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Dryden Goodwin, Linear, 2010. Pencil on paper (detail)
Linear by Dryden Goodwin installed at Southwark Underground station. Part of the Jubilee line series. Photograph by Daisy Hutchison.
Linear by Dryden Goodwin installed at Southwark Underground station. Part of the Jubilee line series. Photograph by Daisy Hutchison.
Linear by Dryden Goodwin installed at Southwark Underground station. Part of the Jubilee line series. Photograph by Daisy Hutchison.
Linear by Dryden Goodwin installed at Southwark Underground station. Part of the Jubilee line series. Photograph by Daisy Hutchison.
Linear by Dryden Goodwin installed at Southwark Underground station. Part of the Jubilee line series. Photograph by Daisy Hutchison.
27 minutes with Ian at London Bridge; 2 years on the Jubilee line 57 minutes with Janet at Stratford; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 2 of 60
25 minutes with Tom at London Bridge: 11 years on the Jubilee line Image 3 of 60 65 minutes with JJ at London Bridge; 13 years on the Jubilee line Image 4 of 60
39 minutes with Jerome at Stanmore; 5 years on the Jubilee line Image 5 of 60 51 minutes with Peter at Canary Wharf; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 6 of 60
50 minutes with Robert round trip from Wembley Park; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 7 of 60 42 minutes with Flora at Finchley Road: 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 8 of 60
69 minutes with Tunde at London Bridge; 4 years on the Jubilee line Image 9 of 60 25 minutes with Roy at London Bridge; 1 year on the Jubilee line Image 10 of 60
31 minutes with Maureen at London Bridge; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 11 of 60 31 minutes with Brian at Canary Wharf; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 12 of 60
25 minutes with Jammah at London Bridge: 5 years on the Jubilee line Image 13 of 60 50 minutes with Ayelet at Wembley Park; 8 years on the Jubilee line Image 14 of 60
62 minutes with Divina at London Bridge; 1 year on the Jubilee line Image 15 of 60 57 minutes with Bob at Stratford; 8 years on the Jubilee line Image 16 of 60
57 minutes with John at Southwark; 4 years on the Jubilee line Image 17 of 60 32 minutes with Phil at Westminster; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 18 of 60
21 minutes with Julz at London Bridge; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 19 of 60 56 minutes with Chris at Stratford; 20 years on the Jubilee line Image 20 of 60
38 minutes with Nicky at Stratford; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 21 of 60 61 minutes with Nick at London Bridge; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 22 of 60
34 minutes with Tracey at Canary Wharf: 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 23 of 60 38 minutes with Tunde at Kilburn; 11 years on the Jubilee line Image 24 of 60
35 minutes with JC at Neasden; 18 years on the Jubilee line Image 25 of 60 45 minutes with Pat at Canary Wharf; 1 year on the Jubilee line Image 26 of 60
62 minutes with George at St James's Park; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 27 of 60 61 minutes with Raks at Neasden; 11 years on the Jubilee line Image 28 of 60
46 minutes with Lesley at North Greenwich; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 29 of 60 37 minutes with John at Canary Wharf; 11 years on the Jubilee line Image 30 of 60
52 minutes with Phil at Stratford; 12 years on the Jubilee line Image 31 of 60 60 minutes with Chulani at Bermondsey; 20 years on the Jubilee line Image 32 of 60
37 minutes with Henry at Southwark; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 33 of 60 28 minutes with Virgilio at Wembley Park; 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 34 of 60
48 minutes with Simon at Neasden; 1 year on the Jubilee line Image 35 of 60 32 minutes with Bimpe at Canary Wharf; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 36 of 60
41 minutes with Anup at Wembley Park; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 37 of 60 58 minutes with Dianne at Wembley Park; 18 years on the Jubilee line Image 38 of 60
34 minutes with John at Canning Town: 7 years on the Jubilee line Image 39 of 60 50 minutes with Maxine at St John's Wood; 5 years on the Jubilee line Image 40 of 60
81 minutes with Sue from Stratford to Southwark; 3 years on the Jubilee line Image 41 of 60 40 minutes with Mark at Neasden; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 42 of 60
59 minutes with Claude at Queensbury; 3 years on the Jubilee line Image 43 of 60 52 minutes with Dominic at head office; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 44 of 60
29 minutes with Richard at St John's Wood; 4 years on the Jubilee line Image 45 of 60 44 minutes with Ashanti at Wembley Park; 30 years on the Jubilee line Image 46 of 60
53 minutes with Kelly at Willesden Green: 4 years on the Jubilee line Image 47 of 60 44 minutes with Uche at Neasden; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 48 of 60
67 minutes with Tom at Stratford; 2 years and 6 months on the Jubilee line Image 49 of 60 37 minutes with Salima at Wembley Park: 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 50 of 60
28 minutes with Dwayne at West Ham; 8 years on the Jubilee line Image 51 of 60 28 minutes with Vlad at West Hampstead; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 52 of 60
46 minutes with Manjit at Canary Wharf; 6 years on the Jubilee line Image 53 of 60 36 minutes with Steve at Neasden; 10 years on the Jubilee line Image 54 of 60
37 minutes with Warren at Wembley Park; 30 years on the Jubilee line Image 56 of 60 26 minutes with Paulina at Waterloo; 12 years on the Jubilee line Image 55 of 60
43 minutes with Theo at London Bridge; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 57 of 60 19 minutes with Terry at Wembley Park; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 58 of 60
70 minutes with Felicia at Canons Park; 2 years on the Jubilee line Image 59 of 60 22 minutes with Pete at Waterloo; 4 years on the Jubilee line Image 60 of 60
Dryden Goodwin, Linear, 2010. Pencil on paper (detail)

