Started (and almost completed) in 2018, ‘National Mesmeric’ had until now sat in my studio, largely ignored. Shortly after starting the piece, I began to experiment with a more fluid approach to oil painting and it then became my intention to eventually revisit ‘National Mesmeric’ and drastically rework it. But after recent re-examination of it, I’ve come to appreciate it as an exemplar of the body of work that I was producing at the time and thus went back to my original idea for the finishing touches needed to realise it.
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| ‘National Mesmeric’, 2018-2025, 1.5 m x 1.2 m, oil painting, inspired by BBC’s Test Card F’ |
One of the most potent and strangely hypnotic symbols from the days of
analogue TV in the UK has to be the BBC’s ‘Test Card F’ that was used from 1967
until the late 90s. As well as being a colour calibration tool, the test card
was also used as a visual place holder, back in the days when there were large
chunks of daytime in which no programs were scheduled, and no programs aired during
the night.
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| Wayne Chisnall, artist in studio in 2018 |
As I’m sure is the case with many millions of other British viewers, I remember a childhood in which I spent what felt like hours at a time, staring at the static image of the test card, waiting for a favourite TV program to start. And it’s this idea of a collective mesmerisation that inspired me to create this painting. I thought about all the separate minds viewing the same uncanny image at the same exact time; something that was only possible in the pre-digital, pre-watch-on-demand days of analogue TV. I wondered what strange and dark influence this image had on a nation, collectively waiting impatiently. And I wondered if, like me, others saw things in the test card that weren’t really there. My version of the test card is grossly exaggerated, but as a child I did see the toy clown’s body as a skull-like green mask.
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| 'National Mesmeric' (detail) |
It was only
after posting a work-in-progress photo of National Mesmeric online that I
received feedback from others who also saw the skull. I’ve since heard other
people’s experiences and family stories relating to Test Card F. One such story is of a friend’s father who
used to tell him and his brothers, when they were little, that the girl in
image would occasionally blink. Every now and then the dad would point at the
TV and shout ‘there, you just missed it’. Even today I think the test card
holds a strange power over people of a certain generation.
