Mr Brainwash’s Battersea Power Station Show Launch

One of the worlds most collectable and provocative contemporary artists, Mr Brainwash, flew 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 high-impact and high-value new collection is rich in styles and themes, including pop culture sculptures like Life is Beautiful. The phrase 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.

Using giant, red helium balloons to open the show, it unveiled 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 also released two exclusive, limited editions, Long Live the King and Power to the PeopleLong 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.

The street artist’s bold, new depiction of the show’s Battersea Power Station location is Power to the People, emblazoned with his graffiti and a Life is Beautiful neon. It also 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.

Banksy captured me becoming an artist. In the end, I became his biggest work of art,” he said. Since then, Mr Brainwash has designed album covers for Madonna, Rick Ross, and Michael Jackson, collaborated with everybody from Mercedes-Benz, the Beckhams, First Lady Michelle Obama for her Let Girls Learn organisation, and Pope Francis for his Scholas youth foundation. He is also changing the face of street art in the UK with his unique brand of positivity.

Like the French street artist, Battersea Power Station is more significant than life and has been regenerated for the modern age, a concept 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 Battersea Power Station Underground launch, accompanied by a large-scale light show on the Power Station itself, and a Life is Beautiful sculpture. The mural is now on display inside the Grade II listed building.

The star-studded party was attended by celebrity friends, including Boy George,  Prodigy frontman Maxim, Daniel Lismore, Pandemonia, Johnny Vaughan, Philip Sallon, Precious Muir, John Galea and Sam Melrose. After the London exhibition, the show will go on tour to Clarendon Fine Arts Birmingham and then Bluewater, Kent galleries, featuring Mr Brainwash in attendance, followed by week-long, public exhibitions. 

Clarendon Fine Art has been Mr Brainwashs exclusive UK gallery representative since 2020. 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. “We are excited about bringing Mr Brainwash back to a place with so much significance to him for this innovative riot of themes, styles, statements, jokes, commentary and chaos.

www.mrbrainwash.com

www.batterseapowerstation.co.uk

Images courtesy of Cult Media

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