‘A Coventry Boy’ is an artists book that captures the main work I did for my MA Fine Art degree show in September 2024. The work was a six foot cube installed in the studio using rough sawn timbers, black corrugated panels and shiplap boards. The interior was a facsimile of my childhood home and memories of my late father who died in 2021.
The title of the work refers to a statue that stands outside Coventry Cathedral, ‘The Coventry Boy’. It depicts a young man climbing up steps, his lower foot unshod and holding aloft in his left hand a scroll. This is his Apprenticeship Certificate. The sculpture is a metaphor for his rise out of poverty through the power of education. That was my Dad’s story. A Coventry Boy.
Paul Tranter 