Cold War Steve

Cold War Steve is the pen name of Christopher Spencer, a British collage artist and satirist. He is the creator of the Twitter feed @coldwarsteve. His work typically depicts a grim, dystopian location in England populated by British media figures, celebrities, and politicians, usually with EastEnders actor Steve McFadden (in character as Phil Mitchell) looking on in disgust.[1] His work has been described as having "captured the mood of Brexit Britain" and has been likened to that of earlier British political satirists Hogarth and Gillray.[2] As of September 2021, his Twitter account has over 345,000 followers.[3]

Cold War Steve
Born
Christopher Spencer

1975 (age 47–48)
Birmingham
NationalityBritish
StyleCollage
Websitewww.coldwarsteve.com

Early life

Spencer was born in Birmingham in 1975. He went to art college at Nuneaton in Warwickshire, where his fellow students included film director Gareth Edwards. He then failed to get into three different universities and subsequently spent the next twenty years working a series of mundane jobs in factories and the public sector. Recovering after an attempted suicide, Spencer concentrated on his art, creating montages on his phone, often while travelling to work by bus.[4]

Work

McFadden's Cold War (the original title of the page) first appeared on Twitter in March 2016. As the title suggested, the work initially concentrated on the Cold War era, inserting Steve McFadden into photographs from the period often featuring Ronald Reagan or Mikhail Gorbachev. The EU referendum in June 2016 was a watershed in his career and led to his work taking on a more surreal tone. Speaking in December 2018 he said "rather than dealing with it as I've done in the past – which would have been drink or drugs or whatever – I channelled it more into my art. I incorporated other characters, so it's slowly become more satirical and political."[5] The work expanded to include politicians such as Theresa May, Donald Trump, and Kim Jong-un in incongruous settings such as a run-down British working men's club or a derelict flytipping site, alongside British celebrities such as Noel Edmonds, Cliff Richard, Danny Dyer or Cilla Black. McFadden is the one constant in his montages.[4]

He held his first exhibition A Brief History of the World (1953–2018) at The Social in London between October and December 2018.[6] The show was attended by comedian Al Murray and Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson.[7]

In November 2018 his first public work, The Fourth Estate, commissioned by RRU News, was unveiled in Williamson Square in Liverpool.[8] The work measuring 16 feet (4.9 m) is inspired by the third panel of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights.[4] Other large scale outdoor artwork followed at Glastonbury 2019 (a collaboration with Led By Donkeys) and a piece for the National Galleries of Scotland 'Harold, The Ghost of Lost Futures' as part of their 'Cut and Paste' exhibition which also featured work by Matisse, Peter Blake, Joan Miró, Hannah Höch and John Heartfield.

In 2019, Cold War Steve published two books with Thames & Hudson:[9] The Festival of Brexit in March, followed by A Prat's Progress in October. A pamphlet of the early work titled McFadden's Cold War also appeared via Rough Trade Books. A third book Journal of the Plague Year was published by Thames & Hudson in October 2021.

Cold War Steve released several limited artworks and jigsaws from 2019 onwards. In October 2020, his Hellscape Jigsaw was nominated for the Design Museum's Beazley Designs of the Year prize.[10] Harold, Trumpscape, 2020, Bluebells and Benny's Babbies all followed in the jigsaw series.

Other works have appeared in The Guardian[5] and The Big Issue.[11] He designed the front cover for the 17 June 2019 issue of Time[12] and on the summer 2022 edition of the New Statesman.[13]

In 2020, Cold War Steve featured in a documentary about his work titled Cold War Steve Meets The Outside World, directed by Kieran Evans and commissioned and broadcast by Sky Arts.[14] The film followed Chris as he put up four large scale outdoor artworks in Medway, Liverpool, Coventry and Bournemouth. The film was shortlisted for the 2021 Grierson Documentary Awards[15] and the exhibition was nominated for the 2021 South Bank Awards.[16]

Publications
  • The Festival of Brexit (London:Thames & Hudson, 2019) ISBN 9780500022894
  • McFadden’s Cold War (Rough Trade Books, 2019) RTB32
  • A Prat’s Progress (London:Thames & Hudson, 2019) ISBN 9780500023426
  • Journal of the Plague Year (London:Thames & Hudson, 2021) ISBN 978-0500025154

Exhibitions
  • A Brief History of the World (1953–2018), The Social, London, 15 October 2018 – 31 December 2018[6]
  • A Brief History of the World (1953–2018), Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, 17 January – 17 February 2019
  • Cruel Britannia – Cold War Steve and Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods), Disgraceland, Middlesbrough, 8 March 2019 – 16 March 2019
  • You, Me & Cold War Steve – The International Exhibition of the People, various locations worldwide, 1 May 2020 – 1 April 2020
  • You, Me & Cold War Steve – The International Exhibition of the People 2021, various locations worldwide, 30 Aug 2021 – 31 Oct 2021

References
  1. Hargadon, Stephen (16 February 2020). "Observer/Anthony Burgess prize for arts journalism 2020: Stephen Hargadon on Cold War Steve". The Observer.
  2. Male, Andrew (17 July 2018). "When Phil Mitchell met Trump: Coldwar Steve and his Brexit Britain mashups". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  3. "Coldwar_Steve". Twitter.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  4. Parveen, Nazia (9 November 2018). "Brexit visions of 'Cold War Steve' showcased on Liverpool billboard". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  5. "In the Bleak Mid-Brexit: a Christmas gift from Coldwar Steve". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. "Cold War Steve". The Social. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. "Steve McFadden's Cold War absurdist scores first exhibition". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  8. "First public artwork by Twitter sensation Coldwar Steve arrives in Liverpool". YMLiverpool.com. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  9. Cold War Steve Presents... The Festival of Brexit. ASIN 0500022895.
  10. "Stormzy's stab-proof vest up for major design award". BBC News Online. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  11. "Coldwar Steve: Brexit is devastating. I channel my desperation into images". The Big Issue. 26 March 2019.
  12. Glynn, Paul (7 June 2019). "How Phil Mitchell ended up on Time's cover". BBC News.
  13. "Cold War Steve's Q&A: 'I still have a strong affection for the sound of a tent zip'". New Statesman. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  14. "Cold War Steve Meets The Outside World". Sky. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  15. "The Grierson Trust - Shortlist". griersontrust.org. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  16. "The South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2021". www.skygroup.sky. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
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