Fried-chicken art exhibited at Tottenham Hotspur stadium

Fried-chicken artwork has gone on display in a gallery at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, paying homage to the “matchday ritual”.

Artist Jack Hirons uses charred and crushed bones of fried chicken in his exhibition Fowl Play.

It features a stained-glass window that doubles as a chicken shop menu and a series of black-and-white paintings.

The exhibition is the 31-year-old’s debut London solo show and runs until 11 May.

It is hosted in OOF, a contemporary art gallery inside the stadium grounds.

“It’s interesting to present art to that audience,” Mr Hirons told BBC London. “It’s a long way from Mayfair, as a contemporary art gallery.”

Mr Hirons, who now lives in Margate, said he started going to Tottenham Hotspur games when he moved to London as a student in 2012.

“The idea came from going to games and visiting Chick-King directly opposite the stadium,” he said.

“It is definitely part of mine and lots of other people’s matchday rituals. There is always a big queue. The interior feels really iconic.”

He began making the paintings in 2017 with discarded bones from the Tottenham High Road fast-food restaurant, which he blackened and ground into a dark pigment.

The result was a series of paintings about chickens, made from chicken bones. The stained glass also uses the custom-made pigment.

“Humans have been painting with animal bones for a long time,” said Mr Hirons.

For him, the exhibition is about combining the fried chicken eaten before a game with the football club’s cockerel logo, which features on the team’s shirts and stadium.

“It’s very site-specific,” he said. “Contemporary art doesn’t need to be this closed loop. Why not have it at a football match?”

All photos copyright: Jack Hirons, Courtesy OOF Gallery