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Michelle Thompson – Summer Exhibition

If you ever want to see some of Michelle Thompson’s work you rarely have to look further than your local newsagents. Her work regularly adorns the pages of papers like Guardian and The Economist, covering every topic from the Theory of Evolution to revenge porn.

However, for anyone looking for a slightly more permanent fixture (or simply at a loose end after picking up their weekly groceries at Fortnum & Mason) a quick trip to the recent Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition would reveal a familiar name on the wall.

“The Journey” was originally submitted to the RA in February, after a friend of Michelle’s was suddenly forced to leave her home and family along with thousands of others.

The piece was created on the week that the Ukraine War started. A friend who I had met through NFTs was in Kiev and had to leave her husband with two small children - hence “The Journey” title.

 Michelle’s work is often responsive, and has her voice layered within her found and altered images - weaving narrative amongst the textures she is so well known for. When the assault on Ukraine began, for Michelle the personal connection made it impossible to separate from her work.

For the first time I knew people that were affected, all my personal work in the next couple of weeks seemed to be really dark.

“The Journey” isn’t Michelle’s first piece to be selected for the RA’s annual event - her collage “The Red Dress”, created on the back of one of her grandad's sketchbooks, was shown in 2020. If you missed the exhibition, never fear! You can get your very own limited edition print here

Michelle Thompson is represented by Handsome Frank Illustration Agency. To see more of her exceptional work you can view her portfolio at https://www.handsomefrank.com/illustrators/michelle-thompson

Paula Rego Exhibition at The Tate Britain

The UK's largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Paula Rego’s work to date

Since the 1950s, Paula Rego has played a key role in redefining figurative art in the UK and internationally.

An uncompromising artist of extraordinary imaginative power, she has revolutionised the way in which women are represented.

This exhibition tells the story of this artist’s extraordinary life, highlighting the personal nature of much of her work and the socio-political context in which it is rooted. It also reveals the artist’s broad range of references, from comic strips to history painting.

It features over 100 works, including collage, paintings, large-scale pastels, ink and pencil drawings and etchings. These include early works from the 1950s in which Rego first explored personal as well as social struggle, her large pastels of single figures from the acclaimed Dog Women and Abortion series and her richly layered, staged scenes from the 2000-10s.

This is a unique opportunity to survey, in the city that Rego has lived in and called home for most of her life, the full range of her work.

Exhibition organised by Tate Britain in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Museo Picasso Málaga.

Rachael Saunders illustrates an AR pony trail at the National Gallery.

To mark the release of My Little Pony: A New Generation on Netflix, Rachael Saunders has been commissioned to reimagine ten famous horse paintings displayed in The National Gallery, London. Each illustration had to evoke the painterly style and composition of the original, but also encapsulate a fresh, vibrant energy, faithful to the new generation My Little Pony film produced by Netflix.

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Lynn Hatzius’ Bee-autiftul Window Display

Phosphor's Lynn Hatzius was pleased to see her designs installed (in the form of large vinyls) at the Bee Urban Evolution Lab in Sweden recently.

This was Lynn's first large scale installation and she now hopes to see her work scaled up on a more regular basis.Bee Urban offers interactive and living environmental services in an urban environment in the form of hives & gardens for biological diversity.

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