M HKA Ensembles

Painting, 492.3 x 717.6 cm.

Collection: Praz-Delavallade, Paris (France).

Since 2004, Jim Shaw has been using second-hand backdrop cloths from the amateur theatre as a support for monumental paintings. They often show idealised images of suburban streets or parks. The iconography of Octopus Vacuum refers to the fictional religion that Shaw has developed since the 1990s: Oism. Inspired by bizarre 19th century religious movements in the United States, the latter is an artistic attempt to create a religion with its own history, symbolism, rituals and traditions. Central is the belief in the omnipotence of a female deity, symbolised by the letter 'O'. The title's octopus, a symbol for the mystery of the unknown, is here a floating vacuum cleaner with eight hoses that appears to suck in a group of dressed-up 19th-century ladies. Around it float moustaches and other forms of facial hair, which in the late 19th century were crucial to the representation of the masculinity and power of American industrialists.