When Wallace Slade’s body was discovered half naked in a puddle of his own vomit in the early hours of July 16th 1989, it was readily assumed that he had finally succumbed to the alcohol and drugs that had fuelled so much of his life and work. Now, nearly twenty years later, the truth is revealed.
Controversial artist Wallace Slade left a legacy as one of Britain’s finest post war artists with a body of work, whether reviled or adored, with its own unique niche in visual culture. He was an artist who enlisted the most extreme emotions in others – both personally and professionally.
A master of subterfuge, the real Wallace Slade has rarely been seen. Now for the first time author Edward Seligman has written the definitive biography. With access to the artist’s diaries, interviews with family and friends and his own series of in-depth interviews with the artist over a twenty-five year period, Seligman finally unravels the complexities of this elusive persona: And reveals, twenty years after the event, just how and why Wallace Slade died.
Legacy is a fictitious biography that explores the strange and complex relationship between a biographer and his subject. Just how much of the story is about the ‘artist’ and how much about the writer?