PEARLY KING
2007, acylic with pearl buttons on canvas, 30” x 40”

A London Barrow Boy, (definitely a Cockney) juggles his wares to attract passing trade, inadvertently “speaking” in his native “rhyming slang”. He is dressed in his hereditary “King’s” costume, worn to raise money for charity. Buy a pound of apples from him and you may end up as his “Old China”!

(A Barrow Boy is a street trader with a push cart; a Cockney is someone born within the sound of the bells of Bow church in the East end of London; “apples and pears” means “stairs” - somtimes referring to the neat stacks of fruit on the “barrow”; “old china plate” means “mate”.)