Boy George: Art, identity and the spirit of the new romantics

Description

From 13 May–24 May, Castle Fine Art Exeter presents a special exhibition of works by Boy George — artist, performer and one of the most distinctive creative voices to emerge from late twentieth-century British culture. Though known around the world for his impact on music and fashion, Boy George’s visual art stands in its own right: expressive, layered and unmistakably personal. Rich with humour, tenderness, memory and theatrical flair, his works reflect a lifelong engagement with identity and image-making, drawing together portraiture, autobiography, ornament and cultural history. At the heart of the exhibition is a body of work shaped by the spirit of the Blitz generation — the artists, designers, club figures and cultural outsiders who transformed London nightlife into a radical space of self-invention. For Boy George, this is not borrowed iconography or retrospective fascination but lived experience. His art emerges from within that world, carrying forward its energy, irreverence and refusal of convention. The works demand attention not just for their subjects, but for how they're made. Surfaces are encrusted, layered, and built-up using beads, buttons, zips, sequins, safety pins, vinyl records are stitched and assembled by hand. These are portraits you want to touch, objects that carry the weight and texture of the world they came from. They recall the improvised glamour of New Romantic style, in which clothing and self-presentation became acts of imagination — built from bricolage, resourcefulness and whatever could be transformed into something extraordinary. Sequins catch the light like stage costume or nightclub interiors; beads create rhythm and texture; vinyl introduces a direct connection to sound; and found fashion objects carry traces of their past lives. These aren't just portraits — they're relics, somewhere between image and object, fine art and fashioned surface. Across the exhibition, Boy George returns to the people, moods and energies that shap

Venue

Castle Fine Art Oxford

Castle Fine Art Oxford, 118, The Westgate, Queen St, Oxford OX1 1PB

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Source: Original venue listing

Last updated: 30 April 2026 at 06:28

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