Porcelain Chavs
These porcelain figures are unlikely to be advertised as 'adorable collectÂibles' on the back pages of the Sunday magazines.
Instead of portraying genteel ladies in billowing skirts or lovable dogs, they depict the worst excesses of British chavdom.
Scenes include a family messily scoffing a KFC meal, a hoodie daubing a wall with Shakespearian graffiti and two young thugs carrying out a happy slap attack.
Artist Barnaby Barford bought traditional porcelain statues at car boot sales for a few pounds before adding his tailor-made accessories – mobile phones, fast food and hoodies.
The process takes up to three months but the models in new collection, The Good, The Bad, The Belle, sell for as much as £8,000.
'It's been intÂeresting to see different people's reactions to the models,' said Barford. 'Some people think they're horrific and others think they're funny.
'I think people are shocked because the models catch them off guard,' belÂieves the 31-year-old from London, who made the 'dire-amas' to depict how today's teenagers are seen by older generations.
'They're seeing these usually traditÂional, pretty porcelain models in a totally new context,' he added.
But Barford stressed his pieces were not meant to be a criticism of today's youngsters.
'I'm not vilifying the youth of today in any way, I'm not telling them off but rather refÂlecting the way they are perceived,' he said.
The works are on display at the Spring Projects gallery in Camden.
These porcelain figures are unlikely to be advertised as 'adorable collectÂibles' on the back pages of the Sunday magazines.
Instead of portraying genteel ladies in billowing skirts or lovable dogs, they depict the worst excesses of British chavdom.
Scenes include a family messily scoffing a KFC meal, a hoodie daubing a wall with Shakespearian graffiti and two young thugs carrying out a happy slap attack.
Artist Barnaby Barford bought traditional porcelain statues at car boot sales for a few pounds before adding his tailor-made accessories – mobile phones, fast food and hoodies.
The process takes up to three months but the models in new collection, The Good, The Bad, The Belle, sell for as much as £8,000.
'It's been intÂeresting to see different people's reactions to the models,' said Barford. 'Some people think they're horrific and others think they're funny.
'I think people are shocked because the models catch them off guard,' belÂieves the 31-year-old from London, who made the 'dire-amas' to depict how today's teenagers are seen by older generations.
'They're seeing these usually traditÂional, pretty porcelain models in a totally new context,' he added.
But Barford stressed his pieces were not meant to be a criticism of today's youngsters.
'I'm not vilifying the youth of today in any way, I'm not telling them off but rather refÂlecting the way they are perceived,' he said.
The works are on display at the Spring Projects gallery in Camden.
