Lot 172: Ship of Fools, Belly of the Beast

Bill Woodrow, R.A. (b. 1948) Ship of Fools, Belly of the Beast aluminium bath tub and enamel paint, unique 74 ¾ in. (190 cm.) long Conceived in 1986. The present work is recorded in the Bill Woodrow archive as no. BW218.

(190 cm.) long

Cologne, Paul Maenz, Bill Woodrow: Neue Skulpturen, April - May 1986. Edinburgh, Fruitmarket Gallery, Bill Woodrow: Sculpture, September - October 1986, not numbered. Amsterdam, KunstRAI 87, Een Keuze, June 1987.

L. Cooke, exhibition catalogue, The elevation of the host, Bill Woodrow Sculpture 1980-86, Edinburgh, Fruitmarket Gallery, 1986, pp. 140-141, illustrated. L. Cooke, 'Bill Woodrow: the ship of fools', Parkett 12, Zürich, March 1987, pp. 10, 11, 16, illustrated.

Purchased by the present owner at the Paul Maenz exhibition.

The Ship of Fools is a theme that Woodrow has returned to throughout his career. Originating from Plato, the phrase is an allegory that depicts a boat of madmen without a leader, travelling on an unknown course in search of reason. A commentary on the foolishness of mankind, Woodrow’s use of discarded materials, appropriated from skips and junkyards, is particularly apt. Lynne Cooke comments that ‘Ship of Fools: Belly of the Beast, 1986, the penultimate in the group is amongst the most successful and poignant to date … Sprawling on its flank, a worn industrial bath becomes a fragmentary skeletal carcass, the blood from which, now mixed with gold, engulfs the model ship; a double-sided drawing-room clock mutely marks the passage of time; with its two luminous faces the form becomes oddly suggestive of animate eyes in the head of an inert animal … certain transferences or transpositions have taken place: the blood from one component for example becomes the adjunct of a second’ (see L. Cooke, loc. cit., p. 10).