2020 has certainly been a year unlike the rest and therefore will definitely be an iconic moment in 21st Century history that none of us will forget.
Once lockdown was announced back in March and the fear of the unknown presented with this complicated, unwelcomed virus meant we were all confined to our households. With life at a pause and the weeks suddenly turning into months, humans for the first time found themselves ‘busy doing nothing.’
Many artists took the time in the what seemed to be never ending hours of lockdown to create spectacular portrayals of the current times in their art. In times of so much fear, it was joyful to see artists taking full advantage of the national lockdown to produce some extraordinary work which will forever mark a vital moment in time.
Turner Art Perspective and TAP Galleries artist, James McQueen was one of many artists who wanted to not only produce art that would commemorate this deadly pandemic that saw human beings having to isolate for the sake their health and loved ones but to remember the amount of new found time which lockdown gave us. During September, just before the second peak in cases in the UK, James released an exclusive hand finished silkscreen limited edition print exclusive with our online print store, TAP Galleries. The edition of 30 was broken down into three colourways, 10 blue, 10 orange and 10 grey all with the slogan, ‘Busy Doing Nothing’ to memorialise lockdown 2020 and were all sold in a matter of days!
For James to truly express his deepest emotions towards lockdown and COVID-19, the prints were each individually hand finished with different patterns and sayings on and around the border of print, making each one slightly unique to the rest.
We as a nation may have had to stay inside to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed and to decrease the rapid spread of Coronavirus but in doing so it allowed us to become close again with family members and friends with who we were isolating with. Not only that, but we also learnt to be grateful and humble again, some may have taken up a new hobby or skill or took the time to work on the house, garden or even themselves. We were able to fall back in love with past pleasures and interests. But for some, lockdown was a time to pause, stop and simply be kept busy by doing nothing.