Reproduction

1993

oil on linen

72 x 72 inches

Nudity, sexuality, and the value of salt are entwined.  This particular picture was first exhibited in So-Ho, New York, at the National Westminster Bank (behind the help desk).  In time there was a revelation – the figures were indeed doing what they are doing – and after 3 weeks the bank manager had me remove
the art!

The evolution of this particular painting came about through the creation of many drawings and sketches including a range of paintings.  An image of a girl striding came about through the merging of an American household product together with my painting imagination.  I was sued by the company, given instruction to give advance notice for art produced which they would approve.  However, in the USA I was protected by the constitution.

The conceptual basis for this series is best summed up in a press-release titled Consuming Suzette, written by Tracy Bredow, a poet, using factual information provided by the company whose logo I co-opted.  Morton Salt has provided iodized salt to millions of Americans for an entire century.  I’ve depicted the full set of Morton Salt container labels, seen flat and placed in the gondolas.  Those same labels are wrapped around containers (a more physical counterpoint to the flat ones).

What was my subject matter 21 years ago?  There are trademarks, logos, or packaging from the mass-production that enters domestic life via the household product.  Their visual banality enters our psyche and therefore in art may be held to ransom, both co-opting the characters they provide, or at other times abstracting their design.  The same can be said for all things graspable in the material sense, all of which can be summarized with my approach to the medium of oil paint.

Chore

Haagen Dazs

Reproduction

Lamb White Days

Hollywood’s Waste

Agitate

Campaign Salt Ad

Vacant Mankind