Viaduct

This complex painted satire of late 20th century Britain is set on Holborn Viaduct. The diagonal formed by the bridge creates two areas of activity.
The upper part, on the viaduct, shows people such as the artist Damien Hirst, holding a pickled sheep, two Arts Council commissioners carrying a huge phallic-shaped sculpture, the Labour politician Peter Mandelson, carrying a model of the Greenwich Dome, two genetically modified Monsanto scientists and two 'mad' cows falling from the bridge.

Below them are the disenfranchised, the homeless, the poor and the unprotected workforce. From left to right: a group of mothers with prams smoke outside a shop with a National Lottery sign, some boys hang out near a tramp, who gazes out at the viewer, and a group of workers are shown in what looks like a supermarket.

Johnson's painting focuses on the distinction between rich and poor and suggests that the poor are taxed and manipulated to further the cultural interests of an elite. The whole image is painted in a caricature style and the sky is an ominous brown colour with streaks of yellow and purple which suggest the imminent destruction of society and the pollution of our world.