For those of you unfamiliar with the term “chav“, it represents the label applied to a subset of low-class youth subculture in the UK, who sport a distinctive style of clothing and revere hip-hop and working-class muscle cars. While this might be your first exposure to chav culture, there is yet another layer to experience, laid atop of this one in the name of art and/or commerce: porcelain chavs!
Yes, in the grand tradition of Lladro and Hummel, artist Barnaby Barford appropriates pre-made porcelain figurines at flea markets and similar amateur sales events and outfits them with the proper accoutrements to render the characters into chavs. For instance, one such scene has a boy rolling on the ground in pain as another kicks him for the amusement of a third, who is filming the event on video.
Another scene features a family tearing into a couple of buckets of KFC chicken. While the artist claims he’s not trying to cast aspersions on today’s generation of youngsters, because he’s selling these scenes for as much as £8,000 ($11,991), he is at the very least trying to cash in on a growing social trend — and an ugly one, at that. Ah, art. Nothing says “integrity” like the sound of the cash register.
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