On Sunday I traveled up to London to attend Let's Make Morph - a tribute to Tony Hart. Not quite a Flash Mob (as reported by several news sources) but still a fairly large gathering of people, many of whom brought along their own Morphs. The Facebook group which started the whole thing had around 800 members. There were probably more like 300 people there on the day, gathered at the end of the Millennium Bridge outside Tate Modern. The Morphs came in all shapes, sizes and colours. I just added a black armband to mine, which otherwise stayed fairly faithful to Lord and Sproxton's original design.
I had written to the Aardman founders in the hope they might attend (alas, no response) but we were joined by Tony Hart's daughter Carolyn. She seemed really pleased to see so many people gathering in memory of her father, and took a lot of time talking to everyone there.
Throughout the afternoon, as I listened to people talk about Tony Hart, I would repeatedly hear the same phrase: "Tony Hart, legend." And although it's probably mostly just a language meme (like wicked or well gutted) it's also completely true. Tony Hart was legendary. I did become an artist because of him (and my Dad). It's a travesty that his death was marked by a three minute segment on the news the following day and nothing more.
I met two other people on Sunday who, like me, had succeeded in the ultimate goal of getting a picture on the Gallery (actually a Jim'll Fix It badge was probably tops, but there was always the lingering fear that you'd get vilified like that kid who got a TV, computer AND Intellivision in his bedroom make-over).
Buy some plasticine, make a morph. Then go and draw a chalk New York skyline or add a cartoon face to a boot print.
(click here to see my photos from the day)
