ESSEX GIRLS - TREE OF LIFE - 2021

'This print was created for the 'Flora and Fauna' Art Car Boot Fair 2021 over lockdown. This design was originally used for one of the "Staying Alive" neon art pieces Furr created with the neon artist Chris Bracey in 2013.

'Tree of Life' was originally inspired by a Jacobean tree of life motif crewel work that Furr owns.

The tapestries with this motif often feature symbols of fertility with brightly coloured fruit, flowers and birds. Furr mixes genres and time periods by using kitsch paintings of women by JHLynch and Tretchikoff for the fruit on the tree.

"Chris Bracey came up with the 'Essex girls' part of the title because when I showed him the design for our staying alive neon collection in 2013 he said that the women reminded him of 'Essex girls'. Now this look is probably more reminiscent of 'Love Island'. I like the images of the women in this context because they look empowered. They confront the viewer with their direct gaze almost questioning how you are meant to interact with them." - Christian Furr

There is further mystery in the use of the paintings. J H Lynch was a mid mod artist who left nothing but his paintings and his signature works, prints of which were sold worldwide by the millions, but mystery surrounds him. Some of the paintings of women featured here also appear in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Clockwork Orange’. '