I am hoping that the Silk Road objects here will create a narrative concerning what it is we regard as valuable in our society today. At the very heart of this show is the idea of what it is we bring into our homes, where it comes from and what we truly value in our lives. Wifi connections, electrical gadgets; this was the stuff of lockdown deliveries and these works are all made from the cardboard packaging of the items we received during the pandemic. The process of using recycled cardboard packaging, or emballage, has always been at the centre of my work. I adapt myself to my materials. My artwork is a reaction to these and the enormous respect I have for them. And I believe the painting is found within the cardboard or material and not the other way around. There I begin and the objective is to evaluate the material and find its true expression. As Paul Klee once wrote “you adapt yourself to the contents of the paintbox.
My work with cardboard packaging came to the fore during my research into the Silk Roads when it dawned on me how my own life was similarly shaped by these transglobal trading routes. Emballage told a truly telling modern tale. For example, I drew a parallel with our amazon couriers of today and those Silk Road traders, many nomadic, who traversed vast distances on camels and horses trading goods made by people from diverse cultures. This was during an age when there were no nation states and indeed few borders.
Juxtapose the delicate designs on porcelain with the specificity of cardboard designed to package an electric plug (see my artwork entitled “The Ancient Garden Bird”where a flower pokes up through the holes intended for the prongs of a plug).
I employed the packaging from a BT open hub in my piece selected by Yinka Shonibare for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, as well as the “Smart Reader” and the “Commemorative Emblem of the Emperor’s visitors from Afar”, all three created from one piece of packaging!
The Peacock is painted on the packaging of an electrical massage heating pad for the frozen shoulder I was unable to get treated during lockdown.
The sources of my materials are important. There is a reason why I want you to know that the origin of these works along that wall are the lids of a Kleenex tissue box. I want you to consider how art is transformative – how it can lift us up from the mundane and the domestic to a more inspired, exciting and challenging world. In that way, I believe that art has the ability to make us value the small, humble everyday things in our lives.
Commemorative Emblem of the Emperor's Visiting Travellers
Gouache and walnut ink on recycled cardboard BT packaging
Bespoke white wooden frame with ART glass
The Ancient Temple Gardens of Delight
Acrylic, gouache and walnut ink on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke white wood frame with ART glass 38.5 x 40 x 4
The Ancient Garden Bird, objet d'art
Walnut ink, gouache, acrylic on the recycled cardboard packaging for an electrical item
Bespoke white wood frame 40 x 37 x 7.5
Large blue jug/ vase
Acrylic, ink on recycled;ed cardboard
Bespoke black wood frame 37 x 27 x 4
Emerald jug/ vase
Acrylic, ink on recycled cardboard
Bespoke black wood frame 37 x 27 x 4
The Tiny Museum of Vases
Gouache on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke white frame 31.6 x 25 x 4
Eagle Plate
Gouache, acrylic, ink on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke oak frame 47 x 44 x 3
Peacock Tray
Gouache, ink on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke oak frame 50 x 40 x 3
Tile featuring princely seated character within six cornered star
Acrylic, gouache, walnut ink on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke white frame 31 x 31 x 2
Ancient tile remnant
Acrylic and walnut ink
Bespoke white frame 25.4 x 31.6 x 4
Black Panther plate
Acrylic on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke white frame 31.6 x 25 x 4
Garden of the Empress Tray
Acrylic, gouache and ink on a shoebox lid
Bespoke white wood Tray frame 22 x 28 x 6
The Chinese Porcelain Room, Victoria and Albert Museum
Gouache, ink, acrylic on Arches Aquarelle
Bespoke oak frame ART glass 37 x 44 x 3
Dragon Vessel
Acrylic, black ink on recycled cardboard packaging
Bespoke black wood frame 43 x 62 x 4 ART glass
Trojan Vessel 1 (left) and Trojan Vessel 2 (right) (sold individually)
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Fertility figure with triplets (left) and Genie (right) (sold individually)
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Fertility figure with triplets
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Genie
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Musician with guitar
Acrylic, walnut ink and ink on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Musician with tambourine
Acrylic, walnut ink and ink on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Decorative floral lid
Acrylic, ink in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Owl
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Ancient bird
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Paraqueets (sold individually)
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
The Smart Reader
Acrylic, ink on the recycled cardboard packaging of a BT Smart Hub
Bespoke oak frame 38 x 64 x 3
Persian Rug 1 and 2
Ink and watercolour on hand woven Indian paper
Bespoke oak frame
40 x 50 x 4