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Graduate explores the art of wrestling

06/06/2018

A University of Wolverhampton Fine Art graduate has been signed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and will compete at the Royal Albert Hall in London later this month.

Gavin Watkins, 28, originally from Brynmawr in South Wales and now living in Stafford, graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art in 2013.  His official wrestling name is Flash Morgan Webster.

Gavin started wrestling at a young age when he was growing up in South Wales and he travelled around the UK, plying his craft.  He started to study Fine Art at the Wolverhampton School of Art in 2010.

He’s wrestled in 12 countries and won numerous title belts and will compete in a WWE tournament at the Royal Albert Hall on 18th June with a chance to wrestle the WWE United Kingdom Champion.

He said:  “I’ve always been a creative person and would spend hours drawing as a child and that love followed me through school and college. I fell in love with Fine Art and it was through my studies that I started to see similarities of performance art and wrestling.

“I wrestled alongside my degree – spending Monday to Thursday in the Fine Art studios and Friday to Sunday travelling the country wrestling.  I found that the more I studied and learned about conceptual art, the more it informed my wrestling.

“My Fine Art course gave me the tools I needed to approach and look at the world differently.  Wrestling at its core is performance art but instead of the art taking place in a studio or gallery, it takes place in a wrestling ring.”

Watch Flash Morgan Webster in action on Facebook.   Anyone interested in studying Fine Art at the University should register for the next Open Day on Saturday 16th June 2018 or check out the Degree Show currently exhibiting student work in the George Wallis Building, Wolverhampton until Wednesday 20th June – 10.00 am until 4.00 pm Monday to Saturday.

Action shot (Robyn Goding of Beyond Gorilla Photography)
Studio Shot (Jim Maitland of Turning Face Photography).

ENDS

 

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