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Liam de Frinse served his time in the shipyard. Within that pragmatic culture of building the world's biggest and best ships there existed a small subculture of fellow painters, poets, and musicians and it should be of no surprise to anyone that Liam was in there promoting debate. Liam has always used his creative talents to subvert the mundane. During the Gulf war, weekly demonstrations were held outside the American Consulate in Belfast and Liam with his customary talent, overturned the boringly predictable gathering of soapboxes and socialist newspapers into a morale boosting theatrical performance of noisy chanting, drumming and singing, irritating the hell out of ubiquitous RUC men who were always threatening to arrest someone. It was to much surprise and indeed delight, especially to women protesters, that on one memorable demonstration they were led by Liam's bold, colourful banner depicting the barrel gun of an Allied tank as a penis ejaculating.
It is impossible to go for a long walk with Tom Bevan. Every few yards, like a magpie, he bends down to pick up something that attracts his eye, later to be incorporated into his sculptures. He believes every object is relevant, everything is inextricably linked, everything 'trembles with meaning'. His sculptures could be seen as almost sacred mystical objects. In them he explores the organisations of patriarchal society, Loyalism and male aggression. He acknowledges the similarity of loyalist fetish with Catholic relics. Having been brought up in the loyalist community, Tom understands its complexities. He never uses the iconography of Orangeism in a cliched vicious way but exposes its underbelly with wit and humour. Orangemen evolving into fossils or dressed in tutus or suffering the nightmare of making love to Madonna.
Liam de Frinse and Tom Bevan don't shy away from commenting on the political situation, they don't deride such issues as parochial, as divisive, sectarian or likely to inflame an already troubled situation…they know that these issues are integral to our understanding of ourselves and perhaps most importantly that they are issues of universal concern, in this way their work is truly international.
TOM
...I instantly start by saying I'm not a very political person and of course instantly say the personal is political....
LIAM
...The events from 1969 onwards changed my art. I realised these would be the last landscape paintings I would ever do, how could I sit in a nice calm place when people were crying out for justice, equality and a better life? The state was reacting violently, the Unionist hegemony was beginning to split asunder, I stopped painting. I became a real community artist, my work was free, it went to illustrate magazines, booklets, ended up on walls....
TOM
...I did know that Catholics were different, I walked up Seaforde Street looking into the windows and ornaments to see what they were like, I remember as a child thinking....these are just ordinary people...
LIAM
...I would describe myself as a communist even though it sounds out of fashion, a communist who believes in the community of mankind, coming together, working together, even though we do have our differences....
TOM
...I did the hippy trail ...I wandered eastwards. I spent my 21st birthday in a remote Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, snow outside and people chanting throughout the night. In Afghanistan I used to watch the raw young recruits march, they hadn't a clue. In our culture virtually every kid would know how to march and how to play games with rifles..…
Tom currently works in U.S.A. Liam works in Belfast.
MARK ALEXANDER: The Programme maker
Mark is the eldest son of a mixed marriage which collapsed under the weight of sectarianism at the beginning of the troubles in 1968. His childhood was the classic one of trouble torn Belfast....burnt out of a home for being Catholics, intimidation, harassment, fear, together with a brutalising sadistic education at the hands of the Catholic Church. In 1980 he left Belfast and joined the Merchant Navy. He left five years later unable to take any more anti-Irish racism and the tyranny of authority. For the next five years he wandered around Britain and Ireland looking for a home living in an alternative commune in West Cork, squatting in London, coming back to Belfast to work in an alternative cafe/bookshop. His interest in 'counter' information led him to collaborating on television programmes both in front of and behind the camera and in the founding of Belfast's pirate radio.
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