PURE FAITH

2007, Oil on Linen, 100 x 100cm

Selected for the Blake Prize Directors Cut

Pure Faith exploits the iconic image of the “velvet rope” - in this celebrity-saturated world it has become the ultimate symbol that separates the haves from the have-nots, the celebrated from the un-celebrated, the famous from the almost-famous.

By altering its context and adding a vertiginous precipice at either side it poses questions about where in fact the “chosen path” actually leads. That the path is broken by a gap clearly too great to be hurdled further causes pause for thought. Is this a warning about the modern obsession to pursue fame seemingly at any cost? A metaphor for the difficulty of life lived in the spotlight? Or a fable regarding leaps of faith?