Lester’s art proves a source of inspiration

In 2011 Nick Terdre wrote in HOT about Hastings artist Lester Magoogan, who has Down’s syndrome. Lester’s line drawings had proved highly popular, and he had made a name for himself well beyond the town walls. Five years on Nick decided it was time to find out how Lester’s career had developed since then. With his exuberant and optimistic personality, Lester is a force of nature in himself, and Nick was not surprised to find that not only is his art winning new admirers around the world, but it is also proving a great source of inspiration to others.

Lester, who enjoys the unstinting support of his parents Wesley and Marion, first exhibited his work as a teenager – he is now 34. His drawings are often characterised as monsters, but they are, for the most part, fairly friendly monsters offering a humorous take on this or that aspect of life. With a few spare lines Lester reveals their emotions, whether love, anger or frustration.

A keen appreciation of Lester’s art has come from well-known figures such as Spike Milligan, who commented, “Lester’s drawings show his keen sense of humour – his minimalist approach goes to show that less is more,” while George Melly wrote: “Lester has all the spontaneity of Miro and Dubuffet, but having no formal training, there is an immediacy which many great artists have sought within themselves but few achieve.” Another admirer is the artist Sir Peter Blake, who sent Lester one of his own drawings as a Christmas present.

Lester really began to make waves several years ago when the Down’s Syndrome Association (DSA) identified him as a uniquely creative artist and began promoting his art, not only to encourage others with Down’s to cultivate their own creativity, but to show the rest of the world what Down’s people are capable of.

As a result he has regularly featured in exhibitions of the work of Down’s syndrome artists, with major galleries such as Tate Modern in London and the Lowry in Manchester on his CV. In 2013 he was involved in a show at the Oxo Tower gallery in London. In 2012 the DSA took an exhibition, which included Lester’s work, to South Africa and Hong Kong, following up in 2014 with a coast-to-coast tour of the US.

Lester is also part of a group of Down’s syndrome artists promoted by Heart & Sold, a Salford-based organisation set up by Suzie and Paul Moffat after their third child was born with Down’s. His work was included in the pilot exhibition put on by the Moffats in Salford Art Gallery four years ago, after they had been introduced to the Magoogans by the DSA. It also featured in an exhibition they mounted in London and then took to New York last year. CBS came along and did an interview which ended up going viral on YouTube.

Most of the 33 artists which Heart & Sold have on their books are painters or photographers, but Lester is billed as a ‘surreal line artist’, a description which fits him well.

Disability art – or just art?

Suzie has come to the conclusion that the work of her stable of artists is simply art. “We promote them as artists rather than artists with a disability,” she told me. “As much as I admire people who do shows for ‘outsider art’ and ‘disability art’, personally I just think it’s a picture on the wall, it doesn’t matter who’s done it, it’s whether you like it or not – it shouldn’t be given any sympathy just because it’s been produced by someone with a disability.”

That is also the attitude of Saatchi & Saatchi in Los Angeles, who have Lester’s drawings on display in their online gallery. “This is a wonderful feather in Lester’s cap, it’s really helped to boost his reputation,” says Wesley. “When you mention Saatchi & Saatchi, people sit up and take notice.”

Attracting online customers from all over the world, Saatchi & Saatchi has brought Lester’s work to an appreciative audience in far-flung places, with sales to customers in Australia, Portugal and South Africa.

The local venue which has done most to help establish Lester’s reputation in Hastings must be the Dragon Bar in George Street, which exhibited his work in the early days and now puts on a show every two years (next one in 2017). It was here last year that he made the acquaintance of Emma Hughes, arts coordinator at Sandown Primary School on The Ridge.

Inspiring local schoolchildren

Emma wanted to introduce year 2 and 3 pupils, aged five to seven, to line drawing, and looking at Lester’s monsters she thought she had found the perfect example. She invited him to the school to show a selection of his works to the children, then asked them to copy Lester’s style under the theme of ‘Nice and Naughty Monsters.’ It was an opportunity for the kids to experiment with different leads, soft and hard, and also Japanese brush pens, as used by Lester.

In a second stage the children – about 120 took part in the project – were asked to create their own monsters in their own style. The results are now displayed on the corridor walls and in the hall, showing an immense range of monster creativity, including some really complex inventions. The kids thought up their own titles and many even signed their work with their initials, in true Lester style.

Lester came along to make his choice of the best ones, awarding Japanese brush pens and Lester certificates as prizes. “I enjoyed coming and showing them,” he said. “It’s amazing, the way they copy is very special. Their talent is to make people smile. This school is so talented, and I was so proud of them.”

“To have real artists coming into the school is invaluable,” said Emma. “With distractions like PlayStation, a lot of kids don’t get to explore different media at home, so it’s important they get to do it at school. The project was a great help for developing hand/eye coordination, and learning to use a range of media. It also helps with the coordination needed for handwriting.”

Lester has a regular programme of activities, including a couple of days a week when he works at the Parchment Trust’s Friary Gardens horticultural centre for adults with learning disabilities in Hastings. It is in the afternoons spent at home that his artistic juices start flowing – he sits down in the front room and starts drawing, using two Japanese calligraphy brushes, one thin and one thick. Each drawing takes only a few minutes, but no two are ever the same.

Over a week he will amass some 200 drawings. Back in the old days, they were all kept, but eventually there were too many, and now Lester and his parents have to sort through his output, deciding which ones to keep and which ones to dump. Before anyone decides to raid the dustbin and start a black market in Magoogan monsters, it’s worth pointing out that the rejects get shredded.

Retail hit

Lester’s drawings can also be seen in Respire, an interiors and furnishings retailer alongside the Dragon Bar. When Christmas was looming in late 2014, the owners Richard and Julie Nixey wanted to put art on the walls, and when they advertised for local artists, the Magoogans, occasional customers, made themselves known.

Lester’s work has proved a great draw in the shop, and so was Lester himself when a meet-the-artists session was held one evening. Several of his smaller drawings are displayed on a circular background on one of the upstairs walls, surrounded by some larger works. “When people see them, they stop to look – it’s a great talking point,” said Richard. “It’s fun, it’s innocent and it reflects life a lot.”

Whatever happens, Lester’s world keeps spinning. For several years the Magoogans attended the annual Normal Festival in Prague, an artfest for creatives with a learning disability, where Lester made a splash with his first animated film, made with Wesley’s help.

However, funding dried up, and the festival has not been held in recent years. But where Lester is concerned, as one door closes, another opens. What does the future hold? There has been talk of a project with Jamie Hewlett, the artist and designer who co-created the virtual band Gorillaz, and another animation is in the planning stage, Wesley reveals. Lester is a man in continual motion, and where he goes, others are drawn to accompany him.

 

Lester’s website

 

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