28 Jun Mr Showman
This is another of the pieces I did for Eurotrash. Tis only a small paper piece, weighing in around 60cm x 45cm, may be less, can’t remember. This was part of a lil side project I started earlier in the year but haven’t really continued yet.
I wanted to look at the stiff and stuffy portraits of the Victorian aristocracy and break then down a lil with the more playful graffiti text. The British took Hong Kong under conditions that even they knew were illegal but reconciled their action by the fact that European laws and codes of ethics didn’t apply in Asia as those people were seen as mere savages. I love that word. Its disgusting and arrogant and funny now in the context of Asia’s might (and in the savage actions of the so-called civilized West…Iraq, ahem) Of course the Irish were also considered savages. Many people see graffiti as a savage act too. So in this series of portraits (ok, this is the only one so far) I want to subvert the civilized with a lil bit of the savage.
