Silver Prow Remnant
2005
Oils on Wood
134x20x18cm
£500 inclusive of freight
Notes
I had this piece literally lying around for several years - it is made from soft Kapok wood which had rotted and was disintegrating. As I often do with my wood I gave it over to the termites in my garden to eat and do their extraordinary erosion-like modelling of the surface. They did such a good job that at first I thought they had had gone too far and there was nothing left to salvage - but I found that they had done what they usually do and that is reduce a piece to its core. What remained after they had attacked it was relatively hard wood beautifully carved by the insects. The effect of termite attack in this case is suggestive of cast molten metal and this is why I have used aluminium paint and silver oil paint to carry that suggestion further and create the illusion of metal. To me the piece - whilst obviously (when viewed from the side) the last remnant of a boat, is very much a human figure or a detail of the human form.