2021, Oil, acrylic, spray paint. Each work 115 x 65cm. Private collection.
The Pepys estate was officially opened on 13th July 1966 by Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG. Construction began in 1966 with the new Greater London Council in charge and was completed in 1973. Three signature 24 storey towers dominate the estate, Eddystone (the one I lived in), Aragon and Daubeney. I wanted to make an abstracted painting of each, proportionally exact to reflect a face-on view of the tower blocks at 1:34 scale. Each scaled replica was then clad in perspex to reflect the cladding of the estate in the 1990’s - a cosmetic effort to regenerate the estate and paper over the cracks. I wanted to change the aesthetic of the paintings so that from afar they look like contemporary, high gloss blocks of colour, their content revealed on closer inspection.