En Suite
the 2010 do-it-yourself queen, by JMW
This giant sculpture (250cm tall) was made solely from do-it-yourself superstore products, mainly from the bathroom and sanitary departments. The head is an upturned sink unit with the eyes fashioned out of plastic gloves filled with lavatory paper; the nose a sink plug with metal ring; the ears plastic stoppers; the teeth from bathroom tiles; the lips from red tape; and the hair from a pink bath mat. The neck is made from pipe lagging (as are the arms and legs) while the necklace is a shower hose pipe and hanging from it are links for a shower curtain.
The body is a bath tub. Allied to it are breasts fashioned out of sink plungers with the handles removed and the pink pubic hair is an offcut from the mat used for the head hair. The breasts were deliberately low slung to invite inevitable comments from woman viewers. The blouse and the skirt are fashioned from shower curtains while the hands and feet are made from transparent plastic gloves stuffed with bog paper and with painted finger and toe nails. One hand holds a painting brush. The material sources were B&Q, Wilkinson and Homebase stores.
The glory of this crude and yet captivating super art - some would label it supermart - sculpture is that when entered (using photographs) for the 2010 Royal Academy summer show, it was haughtily rejected by sculptor judges who cannot discern imaginative and maverick novelty when it is staring them straight in the face.
The illustration top right is of En Suite in her entirety, while the image at bottom right shows detail of her head. The work, attached to 18mm thick chipboard, currently hangs in the artist's garage.