Spider + WebNovember 2005 Remember when you were a kid and your friends had birthday parties from 3 to 6pm? And everyone came in their nice dresses (or equally nice boy clothes) and there were chocolate rice krispies buns and yellow label fizzy orange... If the birthday person was a girl, it was guaranteed she would receive at least one present of coloured, scented, shaped soap... I know i got that on several birthdays and christmases over the years... There was the fruit shaped soaps, and the classic pink soap in the shape of a rose. Well i don`t know what those other girls did with the soaps they received, but i know mine sat on the windowsill or the edge of the bath for years and years. Well they were too pretty to actually wash yourself with them... In a strange way, these two paintings came from the repeated experience of having dusty soap in my life! There is so much pressure on people to give presents at various times during the year. People give presents because it`s expected, because they don`t want to look bad, because the other person gave them something. And so a lot of people end up with a lot of novelty soap. These two paintings came to me when someone gave me a gift that really was useful and suited to me, a gift that was thoughtful and beautiful... And it wasn`t for any occasion... they just wanted to do something good for me... |
