Take That You Bastard

'Take That You Bastard' (1972) - Wilja, hammer on board

From the prominent feminist artist/potato farmer Karen Duck comes this treatise on the gender politics of the day. The hammer violence brought to bear on the formerly dick-shaped potato gives the viewer a sense of warmth and security. Notice how the mashed remains resemble both a vitriolic revenge attack on a totem of manhood and yet, conversely, male ejaculate which would imply a sense of welcoming the brutality; thoroughly confusing the issue. It provokes the viewer.

Hoof

'Hoof' (1987) - Amora on gauze

Simply titled 'hoof' this pivotal work from Arthur K. Belch gives the implicit arrival of the elusive Taurus Tuberosum or Potatox as it is more commonly known. Prized for their singing voices, the Potatox was all but hunted out of the wild by jealous song-birds. This work leaves the viewer feeling elated, such as after a peculiar abdominal pain passes. Which in turn, provokes the viewer.

Humanoid Joy Through The Portal

'Humanoid Joy Through The Portal' (1993) - Maris Piper on acrylic

An experiment in Facless-Expressionism, this work from Kenneth Hobble conveys a subversive joy of discovery (namely humanities discovery by other species). Its smooth face implies simultaneously that this is an unknowable creature, and yet it is a blank; a template; it could indeed be ourselves. It provokes the viewer.

'Splinters Of Lost Thoughts'

Splinters Of Lost Thoughts (1932) - Photographic Print

This scene from the 1930 Mexican Potato Boxing championships in Mexico City shows the split-second before AlFuego 'Mighty Fists' Tentopoles was knocked clean out by Erriodor 'Eight Flip-Flops' TelGartier. It marks Tentopoles' departure from professional boxing and into the art world. He has no memory of this pivotal moment and so this photograph was fittingly his first work. Notice how the referee in the top left of the image looks quite provoked. It provokes the viewer.

'La Familia'

'La Familia' (1976) - Maris Piper on crepe

Benruli Peendoppio envisaged this glorious experiment in form over a game of strip-Jenga. It posits that a parent's children are miniature clones of children's parents. Notice the 'males' seem to face away while the 'females' lean towards each other. It provokes the viewer.

'The Spiritual Possibility Of Hunger In The Belly Of A Cherub'

The Spiritual Possibility Of Hunger In The Belly Of A Cherub (1991) - Amora on cotton

This pivotal work, part of a series of 'foods that look like other foods', was conceived by artist Lucius Skipper whilst visiting the supermarket with his mother and noting the contrast between her absolute faith in the nutritional value of modern food, but her scepticism of modern art. Valued at around £9.6 million, it provokes in the viewer a profound, primal fear.

'Our History Precedes Us'

'Our History Precedes Us' (2004) - Amora on cotton

With his highly celebrated works in the East London Kind-Of-Obvious-But-Ok-And-What? movement of the early 2000s, artist Keith Horse produced his seminal work in this piece where the symbolism is clearly highlighted by the detail on the upper right. It is, of course, a preserved Tuberocolops fossil found in the Nevada Desert in 1921; itself dating from ~199.82 million years ago just before the major mass extinction that knocked out the species' dominance of Earth at the time. It provokes the viewer.