Chris Alton

Chris Alton grew up with a quaker family, already radically orientated.

Considering himself to be quite 'left' politically, he took on interest in 'peace activism' and went to many far right/ fascist protests hosted by the 'EDL' (English Defence League). During this time two art exhibitions caught his interest: Yael Bartana: And Europe will be stunned; and Jeremy Deller: Joy in people.

Jeremy Dellers work takes you back in time to the 1980's, set out like a teenage boys bedroom, his work is personal and universal- as much of his work does. the 1980's was a time where lots of things were happening and people were angry, think; Thatcher, mining strikes, the IRA, acid house and punk. His work is relate able and it makes me want to create my own work for the people, against today's far right and today's problems.

Chris Alton is interested in music, social history and politics. In a time where society systematically discriminates against people for being who they are, Alton created his own version of EDL. Anti-EDL; English Disco Lovers, not knowing how much it would actually take off.



English Disco Lovers; One world, One race, One Disco.

Alton began to research disco and the origin of the word itself, discovering that the original meaning of the word related to his work a lot more than he thought beforehand. The term 'Disco' came from Nazi occupied Paris, in a time where Jazz music was deemed as bad and Nazis created galleries showing what NOT to like- Jazz music was forced underground. Anti-Fascist spaces called 'Discotheques'  were created to make music and poetry.

He even created a video about EDL, challenging British identity and what it means to be British- and ended up getting death threats for about 8 months.

A year after creating English Disco Lovers, it actually topped EDL on google and people began spray painting over original EDL graffiti and attending EDL protests dressed in disco attire and dancing; it was even written about in the guardian- resulting in the anti-fascist and LGBT charity 'hummingbird' to be created.




I really like how his work is Anti-fascist and activist based, especially his work with Camden bench- It makes me really want to fight back against what I disagree on, challenging todays problems in my work.



'A shared interest in the bounce'

Growing up skating, Alton was drawn to this specific bench in Camden. Its made not for skating/sleeping. This Anti-made, Anti-humane architecture reminds me of the spikes on buildings and the arm rests on chairs to stop homeless people sleeping on benches etc. I really want to incorporate the idea of anti-humane design into my own art work, showing my disagreement in how against homelessness todays world is, or perhaps how spikes on things are stopping nature from existing. I might start researching aggressive architecture.

Another piece I was really interested by was his billboard piece titled 'crudely picking the strings'




This piece was inspired by this woodcut which was created in 1607


This is a woodcut about the tsunami that hit Bristol channel; this made Alton become interested in extreme weather in the UK, he wanted to bring this wood cut up to date, portraying his views on climate change and how them two things collide. He ended up creating the billboard about the new nuclear power station which will be in Bristol, showing the updated, and possible future. I love how it shows how badly things could get in the future and challenges us to think about it, and hopefully deal with it before it is too late.

I have learned a lot from this lecture and it has definitely given me plenty to think about, and hopefully plenty of inspiration for now- and the future.