Mr. Controversial is unveiling his new collection at the S&P Gallery in Kensington on Wednesday 10th August. This new collection is very much an evolution on the work that has been successful to date. Hot off the back of three successful collection releases, he is excited to reveal all of the things he’s been quietly working on for the past year.
I’ve decided to call this new collection Pulp Noir as I have combined the visual language of film noir and pulp fiction paperbacks
Mr. Controversial
Mr C said, “I’ve decided to call this new collection Pulp Noir as I have combined the visual language of film noir and pulp fiction paperbacks. I am well known for my controversial take on Pulp imagery of the 1950s, and I wanted to build on this whilst adding a new twist. In a world where everything is demanding your attention, enticing you with clever colour combinations and more. This series is very much monochrome; I’ve stripped everything back, from the captions to the colours. I emphasise the blacks, greys and white areas of the images and hand finish them with a flash of colour oil pastel. Less is more with this collection”.
To stay true to his roots, this new collection maintains the core characteristics of a Mr. Controversial artwork. The beautiful, glamourous, empowered women combined with the witty, sarcastic captions. As true to his creative process, he takes things relegated to the past and brings them back to life in a way that resonates with a new generation of art collectors and buyers. He has introduced photography of icons, from Hollywood actresses to civil rights protagonists. A new san serif font, new mediums, new colour schemes (and lack thereof), new presentation in the framing style but the same Mr. Controversial twist – beautiful vintage aesthetic with witty, relatable and current captions that tell an enticing story.
There is a theme and an undercurrent that runs through this new collection; The Underdog. Mr. Controversial takes the down trodden, the forgotten and reinterprets them in an empowering way. Almost making them film stars with diamond dust adding a glamourous finish through the glitzy shimmer it creates. As well as Pulp fiction book characters, he reinterprets controversial figures; Huey Newton of the revolutionary 1960’s Black Panther party, Playboy models, one of the first black Hollywood starlets Dorothy Dandridge, Monroe.
The captions that accompany the images play with the heros journey and the battle between aspiration and reality, the fight to belong in a world you’re not supposed to be in. A journey and battle he is all too familiar with, coming from humble beginnings in West London, no formal art training, privilege or connections he has relentlessly pushed forward against all obstacles and is quickly becoming the one to watch in, what’s often seen as the impenetrable fine art world. A world he believes is ripe and ready for disruption. Armed with nothing but creative ideas, work ethic and self-belief, he is forging his own path.
As one of his new works reads; Sometimes you have to be the star of your own movie
Mr. Controversial is unveiling his new collection at the S&P Gallery in Kensington on Wednesday 10th August.
©2022 Mr. Controversial
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