A Leading 20th Century Artist

Biped Undercoatings was – perhaps – the 20th century’s great pre-post-impressionistic abstract pointillist painter, famous for his paintings of the elbows of some of the most influential people of the century: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Stanley Matthews, Benny Hill, Gloria Hunniford and many other such great statesmen and philosophers all sat for Undercoatings, with their elbows brazenly on display for him to capture in paint.

Of course, there were scandals too, his infamous painting of Marylyn Munroe’s naked elbow outraged the conservative America of the 1950s, and his rather frank portrayal of Sophia Loren with both elbows revealed was quite outrageous for even the ‘liberated’ swinging 60s.

By the 1980s however, when the octogenarian Undercoatings revealed his painting of celebrity child-catcher Madonna in fetish gloves with peepholes exposing her elbows in a way never seen before, there was little in the way of outrage. It seemed that both Undercoatings and Madonna had both inured people to shock and outrage and it was their explicit displays of elbows – and in Madonna’s case other arm joints such as the wrist and shoulder – in all their naked glory had made the general public rather blasé about such forms of nudity.

It seems there is only so much outrage that any such figure can cause, and as they get older what seemed daring in their youth just seems to become rather mundane. It was with this in mind that made the ninety-two year old Undercoatings public announce his great change of artistic direction in 2001.

However, his Knees I – XXII, was a step too far for many art critics, who were quick to point out that even Picasso had drawn the line (even if it was a bit of a wobbly one due to his age at the time) at frank and revealing paintings of unadorned kneecaps in all their naked glory.

Savagely depressed by the critical mauling his paintings received, Undercoatings became even more of a recluse, finally – in a fit of depression and artistic exhaustion - taking his own life by inhaling deeply next to a double-glazing salesman in late November 2005.