Fuck Me Fuck You Tree, 2014
 
George Shaw, who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2011, is renowned for his highly detailed paintings and drawings and suburban subject matter. His work focuses on the Tile Hill region of Coventry where he grew up and depicts social housing, suburban woodlands, garages, alleyways, bus stops, phone boxes, graffiti and detritus. 
 
Shaw collaborated with independent printmakers Hole Editions to produce a number of hand-printed lithographic limited edition prints, many of which depict the woodland near his childhood home. Shaw remarks that while walking in these woods as a teenager he had the feeling that 'something out of the ordinary could happen at any time there, away from the supervision of adults'. 
 
Shaw states 'The images of this curious tree come from a recent series of paintings of objects and incidents found in the woods at the back of the house in which I grew up. Things grow, happen, deform, decay or are destroyed by the unseen hands of fate and assorted local loners, council workers and little shits. This tree has grown out of and into itself and over the years I've come to call it the Fuck You Fuck Me Tree. A testament to the magic of the everyday it stands like some hermaphrodite that has slipped silently from the pages of Ovid's Metamorphosis or two forbidden lovers succumbed to Puck's potion (or most likely two litres of white cider and a whiff of Araldite from a plastic bag) and held forever in a private embrace. In these prints the tree has become separated in two; The Fuck You Fuck Me Tree and The Fuck Me Fuck You Tree. On reflection this is some reference to the funny Push Me Pull You creature in Dr. Doolitlle. They were trapped, going nowhere, neither forward nor back, damned to repeat the present to the laughter of the world around them. I found some empathy with the process of image reversal in the actual printmaking process which suitably confused which way round I was looking at the tree until it didn't seem to matter anymore. Either way, it was fucked. Is this what we've come to know as Pathetic Fallacy?' 
 
One colour handprinted lithograph on Fabriano Tiepolo paper (290gsm) 
Print size: 60.3cms x 45.7cms
Paper size: 60.3cms x 45.7cms 
Edition of 50 
Signed and numbered by the artist on the reverse 
 
£500 (unframed)
 
View companion print: Fuck You Fuck Me Tree