I'M FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES, 1991
carved J. Tappy I'm forever blowing bubbles S,E,11, On Hire along the wood
gloss paint on wood with bolts
length: 197.5cm; 77 1/2in

Property from the Estate of Karsten Schubert

Provenance
Acquired from the artist

The present work, appropriated by Landy, is from the frame of a London costermonger's barrow, a street cart on wheels used by market traders for the sale of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. A structural support running the length of the barrow's chassis to support its floor, the beam’s carved inscription reveals that the barrow was originally owned and lent out by Joseph Tappy who carved his name and neighbourhood on the side of it and added the line from the popular song I'm forever blowing bubbles.

Born in 1873, Tappy lived in Lambeth, London SE11, married in 1901 and set up as an independent barrow maker and lender in 1903. The popular song I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles was written in 1918 by Jack Kellette. A hit in British music halls and theatres throughout the 1920s it featured in numerous films, famously sung by Doris Day in 1951 On Moonlight Bay. In the UK it is now better known as the anthem sung by the fans on the terraces of West Ham United Football Club: I’m forever blowing bubbles – pretty bubbles in the air – they fly so high – nearly reach the sky – then like my dreams – they fade and die…

A complete market barrow by Tappy reconditioned and bedecked by flowers in 1991 by Landy is in the collection of Tate, London, another is in the Zabludowicz Collection, London. A wooden cartwheel also previously owned by Tappy on which the same inscription is carved and which Landy painted red is now in the collection of the British Council Collection. Landy also used the title I'm forever blowing bubbles in other works he created at the end of the 1990s including works in watercolour and pen and ink.