Linear

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Downloads

One Thing Leads to Another – Everything is Connected: project notes for artworks on the Jubilee line, 2010

Visiting Information

See the Visit page for details of accessing this station

View the Flickr Gallery

05 Feb 2010

Dryden Goodwin

Linear

60 portraits of Jubilee line staff

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Unlock the drawings by watching the films

Linear, by Dryden Goodwin, is a collection of portraits of Jubilee line staff created for Art on the Underground.

Also watch subtitled films

The 60 pencil drawings of staff at work, or at moments of pause in their day, are each accompanied by a film of the portrait being made. The films include fragments of the conversation between artist and ‘sitter’, together forming an intimate and diverse social portrait of this community of workers.

Goodwin’s work extends the limits of what portraiture can do. He often combines media, such as drawing, sound, photography and video. His multi-layered portraits present a heightened sense of individuals or collective communities, and of how we interact with one another.

Central to Linear is an acknowledgement of the inability of any portrait to describe a subject adequately. Rather than attempting to depict the hundreds of staff who work on the Jubilee line, Linear evokes a sense of their personal contributions through the detailed portrayal of just 60 individuals.

A similar process of condensing occurs in each of the separate film portraits, where the real-time development of the drawings is speeded up and the conversations edited into intense (but inevitably incomplete) representations of each person. The investment of time becomes an underlying theme. This is emphasised in the captions accompanying the drawings, where the time taken to make each portrait is juxtaposed with the number of years the member of staff has worked on the Jubilee line.

The portraits were drawn in a variety of locations, including train operator’s cabs, signalling towers, management offices, station control rooms, ticket offices and gates. Through the intertwining of these individuals’ varied roles, with the abundance of their personal revelations and experiences, different themes emerge encompassing life, death, love, personal obsessions and aspirations. In this way, Linear evokes both a physical and emotional mapping of the Jubilee line.

For Goodwin, ‘Linear exists as a repository of insights and histories, anecdotal and factual, revealed through the interplay of the drawn line and conversation, that is unique to the Jubilee line at this particular point in time.’

Linear will be presented across the London Underground network on poster sites, digital screens and leaflets, with exhibition sites at Southwark, London Bridge and Stanmore Underground stations. All 60 films can be viewed online.

