have already been exhibited in Harrogate and Leeds.
As well as winning space in the annual Open Exhibition at Mercer Gallery, his artwork has also appeared at the launch event for Creative Harrogate.
Not bad for someone who started out with a science background at Plymouth University and taught English in China at one point.
Andrew said: “I first got into art after I fell ill on a trip to Borneo in 2004.
"Art was part of the process of recovering.
"My collages start when I trawl the internet for images in the public name.
"If there is a face in the collage, I always cover the eyes with a thick black line.
"I would say the biggest influences on my art have been Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and photographer and filmmaker Chris Marker who made the incredible La Jetée.”
As befits an operation with an ethos of being independent and advert-free, Andrew Backhouse describes his role at Harrogate Community Radio as “chief volunteer”.
Like the other unpaid stalwarts at this principled radio station, he is proud of its eclectic and inclusive programming – boasting everything from Moroccan hip hop to spoken word.
Listening figures are in the tens of thousands and the radio station is now kept on the online airwaves by a total of 40 volunteers.
Under the radar but a success, much like Andrew’s art.
Information: https://backhouse.wtf/product/collage-1/