Much has been made of Eady’s practice as a series of devious works that infiltrate both the gallery, the public space and the skin of its viewers. On first approach his works avoid the radar, slipping in under the guise of humour and irony and deliver something of a knockout blow that comes unannounced.
Looking up the word devious on an online thesaurus (in an attempt to appear to be more ‘wordy’ than I actually am) I saw a number of descriptions that yes, do equate to Eady’s works both past and present. Interestingly though the antonym of Devious is possibly more apt in this case.
Whilst The Shit Gardener is most definitely devious (calculating, shrewd, artful) it is perhaps more better aligned to its opposite meaning (honest, direct, truthful). And like this dichotomy of language, Eady’s seemingly banal collection of cast bronze garden vegetables, grown in the family 390 square meter section, take on a duality of their own as utopia, politics, freedom and the family are called in for questioning.
