Inkling #4

This artwork is from a series 'Inklings' I made in my studio over the course of the Covid lockdowns. The series came about due to the lack of availability of materials at the time and so I recycled stuff already in my studio, bar the Chinese plastic oranges, which I shipped in from China (around the same time that Covid-19 was imported into the UK). My intention was to produce works that were to be exhibited for an exhibition in Hastings after the end of the lockdowns. The title of the series 'Inklings' was reference to the English word which means 'premonition'. All the works in the series took the form of a basic plywood support structure, to which I added narrative elements using a variety of materials and techniques. Inkling #4 features a set of 5 accidentally-ordered Chinese plastic display mandarins, and a silver-plated fork given to me by my then 84 year old friend Gill, who had no patience with lockdowns at the time, and so would visit me in my studio bearing odd gifts like the fork. Gill is alive and well and is now is 87 years old. Also this work features a technique I developed, while making the series, to finish the leading edge of the piece using fabric and studs in the manner of 'passementerie'.