Strange Folk exhibition explores the eccentric and exotic

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Their artwork is appreciated by celebrities, fashion magazines and publishers alike. Now, two talented artists teaching at Southampton Solent University are joining forces to create ‘Strange Folk’, a new exhibition at Solent Showcase from 17 October-22 November.

Both artists are interested in the eccentric and the exotic, either the famous wrestlers in masks that Peter Lloyd studied in Mexico or the strange and peculiar night people that inhabit Jonny Hannah’s Dark Town - a place he has totally populated from his imagination.

Peter Lloyd - whose work adorns the walls of celebrities such as David Bowie, Missy Elliott, Holly Johnson, Peter Blake and Vic Reeves - is the Head of Southampton Solent School of Art and Design.

He says that the wrestlers depicted in his art are screen-prints based on an investigation into 'Lucha Libre', a Mexican form of masked wrestling.

“The participants are masked and this personal anonymity provides a blank canvas upon which to create their own characters, using elaborate costumes and demonstrative actions, says Peter.

“In the course of the fights the participants act out complex morality tales that have real meaning for their audience, similar to those performed by Mummers or Japanese Noh Drama,” he adds.

Jonny Hannah is the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Illustration at Southampton Solent and his work has graced the pages of Vogue, The New York Times and many a book jacket, as well as advertising and design work for clients such as the English National Opera and vintners Justerini and Brooks.

He describes his artistic influences as his obsessions: music (Hank Williams, Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Lady Day and Jaques Brel); poetry (Ginsberg’s Howl, Walt Whitman); clothes, (Co respondent shoes, Suits, Knitted Ties); tin toys; and mussels.

Jonny has created a new venue for all imaginative souls to visit when visual and cultural sustenance in this world is not enough – ‘Dark Town’. A fictional place where everyone jostles for position - characters from the history of Jazz, boxers, detectives, clowns, barmen, poets, Punch and Judy, Gumbo makers, sailors, rocket men.

For Strange Folk, he will be making a number of new prints and paintings, cut out on board, along with an assortment of customized junk, bespoke for the Arcane Arcade - a shop that sells the unusual and possibly pointless.

“From Captain Cat’s Cat, to defaced guitars, this unusual shop will hopefully please all who enter. I hope that Strange Folk will act as an antidote, yet coexist alongside, to the fact that every modern high street looks the same,”says Jonny.

-Ends-

Peter Lloyd is Head of School of Art and Design at Southampton Solent University.
Peter studied his BA at Winchester School of Art, where he was awarded a First Class BA Hons in Printmaking, and received his MA from Royal College of Art, in 2000. He has shown his work extensively in the UK and internationally and his work is in the public collections of the Hochschule de Kunst, Berlin, Winchester School of Art, Hampshire,  Royal College of Art, London and in private collections in Great Britain, Germany, and the U.S.

Jonny Hannah is Course Leader for BA (Hons) Illustration, Southampton Solent School of Art and Design. He received his MA from Royal College of Art in 1998 and studied at John Moore’s University, Liverpool where he was awarded a First Class Honours degree in Illustration. He has won many awards and has worked as a freelance illustrator for many daily newspapers, including The Independent and The Daily Telegraph, for publishers like Penguin Books, Bloomsbury Books and Macmillan Books and for Vogue magazine.Jonny has shown his work throughout the UK and his most recent exhibitions include:
2014 All that other Mother Jazz one man show in Portsmouth Guildhall, through Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth 2014 The Road to Darktown one man show at The Old Market, Brighton 2014. Jonny has illustrated many books by other authors as well as his own publications including: 'A Commonplace Book' by Alec Guinness, Hamish Hamilton 2001; 'Hot Jazz Special' by Jonny Hannah; Walker Books 2005;‘Food Glorious Food, Octopus Publishing 2012;‘Get Plucky with the Ukulele’, by Will Grove-White, Octopus Publishing 2014;‘Greetings from Darktown’, by Jonny Hannah, Merrell Publishers, 2014. Jonny is also a director of Cakes & Ale press, Southampton.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE MEDIA OFFICE ON 023 8201 3040 or press.office@solent.ac.uk

About Southampton Solent University 

Southampton Solent University offers more than 23,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HND to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, health, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology. The University was awarded the 2013 Quality Assurance kitemark for quality and standards of teaching and learning. Solent was voted one of the most creative universities in the UK in a Which? University 2013 poll of students. Solent Business School has been awarded the Small Business Charter Award, which is supported by the Association of Business Schools and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and ‘gold approval’ by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

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I hope that Strange Folk will act as an antidote, yet coexist alongside, to the fact that every modern high street looks the same”
Jonny Hannah