“Made from parts left over from the last job. I had four demons that I thought were too small as well as four cats and four dogs that were too big. Rather than dump them I thought I’d make an endless belt, put the twelve creatures on it and hope to think of a reason for its existence at a later date. As I was making it Sue Spooner said it should be called ‘The Food Chain’. It’s a good title because although dogs don’t usually eat cats and demons are usually imaginary, the idea of dogs, cats and demons feasting on each other was a speculation the onlooker might like to engage in.

Leftovers were used in other parts of the machine; the slats that the chain is made from are from the architect’s drawing tables that I’ve been harvesting for years and the base is a slab of Western Red Cedar most of which was used to make the goat that is still performing in a park in Falmouth. The oak for the frame was found in someone’s garden. The only unrepurposed link in the chain of recycling is the the small quantity of ruinously expensive lime wood that the creatures were carved from; that was never anything but a tree.”

Paul Spooner, 2026

Height: 22cm
Width: 28cm
Depth: 12cm

One Only