Original artwork description:

Before the burbling Virus wormed its way uninvited into all our lives The City of London was saturated with workers toiling away in swanky architect designed office blocks, just like the ones you see here, huddled together like an upmarket Stonehenge. But now that we live in a BNW (Brave New World) of WFH (Working From Home), the 'old abnormal' is over. In the future, we will all be working on laptops from our spare bedrooms/kitchens/cupboards-under-the-stairs. The term 'office block' will become obsolete.

At the time of writing (Sep, 2020) this vision of the near future may seem hard to comprehend. But is it really? Ever since The City, located slap bang in the centre of Greater London, was chosen as the site of a Roman settlement, Londinium, in the 1st century AD, this small patch of ground - The Square Mile - has undergone far worse traumas than the current agony of commercial landlords having nervous breakdowns about the potential loss of income from companies dispensing with office space like nudists shedding fur-lined boiler suits in a heatwave.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries this Roman backwater was raided by the Picts, Scots, Saxons, Traders. Tiring of fending off northern yahoos and unable to get a decent pizza the Romans pulled out in 410, leaving it to fall into disrepair. The centre of trade in Londinium moved west to Covent Garden where at least there was a handy Pret. King Alfred restored the City in 886 and William conquered it in 1075. It has been burnt down three times, in 1123 and 1666 and during the blitz in 1940. In the late 16th century it's reputation grew as the pre-eminent centre for trade and banking. St Paul's went up in 1708: but, over the years, residential buildings came down, and were gradually replaced by 'office blocks'.

Now this is a rich and traumatic history. In 2000 years time The City will no doubt have been regenerated, like Dr Who, into...well what exactly? Will all the office blocks that you see here, built on the graves of residential buildings, be re-fashioned back into....er.... residential buildings? Will it become a historical Financial Services Theme Park: The Share Price Roller Coaster - it can go up as well as down!! Perhaps it will even fall into disrepair once again and become a tourist attraction - ConcreteHenge.

Assuming the Virus is over by then, or that we at least have a vaccine, I would pay good money to see that.

Limited Edition Prints.
Printed on William Turner Hahnemuhle fine art exhibition quality paper (310 g/m2) using Epson Ultrachrome Pro Pigments, the colours remain true to the original up to 100 years.
The image size is 43×30 cms and there is an additional 3 cms border all the way round the image (ie total size: 49×36 cms). The artist will sign and number the print in this border. The print is unframed.
Prints will leave the artists studio within 7 days, rolled in a heavy tube, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and sent via track and trace.

Materials used:

Acrylics

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