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ng, which he famously calls 'The Curs'd Face Business' and it is almost as if Shonebare has responded to this remark by removing the heads from his mannequin installation of Mr & Mrs Andrews. Gainsborough felt 'portraits bounded him to the wishes of his sitters.' '.......Nothing is worse than gentlemen - I do portraits to live and landscapes because I love them', he once said to a friend. However, Shonebare's installations without heads would not have worked in Gainsborough's 18th century England for the simple fact that there were no gallery commissions and artists relied on wealthy patrons, commissioning for their portraits and other subjects to be painted. As there was no photography then, having a portrait painted was fairly expensive and only the very rich could have afforded this indulgence. This was a way of advertising to peers and the world that you had arrived. These were usually large pieces, showing grandeur and wealth, with the patrons dictating to the artist the kind of end result they desired.

I have seen Gainsborough's Mr & Mrs Andrews, one of his most famous paintings, at the National Gallery and it is not a large canvas when compared to the others in the Gallery, but the viewer is immediately drawn to their eyes, staring straight at you, inviting you into their world. Shonebare on the other hand has used the vibrant colours of the materials as his Mr & Mrs Andrews' 'eyes', to draw in the viewers' attention, as by not having any heads, the viewer's eyes are drawn immediately to the mannequins dressed in theatrically bright colours. It's interesting that Shonebare has created his mannequins without heads as the face and eyes are the main parts that help to distinguish a human being - it is like the window of a person's character and soul and by excluding this, he could have created an emptiness in the story. However, it seems to work as the mannequins appear to be 'alive', looking at the viewer, although because they are made out of fibre glass, there is evidence of rigidity in the hands. It could also be argued that there is something quite unsavoury, disturbing and controversial about having decapitated heads in galleries, especially when the mannequins are dressed in period clothes, and made to look like human beings. Having looked at it several times, the installation is quite surreal as on the one hand landed gentry is observed, but on the other, the eyes are seeing bright coloured clothes which is incongruous as these would be far too garish for these upwardly mobile folks in 18th century England.

By not having any heads, however, Shonebare may have taken away any connotations of race and this may well give the viewers room to decide for themselves the characters of the mannequins. One of Shonebare's strength is his ability to suggest narratives. He said in an interview with Nancy Hynes 'I hate conclusive things, once a piece is concluded, its dead. The mind must be allowed to travel and have fantasy and imagination. People's minds need to wander' (in Hynes 1998:15) Another significant reason must be Gainsborough's painting is a celebration of deference and by beheading Mr & Mrs Andrews, Shonebare has somehow deflated their status and power, once again bringing his own message to the piece.

It is fairly evident that the materials Shonebare uses are expensive, and this has proved to be rich and adaptable but it is questionable the combination of some of the col