Slawn

Slawn and his spray paints are taking over the world. His cartoonish scrawl has covered cars, expensive watches, planes and even the FA Cup. Appropriation has a double meaning in Slawn’s work. On one level, he’s staking a claim to these luxury objects. By using these objects instead of a canvas, he inscribes his own meaning on them. More controversial is his ‘appropriation’ of racist caricatures. His black characters feature exaggerated red lips, and are often depicted naked or in voyeuristic situations – all borrowed from minstrelsy. The work titles are also just as provocative e.g. The Irony of a Nigerian Policeman (a nod to Basquiat). Slawn questions how an image is able to elicit such a negative emotional response in the first place – “I just want to get to a place where people feel comfortable with stuff that’s taboo.”