Roofless

Roofless 44 and other numbered editions, are ceramic hand painted axes. The axes play with the notion of the fragile and breakable and began with a reaction to the concept of designed obsolescence. This is where companies design there products to where-out and eventually break down. Unable to be repaired, they are thrown away. Stewart understood here a parallel between the symbol of the axe and its loss of influence on our society. The axe and its power featured, up until recent times throughout human history. It has of recent become unimportant and underused. Upon seeing an axe in hardware store the artist witnessed the addition of a plastic hanging hook, in order for it to be displayed to the consumer. The juxtaposition here between the axe and its consumer addition came as a sad reminder of state of the current society, the symbols that once meant a lot to people are suddenly mass produced and cheaply available