The Models or ‘PROPOSITIONS’ Propositions refers to works that are completed artworks in their own right but are also propositions for actual events. This series of works uses ancient stories or sayings as their starting point to communicate related ideas. Both The Eye of the Needle and The Kings and Queens of Suburbia explore fundamentalism in different forms, the former refers to the problem of religious fundamentalism and the latter to a more social, philosophical fundamentalism. "The Kings and Queens of Suburbia" This work re-presents an ancient story in a contemporary context thereby exploring its relevance and value today. The adapted context is an art-gallery where cast pewter pigs are eating swill at their trough. There’s a Mummy, Daddy and Daughter pig. They are situated on their own grass lawn within the gallery and surrounded by a wooden fence. A glass funnel is releasing pearls into the pig’s space but they are oblivious to this and carry on quietly and contentedly eating swill. On the wall facing their space are several artworks (by the artist) and selected by the artist for their significance to him. These would include The Blinkers Device (seen in the Bronzes section of the site). The title refers to the specific application by the artist of the story to represent a metaphor for ‘Suburbanism’ but the pigs are also given specific (albeit generic) names. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, here pigs are used as metaphors for not just specific but also a particular type of character. The work originated in a dream by the artist one evening in October 2003. The first step was to make a model of the dream and then to realise the actual happening. He defines the origin of making this work as, ‘An antidote to the poison administered by a particular Suburban Clan’. The piece fits into an ongoing body of work under the generic title, 'The War Against Provincialism', that seeks to expose fundamentalism (and in particular one branch of extremism: Suburbanism) while continuing to explore related themes of interest to the artist. Eye of the Needle, 2002 Eye of the Needle, 2002 Kings and Queens of Suburbia, 2006 Kings and Queens of Suburbia, 2006