Whatshisname
Gone | Autumn 2024

Featuring characters from the enchanting Hundred Acre Wood, these elegant and utterly heart-warming artworks hold a cross-generational significance. Since the early 1900s, Winnie-the-Pooh, and his gang of loveable pals, have been a comforting presence in many people’s childhoods.

Rekindling our own warm memories of family and friends, relationships are at the heart of this collection. We see the central characters from the story together, supporting one another despite their differences, accepting each other for who they are – expecting nothing more and nothing less.

The affectionate nostalgia of the artworks allows us to reflect on the influence of our youth on our future selves. We grow up, make our own decisions and build our own relationships, perhaps inspired by the lessons we learned about friendship from these characters.

Part of his Gone series, these pieces see Whatshisname explore visions of the childhood companions that re-enter his contemporary conscious in fleeting moments of reminiscence.

He was inspired to create the Gone series after dreaming about a figure from his youth. “They only appeared as a faded silhouette,” he remembers. “It felt like meeting with an old family member or a good friend who l hadn't seen in a very long time. After waking up I could still remember the feeling, but I couldn't remember who the person was, only a shadowy outline which could have been anyone”.

Winnie-the-Pooh is a character he is revisiting, following his previously sold-out depiction of ‘Gone Bear & Pig’ in an earlier collection. Other images in the Gone series have included Mickey Mouse, E.T. and Yoda, all figures from the artist’s childhood; the shadowed element representing our deep-rooted sense of nostalgia. 

We see the extended hands of the characters touching the face of the screen between us; a reminder of the imprint they have left on us.

Are they saying goodbye, fading from our memories as our attention is inevitably pulled towards life today? Or are they reminding us that they are still there, somewhere special deep within us? That’s up to the viewer to decide.