Ship of Fools

Stoneware, T Material, with underglaze colours and gold and platinum lustres. Height 31 cms 

The Ship of Fools is an updating of an old allegory from Western culture in literature and paintings. With self-criticism, it shows the world and its human inhabitants as a vessel whose deranged passengers have no awareness or care to where they are travelling. The voyagers are shown with their reliance on the modern gods of technology and of course financial success.

Columbus Detail

Columbus Discovers the Edge of the World

Stoneware, T Material, with underglaze colours and gold and platinum lustres. Height 41 cms

“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

Columbus may well have sailed the ocean blue but what if his belief of a round world was misjudged? Many of his crew feared they might sail off the edge of the world. So here we have his crew’s worst nightmare. Columbus is oblivious to their peril as he considers his future fame and fortune. Neptune, floats nearby, pointing out that in fact the world is actually flat. The ship’s cat, Ferdinand, is still intent on the rats as they attempt to desert the imperilled “Santa Maria”.