Stained Glass commission for front cover of Shortlist Magazine (14th June 2018)

Depicting the infamous 2006 zidane headbutt.

The article about the stained glass commission appears in Shortlist in their World Cup 2018 issue under the title ‘Because football is art’. Here is a video showing me working on the stained glass of Zidane for the cover of the magazine.

” I picked the moment Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final because it was one of the most dramatic and surprising moments in the tournament’s history. But also, from an artistic perspective, it is a very exciting composition – full of drama and violent energy. Zidane’s head has just smashed Materazzi’s chest and Materazzi is reeling, screaming out loud.

I also liked the idea of capturing such a violent moment in glass, because glass is fragile and delicate.

I used green for the grass, of course, and surrounded the head of Zidane with bright red to represent the red mist descending.

But I also wanted these bright colours to evoke early medieval stained glass. Being a stained-glass artist, I’m very interested in medieval art and this piece is a sort of echo of that style. Even modern football kits echo traditional medieval heraldry – almost always bold, block colours with crests depicting animals or weapons. ”  (Written by Matt Blake)

View the article on the online version of the magazine here: