God saved the queen

Painting the face of the regent doesn’t automatically make one a royalist, but it is an acknowledgement of the power some icons have over our senses. You see an image of the late queen, and you suddenly cannot escape the story of her life. The presence of that figure comes flooding into your head. And the neutrality you want to feel about the issues of her life, falls by the wayside.

It’s hard for some folks to look at a picture of the queen and not see some reference to the Punk movement. That was the turf of the wild graphic designer Jamie Reid, and I used to idealise his torn-up aesthetic. It made me realise that pictures alone could be part of my teenage rebellion. I wasn’t a punk, and the queen wasn’t my queen, but somehow I wanted to be part of the noise and the dirt. Even though I hate dirt, and I hated punk music.

That’s why I have put the queen some new works. The paintings say: FOMO is the fear of missing out on having leaders. FOMO is the fear of not having a universal mother figure. FOMO is the fear of not caring when someone dies.

I guess I put Tintin in the picture because so often, when I see him, I feel like he is me. I’m always trying to find a culprit. And also, because, like me Tintin is so imperfect. In the picture I am the boy, and beside me is my toy. We are wondering what will happen after the departure of the queen.