Now Ready for the Ball, 2026'

Now Ready for the Ball offers a glimpse into the world of Ian Berry's The Pleasure Gardens, a moment suspended between the everyday and the theatrical, between private preparation and public spectacle.

Presented as a triptych, the work depicts three window-like interiors filled with an abundance of plants. Their dense foliage almost obscures the spaces beyond, creating the impression of looking through a lush, secluded garden towards another world. The windows become more than architectural elements: they act as thresholds, separating the familiar from the imagined and inviting the viewer to look beyond what is immediately visible.

At the centre of the composition stands Berry himself, wearing a mask. His presence transforms the work from a scene observed into one personally inhabited. He is preparing to enter The Pleasure Gardens, donning his own mask before joining the figures and characters gathered within this imagined world. The self-portrait introduces a playful but significant shift: the artist becomes both creator and participant, crossing the boundary between the real world and the world he has constructed.

The mask is particularly evocative. Traditionally associated with masquerade, transformation and anonymity, it allows the wearer to step outside an ordinary identity and assume another. In Berry's work, this becomes an invitation to enter a space where everyday rules are temporarily suspended—a place of performance, fantasy and possibility.

The surrounding plants reinforce this sense of transition. Nature is not simply decorative; it creates an atmosphere of concealment and discovery. The foliage frames the masked figure and partially hides the world beyond, suggesting that something is about to happen. The viewer is positioned almost as a visitor arriving moments before the festivities begin.

As with much of Berry's work, the imagery is created entirely from denim. The familiar material of jeans is transformed into leaves, stems, pots, architectural details and the figure of the artist himself. The contrast between denim's associations with everyday life and the idea of an elegant masquerade is central to the work's charm. What might initially appear ordinary becomes theatrical and dreamlike through Berry's meticulous manipulation of colour, texture and form.

The three panels also suggest a cinematic sequence. Rather than presenting a single frozen scene, the triptych creates a sense of movement: the garden, the masked artist, and the garden again. It feels like a moment from a larger story—the instant before Berry leaves the privacy of his surroundings and enters The Pleasure Gardens.

In this sense, Now Ready for the Ball can be understood as both a self-portrait and a doorway. It reveals the artist preparing to enter his own imagined world, while simultaneously inviting the viewer to follow him.

The ball is about to begin.