Let's hear it for the little guys

After a successful musical career as bassist for The Specials and then further success in America as part of General Public, Horace Panter has returned to the artistic roots laid while studying for his Fine Art degree at Lancaster Polytechnic in the early 70's. He has been teaching art in Coventry since the 90's and while he continued playing music throughout (including a recent sold out Specials tour) has also created a body of work which now forms his debut exhibition Robots, Saints & (Extra)Ordinary People at The Strand Gallery, London (until December 3).

The subjects of Panter's paintings are a fantastically eclectic mix. 1950's style sci-fi robots (a childhood fascination), saints and people often overlooked by society (street sweepers, postcard sellers) take centre stage and feature as the sole subject of each painting. The single figures in each work reflect Panter's interest in the use of traditional religious iconography. Inspired by Warhol's idea of 'elevating the mundane,' many of the paintings demonstrate the way in which everyday items can become iconic objects of adoration.

Horace Panter, Fake Icon St Basil (left) and Paris Postcard Seller (right)

"Being at art school in the Seventies I used to get Art Forum and the Phaidon books," Panter tells Phaidon. "Whenever we were on tour, if we were in LA the band would be at the Whisky and I'd be at the La County Museum of Art. When I went to LACMA the first time and saw the Kenneth Noland Horizon Paintings and found out they're as long as my house or a whole room of Morris Louis drip paintings I was like 'oh my, now I understand!'. The reason I've done this now is because you only get one life. You write a song and you think, do I leave it here on the tape unheard or do I take it to a record company that thinks people should hear it? I want to see if anyone else likes my paintings. I use the toys because when you're a kid you imbue them with with a personality. And I'm interested in the idea of deifying things. With iconography all the rules of art are thrown out the window. There's no perspective, people are painted in terms of importance, all the landscapes lean towards the central figure and there are no shadows because the light comes from the icon himself. So everything has a spiritual interpretation - which ain't what Canaletto did! being an ex-punk rocker I like messing with that."

Panter's debut show Robots, Saints & (Extra)Ordinary People will be at The Strand Gallery, London until December 3.