This autumn, The Book Club will be turned into a gallery of imaginary artworks, advertising imaginary products.
Artist Al Murphy’s solo show, False Advertising, will see The Book Club become a giant billboard and multi-dimensional sensory overload experience; designed to thrill and confuse customers while they attempt to eat their brunch.
As a commercial artist, Murphy has had a long and complicated, on-off, love/hate relationship with the world of advertising. On the one hand it has fed and clothed his family and led to award-winning success, while on the other, it has led him to question his own morals as he takes the money to help sell brain-melting products to children. This ongoing conflict will be at the core of his new show.
Originally intended to be a clever comment upon the propaganda dealt to an insecure public, he quickly realised that practically every artist from Warhol to Banksy had successfully covered this subject in its entirety. Instead, he is taking the opportunity to transform the space into a gallery of imaginary artwork advertising imaginary products produced by imaginary clients, showcasing his trademark typography, crude illustration, crass humour and self-aggrandising in the process. Ducks too. He’ll draw some ducks, because he likes drawing ducks.
Al Murphy – once described as ‘the Ipswich Town FC of illustration’ – has been an illustrator for almost twenty years. He studied Graphic Art and screen printing at the Liverpool School of Art before moving to London where he established himself as an illustrator, known for his use of humour through art.
Over the course of his career, Al’s work has been exhibited in Berlin, New York, LA and London and he has lent his designs to everything from music videos, children’s books, clothing and award winning campaigns for clients including the BBC, Air France, Coca Cola, MTV, Perrier, Newsweek, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Volkswagen, Ford and Paramount, alongside many others with questionable ethics which he doesn’t add to these lists, like a politician who’s invested in dodgy overseas ventures and is subsequently selective with the truth.
When: 5th September – 17th November 2019
Where: The Book Club, 100 – 106, Leonard Street, London EC2A 4RH
£: Free
More info: www.wearetbc.com
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