Worthless little tokens is a series of paintings cataloguing a collection of free, found and received objects – matchboxes picked up in pubs or in the street, pens received through the post from charities and credit card companies as an incentive to sign up to a particular product or scheme, sugar, salt and sauce sachets collected as mementos of trips to places (and motorway service stations) far and wide. These everyday bits and bobs are arranged in small groups, isolated from their original functional context, and presented as if for scientific or taxonomic classification. The objects depicted are drawn from a larger collection that is neither wholly random nor entirely specific in composition. The objects can be classified by type (matchbox, pen etc) and also by how they came to be in my possession (found; received as a gift from someone I know or more frequently an unknown source; borrowed or ‘stolen’). Many of the objects feature a logo or design that is a kind of adjunct to the original functional purpose, often in themselves miniature works of art that allude to distant shores, remarkable feats of creativity, political power and design. Whilst travel (modes of transport and far off places) and iconic personalities are popular motifs, many objects feature neither of these subjects.

View more images of the exhibition at www.vane.org.uk

Above right: Free Pens, oil on canvas, 42x38cm, 2007.

Stephen Palmer is an artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Contact: stephen[at]stephenpalmer[dot]org[dot]uk

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The Dead and Alive Songs

7 inch vinyl record and 2 colour screenprint in full colour spined sleeve.

Edition of 175 plus 25 artist’s proofs.

Retail price: £45
See The Dead and Alive Songs page for more details or visit www.vane.org.uk to purchase.