In 2008, Chris Gollon was under tremendous pressure to produce works for three different public commissions. He had to complete three Stations of the Cross by Easter; to start work on a commission from the River & Rowing Museum to paint the Henley Royal Regatta to be unveiled in July; lastly, to prepare and work out a style to deal with a forthcoming Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, where he was to work with some of the world's leading thinkers on the Being Human project.

'Gollon at Henley' was completed end of June 2008, after Gollon had produced many studies and four editions of silk-screen prints for the commission. It is now in the permanent collection of the River & Rowing Museum, and is exhibited alongside works by Raoul Dufy, Julian Trevelyan, John Piper and Justin Mortimer.

Gollon took the unusual decision to focus on the losing team, since most people's experience of sport is actually losing. He had noticed that the winners lift their boats effortlessly from the water, yet the losers could barely drag them out of the river, and the pretty girls looked away.

Award-winning sports writer Simon Barnes was so taken with the work, and the studies, all focusing on the losing teams, that he took the very unusual step to review the exhibition in the Sports Section of The Times newspaper (click second image).