We are all just scratching on the surface
John Lally
Artist and painter
Born in England to Irish/English parents, Lally spent his childhood moving between England and Ireland. After leaving school, Lally travelled throughout Europe and the Middle East before settling in London. It was in London in the early 90s that Lally began painting and creating art. At first this was figurative, but as the 90s progressed he changed his focus to pure abstract and conceptual art. He creates his works by scratching boards, paper and canvases in the hope of discovering something below the surface.
To scratch something that is worth a million dollars
The Million series was conceived in 2002 not long after Lally moved to France. The challenge was to create artworks using a subject that could convey greed, value, selfishness and worth. It took a while before he decided on the figure of 1000000, which was the only subject that he felt, did not fall into a pitiful cliché.