A PICTURE of Wayne Rooney screaming has been nominated for a prestigious arts award.
The billboard sized print shows the 18-year-old star in an Everton strip roaring at a smaller image of himself. It is in the running for the £10,000 contemporary visual art prize for the North.
Six artists and one duo have been shortlisted for the second Comme Ca Art prize, annually awarded for artists working and exhibiting in the North.
The Rooney work, by artist Alan Dunn of Wallasey, uses social irritation and blinding rage as its inspiration. It is titled: "Folk who drive their cars at high speed through our city centres, folk who say they can't read when they can, folk who spout racist $@&*! in taxis."
Mr Dunn created the piece in January, when it was shown at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool City Centre.
It was created when Rooney still played for his boyhood team, Everton FC. He has since signed for Manchester United.
Mr Dunn, 37, said: "I do a lot of work involving football and it looked like Rooney's year would be this year, which luckily it was.
"I like the fact that he has two sides to him, he is not a squeaky clean character."
Originally from Glasgow Mr Dunn spent time in Chicago before spending the last 13 years on Merseyside.
The other shortlisted artists include: Leo Fitzmaurice of Wirral, who works with "in your face" consumer packaging and promotional material.
Claire Turner, of Comme Ca Art, which has galleries in Manchester and New York, launched the prize to help bring the art, artists and galleries associated with the North-West, Yorkshire and the North-East to a wider audience.
She said: "There is an exuberant attitude in the shortlist, resulting in an edgy, insightful confidence. It represents the D.I.Y ethos of the emerging community of artists based in the North." The winning artist will be announced at the closing celebration party for the Biennial on November 25.
Meanwhile, more than 100 people headbanged to Beethoven in a rehearsal for a Liverpool Biennial show last night. In the courtyard of the Bluecoat Arts Centre, the volunteers took part in a live performance of artist Amanda Coogan's Beethoven, the Headbangers.
HAVE your say on our Blues Messageboard - click 
RSS News Feed