ART DESCRIPTION
This is a work on paper from the AND/SHOULD series of around 2001-04. The word SHOULD appears in Kamen’s work from about 2001 until his very final works. Often the word is crossed out, or vigorously scribbled over in graphite. Kamen was interested in words that had this imperative energy, and experimented with various ways to either use or redact this word (the word ‘Ought’ also appears often in his work, see work 2).
This work is executed on an ancient historical charter, relating to the very early history of England and English law, which is also is a recurring theme in his work. As a British citizen of Burmese descent, Barry often used historical texts relating to British history to explore colonialism, what ‘Britishness’ is and who is excluded from it. His ‘History of England’ series of 1993-94 is also an exploration of this theme, where Kamen redacts, or ‘blacks out’ an entire book entitled The History of England (see related images below). Colonialism, Kamen’s own experience of being British as a mixed-race man, and the power dynamics of the British monarchy were a constant theme in his work.
A work from this series was shown as part of the ‘Art-Tube 01 ‘ exhibition of 2001 on the Piccadilly Line, London, alongside work from Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono, Vivienne Westwood and others.
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OTHER WORKS
