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Gallery's honour for tragic Jack

Jack Maddams
Jack Maddams

by Jenni Horn

A top London art gallery has dedicated a room to the work of a Medway teenager who died suddenly last year.
Jack Maddams, of Georgian Way, Wigmore, was just days away from his 18th birthday when he died from a rare heart condition.
The Rochester Math School pupil was a keen artist and footballer.
Following his death, his teachers entered a piece of his art work into the Saatchi Online Schools Competition.
The competition gets entries from all over the world, and Jack’s work, Angry Boy, was selected as one of the best.
It appeared on the back page of the Sunday Telegraph, which prints the leading contenders in the competition.
The article prompted Jack’s father Roger to contact the Saatchi Gallery in Kings Road, London.
Roger and Jack’s mother Janet were invited to show Jack’s portfolio to the gallery curator, Dyala Nusseibeh, who was so taken with Jack’s talent that a room was dedicated to his work.
Roger said: “It has made us feel about 10ft tall. I remember driving down Kings Road with Jack once and he was really impressed with the area.
“If he had known his work would one day be on display in a prestigious gallery there, he would have been blown away.
“For his work to be chosen as one of the best in a international competition makes me feel very proud and humble. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.”
Jack painted the Angry Boy picture in 2007 after asking one of his school friends to pull an angry face for a photograph.

The Angry Boy- by Jack Maddams
The Angry Boy- by Jack Maddams


The Saatchi display also includes a self-portrait which was used on the order of service at Jack’s funeral.
Before Jack died, he had secured a place to study a foundation art degree at the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester. He wanted to study fine art.
After his death Rochester Math School held an exhibition of his work, but this is the first time his art has been part of a public exhibition.
Roger said: “The two loves in Jack’s life were art and sport. He would have been so proud.”
Roger and Janet, along with Jack’s younger brother Robert, will today (Friday) go to see Jack’s exhibition for the first time.
A spokesman for the Saatchi gallery said: “Jack’s work is proving very popular with visitors here at the gallery. We are very pleased to have a chance to display it.”

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