I have designed the publicity for this year’s Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The bold poster design is a contemporary take on the Victorian playbill. The exhibition is somewhat controversial, a mixture of the traditional still lives and pet portraits, the usual famous RA alumni, and a sexed-up room curated by Tracey Emin which seems designed to shock. I went with my friend Jake who found the mix quite bizarre.

Giant banner at the RA

Lots of painting going on at the moment. A long term obsession with ‘freak’ shows, Victorian era sideshows and those who succeed in being ‘other’ has developed into a series of paintings celebrating performers who capitalised on life’s little handicaps. The latest of these paintings is ‘The Cyclists’ (sketch shown below). Plenty more in the same series in the Art section of the site.

Sketch for The Cyclists