Medium: Sculpture – found objects, skull of an ass, bubblegum, wood glue, glass, wood and mixed media

Sizes: 260(w) x 440 (l) x 420mm (h)

Price fixed in perpetuity at 1 Million Zimbabwean Dollars

McInnes Collection, Johannesburg

Description:

The sculpture is made of the jawbone of an ass covered in approximately 650 different pieces of chewed bubblegum (“Chappies Chewing Gum”). It is presented in a sealed glass case with the wrappings of each individual piece of gum used during the making of the work, strewn loosely on the bottom of the base.

The title refers to two ideas juxtaposed here:

One, a biblical reference of Samson that defeated the philistines by beating them with the skull of an ass. And secondly, the series of numbered inscriptions of factual information on the inside of the ‘Chappies’ wrappers all commonly preceded by the question “Did you know?”

In this way I was chewing and ingesting trivial information at the same time.

Also, I sold the work on the opening night of its first public showing and became an instant millionaire.