 WHEN he mocked up a montage of John Lennon’s face painted onto the body of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century masterpiece of the Mona Lisa, artist Alex Corina couldn’t have expected that it would become almost as iconic in its own way as the original. There were those in the cloistered world of the arts who tutted that it was perhaps a form of plagiarism, and even Alex admits that he borrows classical images and distorts them. His artistic form uses collage, photographic emulsion and paint and often incorporates recycled and reclaimed materials. He dubbed the work Imajohn and a giant version of the print was hung from St George’s Hall as part of Liverpool’s bid for European Capital of Culture. It was an instant hit. Scouse wits immediately renamed it Mona Lennon and the tag has stuck. Now Corina, who is also helping to transform parts of Garston into a cultural village, has done the same with Liverpool’s football captain Steven Gerrard, who is hoping to add a second European Cup winners medal to his collection with victory over AC Milan next week. He has called this latest creation Gods of the Green Turf, and it features Gerrard’s head pasted onto the body of Adam in a scene taken from Michelangelo’s glorious fresco in the Sistine Chapel. The scene, explains Alex, is from Michelangelo’s perfect man in the shape of Adam being touched by the hand of God. “It aims to capture the spirit of Liverpool in the run-up to the Capital of Culture next year, and I hope it depicts humour and our aspirations for 2008,” he said. “I have admired Gerrard for a long time and he has such a wonderful, loyal following. He is coming to the end of another tremendous season and I wanted to pay tribute to him, and hopefully add to his iconic status. “Adam was pictured with the world below him – which gave him a certain potency – and I have depicted Gerrard sitting astride Liverpool emblems with the World of Anfield below him. I added the gold classical frame as I think it implies that, like the original painting, Gerrard is a masterpiece in his own way.” | 
