Dale Lewis
66 7/8 x 78 3/4 in
Revisiting a childhood memory of Britain in the late 1980s, Mould depicts the artist alone in a damp council flat bedroom, surrounded by peeling wallpaper made from a repeated lino cut of a Care Bear. Loosely referencing Eric Fischl’s painting Pizza Eater (1982) in its composition, the painting combines childhood imagination with confusion and performative play, recalling moments of Lewis draping a synthetic Union Jack around his shoulders and wearing his mother’s white stilettos - acts that hovered between innocence, attention-seeking, and an unformed awareness of his sexuality. The motif of the Union Jack connects Lewis’ personal memories to current political tensions, referencing debates around campaigns such as Operation Raise the Colours, and highlighting differing receptions and interpretations to signs of national identity.

