Fake Trainers

Tomas Harker (1990 - )

oil on canvas

2021

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Downing Street
    Loosely painted and closely cropped, the composition of this painting mirrors that of an online product shot. The source image was an Instagram account selling fake Balenciaga trainers, a cult fashion item. Harker’s ghostly image accentuates the inauthenticity of the shoes. Painting is a medium that imposes reverence and importance to the subjects it depicts. However, as Harker explains further: ‘The idea of authenticity is called into question with painting, as it is already an illusion of a real-life thing. A painting of something which could be fake further calls this into question’.
  • About the artist
    Tom Harker was born in Worksop and is now based in London. He received a BA in Fine Arts from Leeds Art University in 2018, going on to the Royal College of Art where he received an MA in Painting in 2020. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at Screw Gallery Leeds; Copeland Gallery, London (both 2021); and Bo.lee Gallery, London (2019). He has shown work in group exhibitions at Guts Gallery, London; Galerie Mighela Shama, Geneva, Switzerland; Cob Gallery London (all 2022) and Tatjana Pieters in Ghent Belgium (2019). He won the Ingram Collection Purchase prize in 2018.
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    Places
    Subjects
    Materials & Techniques
    canvas, oil, oil paint, oil painting
  • Details
    Artist
    Tomas Harker (1990 - )
    Title
    Fake Trainers
    Date
    2021
    Medium
    oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 25.5 cm; width: 30.7 cm; depth: 2.0 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from bo.lee gallery, December 2021
    Provenance
    bo.lee gallery; from whom purchased from UK Government Art Collection, 1 December 2021
    GAC number
    19029