There was a little bit of cheeky Irish Humour that went into the construction of this instrumental artwork. The ukulele has always been associated with fun and humorous songs to sing along to and I wanted to continue this tradition in my contemporary work.
The Irish have always been known to provide a humorous side to events, even in moments when all seems lost, and I liked that ability to see the bright side of life in times of trouble. I put together lucky Punch to show that even in times of desperation a little bit of humour can see you through.
I Remember seeing an old western movie that showed how desperate living in that time period would have been. The only relief for the cow puncher was the local saloon.
In the movie one particular cowboy was heading to town with a coin given to him by the head honcho of the ranch. Although the coin wasn’t legal tender, it entitled him to one free screw at the local house of ill repute on the edge of town.
I had to find out if there were indeed any coins minted by such institutions that gave an entitlement to the bearer. I found that it was very common for Cigar shops, Brothels and numerous other institutions of the time to mint coins and distribute them to customers.
There are many examples of these coins and tokens for sale on the junkyards of today like Ebay and Trademe and I managed to pick one up and insert it into the headstock of this piece.
On the front of the headstock is a coin with a picture of a four leaf clover and the words This is your lucky day and on the reverse of the headstock is a coin that entitles the bearer to one free screw at Dottys house.
A little humour goes a long way.
SCALE LENGTH: 17” 430 mm ELECTRIC, RIGHT HANDED, 17 FRETTED TENOR UKULELE
