Airfield Bed
Oil on Canvas circa 14 x 16 ins circa 1987
A warm bed on the wide and windblown spaces of an airfield. The bed is the artist’s childhood bed with its characteristic headboard and even the location which looks like a surreal juxtaposition has an internal logic since Bryan Charnley grew up in Cranfield and roamed the airfield there. The Lapwings and Crows were a familiar sight on the airfield as was the orange wind vane. The cloud curtains form a doorway into this exterior space which can be accessed during the dream state. The Teddy Bear sharing the bed looks wide awake but apprehensive, having a better appreciation of the strangeness of the situation than the sleeper. This is a gentle, even whimsical painting compared with many of the artists other works.
