Central Saint Martins Illustration gave us a project to rework the Rakes Progress series by William Hogarth, bringing it forward into a more contemporary environment. The brief suggested that this could either be based on a purely fictional tale or reflect a story from society today!
The original series focusses on the downfall of Tom Rakewell, the promising young heir of a rich merchant, who by moving to London unfortunately wastes his money, becomes enrolled in the seedy world of prostitution and gambling and as a consequence finds himself in prison, and finally confined to a mad house!
At the time of this project being set, there had been huge media coverage of Britney Spears and her struggles with fame and constantly being within the media spotlight. I found comparisons between the lives of Tom and Britney.
Both had been drawn to the glitz of life within a bigger city (London - Hollywood) both had been within respected circles (Tom the heir - Britney the perfect American girl) both had become enrolled within seedy undertakings (Tom with prostitution and gambling - Britney with drink and drugs) both had failed marriages based on money (Tom who married a rich old maid - Britney who married a man who was after her money!) and both had, had problems with the law and eventually their sanity questioned (Tom confined to a mad house - Britney and the infamous shaving of the hair!)
I decided that these similar scenarios would make for an interesting reworking of the original series. I decided to create eight paintings (as with the original!) that followed the story of Britney in the same way as the story of Tom unfolded.
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