John Kirby
Boy in a Paper Hat
1988
Oil on board
33 7/8 x 25 1/4 (86 x 64 cm); 35 1/8 x 26 3/8 in (89 x 67 cm)
Image courtesy of Flowers Gallery
The crowned figure in Boy in a Paper Hat is a recurring motif in the practice of artist John Kirby (b. 1949, Liverpool – d. 2025). Often inhabiting flattened worlds, Kirby’s characters convey a sense of isolation coupled with an apparent muteness, unable to express themselves within stifled settings.
As ambiguous as the boy’s expressions, between boredom and recollection, the hat itself oscillates between opposing identities: the comic attire of a jester and the authority of a king, a festive party hat and the grandeur of a crown. This oscillation reinforces the boy’s loneliness, as an outsider figure who inhabits the margins while remaining bound to structures of power. A sense of rejection which recalls Christ’s crown of thorns, a central motif of suffering. This religious reading resonates with Kirby’s own childhood in a Catholic family in Liverpool.
The lone tree rising on the hill echoes and amplifies the figure’s solitude, recalling the enigmatic subjects of René Magritte and their similarly equivocal atmosphere as well as the careful compositions of the Italian Renaissance.
Provenance
Flowers Gallery, London
Exhibitions
“John Kirby: Boy,” Flowers Gallery, London, March 19 – April 25, 2026
See also
John Kirby at National Museums Liverpool