Collection: Mr. Controversial | Artist

Mr Controversial is a thirty-three-year-old, London based artist who; transforms vintage imagery relegated to the past and brings it back to life with oil paint, silkscreen printing and relatable captions that tell comical, satirical, and sometimes dark stories. He plays with the concept of ‘The Familiar Surprise’. You’ve not seen this image before presented in this way, but it reminds you of something familiar. He creates Imagery that elicits an emotional response and triggers a nostalgic or cultural memory packaged in satirical, relatable captions and quotes.Mr Controversial grew up in West London. His artistic journey began when studying Photography at college, it is here where he fell in love with the creative freedom that art permits. This taste for creativity and freedom of expression led him to study a degree in film production at London Southbank University, obtaining a 2:1.Drawing inspiration from artists such as Bruce Nauman, particularly his neon works that focus’ on human desire. Also from Edward Ruscha, a key figure in the typography art world and artist Harland Miller.

"When I’m not creating in the studio, I spend many hours in my favourite West London coffee shop sketching out ideas and playing with concepts. Many people come in and out throughout the day and I like to earwig in on conversations, deconstruct them, and almost psychoanalyze them. I then put them back together with a funny twist and use that as a basis for a piece of art, I create the imagery around the caption. A lot of my work is based on conversations I’ve personally listened in on or things I’ve seen on social media posts or comments.  I always try to find the funny angle, especially with stuff that’s often quite dark. I have a fearless approach to my work, whether that’s taking the p*** out of gluten intolerance, social media influences, online dating or our own insecurities that rattle around in our minds fuelled by advertising, consumerism, and capitalism." -Mr. Controversial