The Grotty Hand of Wilf Exhibition at The Octagon Theatre, Yeovil

Last Friday I popped along to check out the very colourful Grotty Hand of Wilf Exhibition which was running from the 3rd to 17th October at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil.

Wilf was a quirky character, quite a few years older than me, but well known in the town. As a young punk rocker I used to know him in Yeovil while I was growing up and while I don't class him as a friend, he was an acquaintance and pretty much any time I was in town I would see him at the beach (outside the church); in the alleyway next to Acorn Records; at the bus station or just mooching around.  He was a quiet and intelligent chap, always smiling, and invariably looking very scrruffy, with unkept lank hair,  wearing a worn out sheepskin coat and carrying an art portfolio under his arm from which he would always delight in showing you his latest pieces. You see Wilf was an artist - and a very good one at at that, although I didn't actually know the full extent of his talents until I went to the exhibition.

Wilf (or Stephen Wilmott to give him his full name) was born in Yeovil Hospital, lived all his life in and around the town and died suddenly of a heart attack at a mere 44 years of age at his home in Roping Road in September 1992.  Last year some of his old friends (including Steve Beatty with whom Wilf had formed Cracked Image Graffix - a collaboration which amongst other things designed all the covers of local punk band The Mob's record sleeves and Graham Moore - who was in the band Psycho Daisies alongside Wilf) decided to commemorate Wilf's life with an exhibition,  and after many months of locating an collating the material in which they gathered together 80 or 90 pieces of work and a wide variety of work was on show including ceramics; comic strips; water colours; portraits;  and of course  illustrations for album, single and cassette covers, and even a couple of t-shirts designs

The exhibition was indeed impressive, adorning most of the walls of the cafe/bar in the Octagon, although unfortunately I chose an inopportune time to visit as the bar was full of Elvis fans who were getting ready to watch an Elvis tribute act;  nevertheless it was great to see some of Wilf's early works from the mid-70s while he was studying at Yeovil College, which were in places Dali-esque, at times surprisingly political but very insightful.  There were of course plenty of works featuring young punks during the 80s (as there was a healthy punk scene in town at the time), as well as later works for the Wyndham Action Group.

According to the organisers the exhibition was named  "Done by the Grotty Hand of Wilf" from an inscription found on one of his cartoons in an early sketchbook, and that pretty much sums up most of his work: innocent, humorous and self-effacing - just like Wilf himself.