Acrylic and UV Reactive pigment on Canvas, 250×250.
The button depicted is a Soviet Era “launch” button, with the button replaced by a clothing button, activated using a sewing needle. The text above the button (barely legible) reads “ВСТАВЬТЕ ПИН-код ДЛЯ ЗАПУСКА” – “Insert pin to launch” or “Insert Startup Pin” depending on how badly Google Translate messed up! It could read “Suck your Mum” in cyrillic. Probably for the best, therefore, that it’s not easy to read!
The inspiration for this came from a train journey a few years ago, travelling with two new friends (met at a funeral) to Glasgow. Lovely people, and lets just say “highly educated”. There was an emergency call button next to our seats which was rattling slightly. One of my friends decided they’d had enough, and decided to quieten the disturbance. We thought he would maybe wedge something underneath it.
What we didn’t expect was for him to press it! We’re on a train, travelling at 70MPH, and he’s pressed the emergency button. I had never experienced a combination of horror, glee and a desire to belly laugh simultaneously. It was an invtgorating sensation. Moments later, a train supervisor and member of staff appeared. Fortunately, they saw the funny side. And it did stop the rattling, albeit temporarily until it had been reset.
