Cockney Set, 1991, engraved fork, sandblasted wine bottle, sandblasted jar, box, edition of 15; dimensions variable.

This piece is a reference to the 20 years I spent in London during my childhood and teenage years.

Cockney Set derivations and anecdotal information:

Aristotle – bottle

As is often the case in cockney rhyming slang, this word is rarely spoken in full, being instead abbreviated to 'arry'.

Duke of York – fork

Forks, in early 19 century slang, were 'fingers'; fingers  represent 'the hand'; a Hand  can be bunched into 'fists'. Thus the rhyming couplet Duke(s) of York is reduced to Duke(s), and pronounced in Cockney dialect dooks. The phrase 'put up your dukes' has passed into general usage, although few people know its derivation.

Plink Plonk – vin blanc

This term developed during the First World War, and may be related to the term 'dirty water', a general slang term for alcoholic beverages at that time. 'Plonk' was also a contemporary term for mud – perhaps suggested by the noise made when shoveling it out of a trench, or when walking in it. The reductive term 'plonk' for a bottle of cheap wine has also passed into common use in England, and dinner invitations are often postscripted with a request for a 'bottle of plonk'.