Something Precious

Lloyd’s fascination with wrestlers started when he travelled to Mexico to study their ‘Day of the Dead’. He was interested to see the traditional values behind the celebration of death. However, this event reminded him more of Halloween and was not the festival he was hoping for.
While in Mexico, Lloyd visited an arena where the audience all seemed to be wearing masks. He was familiar with Mexican wrestling, but did not realise the audience support for the wrestlers, or ‘free fighters’, is shown by wearing one of the team’s masks. These wrestlers expressed traditional values, folkloric traditions, mass entertainment and political activism, which Lloyd felt was missing from the festival he had originally been to see. This led to Lloyd making this series of screenprints which incorporate Mexican culture and fine art.
It comes as no surprise that Lloyd’s work is featured in some of the biggest pop icon’s collections, including David Bowie, Missy Elliot, Vic Reeves and Holly Johnson. Lloyd is now Director of the School of Art, Design and Fashion at Southampton Solent University.