Earlier this week, acclaimed visual artist Slawn attended The BRIT School, Croydon for a Masterclass and a motivational Q&A 'BRIT Talk', following the announcement last week that he has designed the 2023 BRIT award.
Students studying on the Production Arts, Interactive Digital Design and Visual Arts and Design courses took to The BRIT Trust outdoor stage to create original art pieces using mixed media on both small and large scale - under the mentorship of Slawn.
Slawn then hosted a Q&A with students from across the school highlighting the importance of collaboration, using social media smartly and creatively and talked about his Marvel comic-inspired award. He also told of his early days skating and launching a clothing brand in West Africa before discovering other artistic avenues.
The London-based, Nigerian-born artist is the designer of the 2023 BRIT Awards statue which will be handed out to winners at the ceremony on Saturday 11th February. Slawn follows in the footsteps of an illustrious list of creatives including Dame Vivienne Westwood, Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Dame Zaha Hadid, Sir David Adjaye and Es Devlin and Yinka Ilori, who have all previously imbued the iconic BRIT award with their own unique and artistic flair and vision. Slawn, who is known for his large-scale canvases filled with a blend of caricature like pop figures, bold colourful forms, and stylish shapes defined with vivid hues, has been building a strong following for his work since leaving University in London in 2019 to focus on his art full-time. With his art reflecting themes of human psychology, politics, race and other hard topics and issues challenging society, he has amassed a significant cult fan-base. Those early to praise his work include the late Virgil Abloh, whom he collaborated with, along with the Mercury Prize winning Skepta, who co-curated a recent Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction in which Slawn’s work was sold, and Central Cee. Most recently, Slawn exhibited 12 new works titled ‘On A Darker Note’ in London.
The BRIT School Creative Arts applications are open to study Production Arts (Post 16), Interactive Digital Design (Key Stage 4 & Post 16), Visual Arts and Design (Key Stage 4 & Post 16) and Film, Media Production (Key Stage 4 & Post 16) until January 24th 2023.
www.brit.croydon.sch.uk/apply
