Stoat Lying on a Wall - After L S Lowry Print

This piece is part of an exhibition, Getting Under the Skin, currently showing at the Westminster Arts Reference Library situated in London’s West End just behind the National Gallery. The show features 10 famous works of art reimagined by Field and Young as taxidermy tableaux to reflect the Library’s vast art and design collection. Laurence Stephen Lowry was famed for his industrial Lancastrian landscapes, but in his later career depicted smaller, more intimate subjects. His 1957 painting “Man Lying on a Wall” was inspired by a scene he glimpsed from the top deck of a bus, of a well-dressed man reclining on a wall smoking, complete with umbrella and briefcase. Field and Young’s affectionate homage features a recumbent stoat wearing a hand-sewn suit made from vintage fabric. The wall was constructed from mini bricks. The briefcase and umbrella were also handmade with the painted background on moisture-resistant hardboard. The stoat was found by a gamekeeper in the decidedly non-industrial Dorset.