Labourers Lighting a Cigarette by Keith Vaughan

Edward Higgins White III by Alek O

Edward Higgins White III by Alek O by The Cooper Gallery

Tactile textile by Jacqueline James

Hand-woven and embellished textile  This extravagantly textured woven textile piece was commissioned for the Cooper Gallery for this exhibition. The piece was designed to be touched and will be used for handling sessions by the gallery once Covid restrictions have been lifted.   The colours, textures and embellishments invite interaction. The artist is registered blind and her use of contrasting colours helps her to navigate her work on the loom.

Perfume in a glass bottle and wooden box by Antony Gormley

This limited edition eau de parfum was created by award-winning perfume designer Azzi Glasser with Antony Gormley for his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2019.   Iron is inspired by the smell of Gormley’s studio   “I wanted to capture the DNA scent print of IRON”

Untitled by Max Wigram

Untitled by Max Wigram by The Cooper Gallery

Labourers Lighting a Cigarette by Keith Vaughan

In dark, earthy colours and the yellow ochres of nicotine stains, two men are stood together, the one on the left is offering up his cigarette for the other man to use to light his. The only highlights in the image fall on the cigarettes and the men’s hands. The clothing they are wearing, and the tool that the man on the left is holding, shows that they are labourers and are likely to be in a work environment. The gesture between them suggests friendship and a level of camaraderie, despite the tough, hard environment that the men are in. The colour palette evokes the taste and smell of the cigarettes.