Mr Brainwash
25th April – 3rd May 2023
Clarendon Fine Art
Upper Ground Floor, Turbine Hall A
The Power Station
London
SW11 8BZ
Mr Brainwash, one of the world’s most collectable and provocative contemporary artists, flies from LA to London to launch his eagerly awaited new exhibition at the restored Battersea Power Station on 25 April, opening to the public until 3 May. The pop art phenomenon, AKA Thierry Guetta – will make a personal appearance at the launch of the Clarendon Fine Art show, one of his most audacious yet, appropriating and reinterpreting the classics and offering his signature, subversive and playful takes on the modern world.
The high impact and high value new collection is rich in styles and themes, including pop culture sculptures like Life is Beautiful, which became his catchphrase after his legendary LA exhibition of the same name catapulted him to fame in 2008, making history as the most highly attended private exhibition of all time with more than 50,000 visitors and artwork selling for six figures.
The show will unveil large-scale statement pieces, brick artwork celebrating his street art origins, painted balloon sculptures, neon mirror artworks, “vandalised” frames liberating art from canvases, and paper originals deconstructing popular culture. Mr Brainwash will also be releasing two exclusive, limited editions, Long Live the King and Power to the People. Long Live the King commemorates the coronation of King Charles III and is the partner piece to the Platinum Jubilee Queen of Hearts editions, which are already being collected for double their original price.
Power to the People is Mr Brainwash’s bold, new depiction of the show’s Battersea Power Station location, emblazoned with his graffiti, a Life is Beautiful neon and with nods to Pink Floyd’s iconic Animals album artwork and Banksy, who directed the Oscar-nominated Exit through the Gift Shop documentary, charting Mr Brainwash’s meteoric rise to fame.
image use: Digital Media: Photo by Allan Warren, used under
CC BY-SA 3.0 / Cropped from original and modified with sunglasses and body art on neck. Print Media: Portrait of HRH Prince Charles Prince of Wales, taken in Buckingham Palace
by Allan Warren, used under CC BY-SA 3.0 / Cropped from original and modified with sunglasses and body art on neck.
Like the French street artist, Battersea Power Station is larger than life and has been regenerated for the modern age, a concept which is close to his heart. The artist has a special connection to the iconic building and unveiled a giant mural there in 2021 to celebrate the launch of the Battersea Power Station Underground, which was accompanied by a large-scale light show on the Power Station itself and the unveiling of a Life is Beautiful sculpture. The mural is now on display inside the Grade II* listed building.
After the London exhibition, the show will go on tour to Clarendon Fine Art’s Birmingham and then Bluewater, Kent Galleries, both of which will feature Mr Brainwash in attendance, followed by week-long, public exhibitions. Clarendon Fine Art has been Mr Brainwash’s exclusive UK gallery representative since 2020 and their CEO, Helen Swaby says: “His work is an orchestrated collision of street and pop art, built around messages of hope, that has challenged cultural norms and made him a global street art phenomenon.
©2023 Mr Brainwash, Clarendon Fine Art
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