Coming Up Roses. New Work at London Art Fair 17-21 Jan 2024

“Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is a triptych of three rose flowers each made of a sequence of Chinese banknotes inclucing Chinese Fen dating from the 1950’s through to Chinese Jiaos  and Yuan from the 80’s and 90’s right up to the present day. The vessel for each is a gilded glass Coke bottle, placed on a marble plinth. It is an exploration of the recent history of China and contains ideas around industrialisation, commodification, individual freedom and oppression.

The notion of economic strength as a conduit of power has been a fundamental interest in my work since I began  working with currency, and I have made a number of pieces around the rise of China as a world power including Rise and Fall,  Inheritance and Money Map of the World China  The title for this new work is borrowed form a classical 14th Century epic by Luo Guanzhong which revolves around the rise and fall of power, the consequences of ambition, the complexities of human relationships and the cyclical nature of history. This idea of the ephemeral nature of power is also a theme of longstanding interest in my work.

Chinas’ political importance has gone hand in hand with its economic growth. I have been reading about the Three Reforms, a policy enacted by Deng Xiaoping after the devastation caused to Chinese society and economy after the Cultural Revolution to rebuild the economy which allowed a vast influx of foreign investment, massive industrialisation  and entrepreneurial activity.  The consequences of this have created conflict, corruption and great inequality, perhaps inevitable where a one party communist dictatorship is operating an industrial market economy. In my sculpture I am trying to reflect some of the inherent tensions in these opposing forces. I hope you can come and take a peak.