Abstract

Outside Toilet is a development of the research started in the artwork Untitled 1 (as detailed in output 2). Outside Toilet is one a series of artworks that looks at our understanding of the contemporary English village, village community and social class. Here my research was into the use of and re-assignment of residential outbuildings in various village locations. In particular I was interested in the buildings as indicators of social class. In this painting the ‘toilet’ is both the one contained within the building itself as well as the one represented by the building as a whole oozing its pathetic dribble of water.

The artwork is a 25.4cm x 35.4cm acrylic painting. It was one of 62 works selected from 3,090 entries for the 2012 John Moores Painting Prize. The selectors were Fiona Banner, Iwona Blazwick OBE, Angela de la Cruz, George Shaw and Alan Yentob OBE. Other exhibiting artists include Andrew Cranston, Emma Talbot, Vincent Hawkins and Sarah Pickstone.

Outside toilet is included in a catalogue that accompanies the show. The John Moores Painting Prize 2012 is part of the Liverpool Biennial that runs from 15th September – 25 November 2012. Throughout the duration of the exhibition there are numerous talks and activities available to the public about the paintings on show. The exhibition has been extensively reviewed in the national press.