The Penguin Book of English Short Stories

2017: Acrylic on canvas, 120 x 120cm

Various - The Penguin Book of English Short Stories

This painting is very specifically about what forms the canon of English 'stories', who chooses them and what this means. the central textual 'Editorial Foreword' is of startling banality and the explosion of colours that emanate from it show that such banality is inadequate. The foreword ignores issues of race, colonialism, sexism, and class, all of which haunt the stories themselves. It casually dismisses the only two women authors who were selected. This collection of short stories was being taught as exemplary of literature without social criticism at leading universities well into the 20th Century. I wanted to turn it into an explosion.

The Penguin Book of English Short Stories, detail

The Penguin Book of English Short Stories, detail