For the artist Tacita Dean, it represents fears over a gathering political storm. For the head of the UK’s diplomatic service, whose office it dominates, it represents hope that things will be all right.
Whatever the interpretation, a screen print of the work is to be sent to government offices around the world, it was announced on Friday.
The original work is called Foreign Policy, an 8ft by 8ft chalk drawing of clouds on blackboard, which Dean made for Sir Simon McDonald’s office in Whitehall after he became permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office in 2015.
The two met when McDonald was the UK’s ambassador to Berlin, where Dean was then based. They became friends and he turned to Dean to fill the “huge blank wall” in his office when he got the job.
In 2016, it arrived. Because the work is not fixed chalk it can, in theory, be rubbed off. “If you were that way inclined you could destroy this in two minutes flat,” said McDonald. “I can reveal that Tacita brought chalks with her this morning just in case.”
Dean said she made the work when the referendum to leave the EU was in the air. “I think I made it far too gentle. I think it should be way, way more angry.”
McDonald concentrates less on the storm clouds and more on the light behind them. “It makes me feel better about life … it is the light breaking through that keeps me going.”
The prints of the work are being commissioned by the Government Art Collection (GAC) for a 10-year project which launched last year. The idea is that 30 prints are made, with 15 going to diplomatic buildings around the world. A further 11 will be sold by the Outset contemporary art fund to raise money for the GAC, and the remainder will be held by the artist and their dealer.
The inaugural print was a vibrant still life by Hurvin Anderson, an edition of 32 which now hangs at 10 Downing Street.
The money for the initiative, called TenTen, has been given by the Walmart heir Sybil Robson Orr, a film and stage producer, and her husband, Matthew. It follows a similar scheme they funded in the US.
