David Risley Studio
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This is the Atherstone Ball Game.
I went to the 826th edition on Tuesday.
There are only two rules
The ball can’t leave Long Street.
You can’t knowingly kill anyone.
There are no teams and no goals.
It starts at 3pm, whoever is holding the ball at 5pm wins.
Played every Shrove Tuesday since 1199, in a small Midlands town 11 km/8 miles from where I grew up, it’s a medieval ritual that has somehow survived intact.
At the core are 50–100 local men from Atherstone and three surrounding villages. They all know each other. The street is packed with around 1,000 spectators. Women. Children. Kids in push-chairs. The atmosphere is warm, convivial, welcoming, in sharp contrast to the brawl happening, often right beside you.
Police are present but the real authority comes from the stewards, ex-players in high-vis, who keep the ball moving and break up off-the-ball scuffles.
For the first hour, the ball moves up and down the street and is caught and held so children can kick it.
The last half hour is another level. The ball gets wedged in a doorway and defended. Players pile in fighting to get it. The crowd shout the names of their dads, brothers and husbands.
At 5pm, a horn sounds and the brawling stops instantly.
Minutes later, they’re in the pub. Men who were fighting moments before drink together. The winner receives a medal from the mayor.
It’s an incredible, terrifying, shockingly violent, though often comical, spectacle. A living example of Bakhtin’s carnivalesque: a temporary inversion of order, what he called “bloodless carnival wars”, ritualised violence that simultaneously destroys and regenerates.
Images and clips here are my own and others I found online. Most from this year, some examples from other years. YouTube has documentaries about the game
Thanks to my old friend Malcolm for his company and historical insights.
I’ll be working on large paintings based on the Ball Game, hooligans and rioters on a six-week US studio residency (late March–mid May). I’ve included a couple of large preparatory drawings here.
28/01/2026
Last week I spent 4 days in heaven (Florence and Arezzo). I focused on seeing paintings, mostly frescos, that are still in their original location. It was very emotional to be with paintings I’ve known for years from books and postcards on my studio wall, like meeting family members face to face for the first time, in their home. Standing where the artists stood while making them is overwhelming. All the artists and writers who have seen these paintings during the hundreds of years since they were made have stood where you’re standing. I can’t wait to go back. The food wasn’t bad either. This is a tiny sample of the things I saw and hundreds of photos I took. 1 Filippo Lippi (Brancacci chapel), 2 Pontormo, 3 Andrea da Firenze (spanish chapel), 4/5 Piero della Francesca (Arezzo), 6/7 San Domenico church Arezzo with one of 10 known works by Cimabue - door open, no guard, no priest, just there as it has been since c 1267. 8 Lorenzo da Monaco, 9 Giotto campanile, 10 Benozzo Gozzoli (Magi chapel), 11 Masaccio holy trinity (up close), 12 Ghirlandaio, 13 Nardo di Cione, 14 Andrea da Firenze (Spanish Chapel), 15 Uc***lo, 16 Lorenzo Sciorina, 17/18 Fra Angelico (San Marco), 19 Giotto crucifix (Santa Croce), 20 Bronzino.
21/01/2026
I’m in Florence for the last few days of the Fra Angelico show It’s unbelievably good. A once in a lifetime exhibition. Imagine thinking it’s not enough just bringing together all the Fra Angelico that can be moved but adding Dirk Bouts, Filippo Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, della Robia, Giovanni di Paolo, Lorenzo Monaco, and more as context. I still have to see the other part of the show at San Marco on Friday as well as Masaccio’s Holy Trinity, Pontormo’s Deposition, the Brancacci Chapel, Benozzo Gozzoli‘s Ca****la dei Magi and a million other things. And food. Lots of food. Send recommendations if you have them. I’m aiming for Stendahl Syndrome
The great Stewart Lee defending art from philistinism (Matthew Parris), while discussing the life of improvisational guitarist Derek Bailey
I’m home now but still thinking about the parties, talks and performance programme in Paris last week. Thank you
04/03/2025
It’s the last week of my show in New York. If you’re there I’d be delighted if you made time to see it. It’s weird having a show on the other side of the world and being back in the studio. I dealt with the post show blues by rebuilding and cleaning up my studio, ready to mess it up again. Of Clouds and Clocks 515 W19th St. Chelsea.
10/12/2024
More Group Show Ideas… yesterdays ideas got taken quickly, one of the mega galleries took all 10 as a package to roll out over their 36 venues during the next decade. In a statement they declared that recycling group show ideas was to be a cornerstone of their journey towards sustainability.
09/12/2024
GROUP SHOW IDEAS… with the holidays coming up galleries will be scrambling around in their storage trying to put together a last minute group show. Here’s some ideas for you. Only rule, if you use one I have to right the press release. .
08/12/2024
Scenes from a new documentary about my 20 years at art fairs. Includes actual footage of me not selling art in Hong Kong, Basel, Chicago, Cologne, New York, London and… Rotterdam.
06/12/2024
Art Review Power 100. -37- Artist who was technically the best painter at art school and won a solo show at a London gallery in an open call (£150 to enter to cover admin costs) competition 6 years ago wondering why they’re still broke and unknown.
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