Cheryl Cole – The angel of the north

Liverpool artist Lee Jones has created a striking image of X Factor judge Cheryl Cole as the ‘Angel of the North’. Currently riding high in the charts with pop group Girls Aloud, and lighting up our TV screens every Saturday night as a mentor and judge to Wannabe singers, Cole is fast becoming a national heroine.

Cole’s emotional reaction to each performance on X Factor, and her empathy with each contestant to the point of tears, has earned her a new legion of fans. Artist Jones has immortalized Cole as a contemporary icon by depicting her as the living embodiment of the ‘Angel of North’.

Jones’s ‘Angel’ is hand painted, with influences ranging from Warhol’s ‘Marilyn’ silkscreen paintings to Peter Blake’s Sergeant Pepper album cover. 2008 is the 10th anniversary of Antony Gormley’s monumental public sculpture ‘Angel of the North’. A maquette of the sculpture made history on the Antiques Road Show recently when it was valued at £1 million. The original ‘Angel of the North’ was modelled on Gormley’s own body, and erected on the site of a disused colliery, the ribs of the Angel inspired by the inside of a ship’s hull in a nod to the shipbuilding heritage of the Tyne.

In the 10 years since its construction, the Angel of the North has become an Iconic symbol of the North East, and one of the most popular public sculptures in the UK. The version by Lee Jones is of a more slender, feminine angel, rising out of the Gateshead hilltop in the manner of Botticelli’s Venus emerging from her shell.

Jones’s ‘Angel of the North’ dabs her eyes with a handkerchief to stem a flow of tears. “As a Liverpudlian artist I feel the overwhelming warmth of the Northern people towards Cheryl Cole, and I wanted to portray this by depicting her as our very own Angel of the North. I see her as a new Icon of popular culture for the 21st Century, a beacon of light in these bleak times…a fine example of a Northern lass making good.” said Jones.

‘Angel’ will be exhibited at The Arts Club in London’s Mayfair in February 2009, alongside the ‘Beyond Human’ series of paintings by Lee Jones. Collectable limited edition prints of this striking image of popular culture are available on the 2050 Sports.com website.

Lee Jones is an award-winning artist who was based for a period in a Hollywood studio, where his creative output included designing jewellery for clients such as Madonna and James Woods.

Collectors of Jones’s work include Radiohead and My Chemical Romance. Jones is also a talented graffiti artist whose commissions include the redesign and rebranding of the ‘Renegade Ducati’ Superbike team, a Heavy Metal magazine cover, and set design for rock stars Oasis.

Jones seeks to capture the beauty and power of the human form in his paintings, and his talent for figurative painting was discovered at the age of 8 when he won a national painting competition. Jones’s influences include comic strips, Manga and Pop Art. Born in Liverpool in 1968, Jones is a self-taught artist and has exhibited internationally.

Exhibitions include; a major collection of contemporary urban artists at Art Whino Gallery, Washington D.C. (2008); Gallery Provocateur, Chicago (2008); Bloxham
Galleries, London (2000-2003); Westminster Gallery, London (2002) and Hanover Galleries, Liverpool (1997-1998). Jones was also on the board of the N.A.P.A. (National Acrylic Painters Association).