In the studio, I made a series of works inspired by my research into La Gazetta dello Sport and the historical link between the UK and Italy through the TV show Football Italia, presented by James Richardson in the 90s on Channel Four. This area of interest was not part of my initial project proposal but became a focus of my work. I bought copies of the pink sports newspaper and made a series of painted collages using acrylic paint and images of cosmatesque as well as cut up sections of my rubbings taken from San Clemente. These collages were the foundations on to which I placed cut and wild flowers as well as found cigarette buts from the Borghese gardens, using these collages as sheets for a flower press, the front and back wooden covers of which were painted and covered with vitreous enamels. These works were also inspired by looking at the history of word games in Italy and the still popular weekly magazine of puzzles, Settimana Enigmistica. The collages evolved slowly over my time there but became part of an installation that also included my rubbings of medieval mosaics, which were show on the floor, and a large painting that was not quite finished.

Luke Burton