We have designed project notes to accompany this project which are free, downloadable PDF documents for use by wide audiences, from individual Tube customers and families to educational groups.

Artists
Dryden Goodwin




Comments from the public


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Comment posted by Marcus, 16 Jul 2012

I was very sorry to see these images taken down and replaced by Olympic mediocrity over recent weeks. I cycled past Dryden's drawings at Blackfriars most mornings and they made a great start to the day.

Comment posted by Monique Lester, 23 Aug 2011

Superb...huge talent. Saw these this morning in Stanmore and they made me smile!

Comment posted by Jinxy, 04 Aug 2010

This idea is brilliant and the schetches are very good. The next project for dryden should be in the Baker street tube station with characters expsoed at Madame Tussauds:)

Comment posted by Anon, 14 Jun 2010

think the whole idea brilliant even though my wife is one of the subjects. I love all the art on the tube as well as the poetry and i think in many ways it reminds all travellers that LU staff are human too. Have also seen the film made doing the sketch of my wife so if these films are available as well for viewing, the whole exhibition will be quite original and special. Well done on a great, brilliant and fantastic idea. I love it.

Comment posted by David Dipré, 14 Jun 2010

An incredible and original record of every day life on the tube.

Comment posted by Adebanji Alade, 14 Jun 2010

This is fantastic! Simply beautiful! I saw one of the posters yesterday on the Platform at London Bridge and I copied the web link and came to check this out! It is fantastic! Maybe because I am a sketcher on the train and tube myself. But this is phenomenal!

Comment posted by Anon, 14 Jun 2010

A fantastic achievement by Dryden and it must have taken an age to edit all the video footage. Thank you for your dedication and special thanks to Louise for her organisational skills. This project has brought LUL uniforms and suits to life and shown the human side of staff. Great fun!

Comment posted by Mishka, 14 Jun 2010

These are beautiful, so detailed and fascinating, and actually make the wait for a train bearable. The mood is perfect for the Tube; I'm usually alone among the crowd, and these faces capture that feeling and reflect it back to me in an oddly comforting way.

Comment posted by Naomi, 14 Jun 2010

I think these portraits are wonderful with so much character and gravitas. It is also a good reminder to us of the people behind the uniforms.

Comment posted by Claire Swindale, 14 Jun 2010

Fantastic. Obviously a fantastic talent, but a wonderful collection with so many enlightening levels. Inspiring.

Comment posted by jm, 14 Jun 2010

I'm a big fan of Dryden's work ever since his solo show at The Photographers' Gallery. Well done for a perfect marriage of artist with subjects - I hope staff can see themselves in the work!

Comment posted by Lisa, 14 Jun 2010

Wonderful in a word. What a delight to see such talent offered for all on the Underground. What an artist!!!!! what a city we have. Thank you.

Comment posted by Rex Beevers, 14 Jun 2010

I love watching the films of the drawings, they are amazing, and I look out for the portraits every time I'm on the tube. Its a privilege to be surrounded by such quality art when traveling on the Underground.

Comment posted by Anon, 14 Jun 2010

They look fabulous! Completed with finesse.

Comment posted by Ramin Tork, 14 Jun 2010

Absolutely brillinat. I really enjoy Dryden Goodwin's work. The conversations with the subjects are also very enjoyable.

Comment posted by Anon, 14 Jun 2010

inspiring and beautiful work. made me stop in my tracks when i first saw a poster.

Comment posted by Anon, 14 Jun 2010

really beautiful. The more art on the underground, the better.

Comment posted by Clarence, 14 Jun 2010

I live very close to Southwark tube station and see the exhibition images on the outside of the station often. I would tell myself that i would look at the website but when i get home I never did... until today. loving it so far,,, as i will watch some more clips at a later date. such a simple idea but beautfully and touchingly delivered it makes me smile now when i pass the station as i look forward to my next instalment on my jubilee line opera and its characters



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