Donald Urquhart’s bold pen-and-ink drawings of Hollywood legends, drag queens and broken divas have become iconic in the art world. They were, however, originally made as posters and wall decorations for ‘The Beautiful Bend’, an eclectic King’s Cross nightclub co-founded by Urquhart and his friends in the early 1990s. The then photocopied posters were free to be ripped from the walls and taken home by anyone who wanted them at the end of a night. Urquhart’s drawings are somewhat awkward in nature, examining celebrity culture—our fascination with it and the unattainable ideals bound up with fame, and bringing the stars back into a more human realm.
Read MoreBorn in 1963, Dumfries, Scotland, Donald Urquhart currently lives and works in Paris, France. In 2012 Urquhart held the Cité International des Artes residency in Paris.
Urquhart’s solo exhibitions include a recent solo exhibition at Maureen Paley, in London (2015); Balls, at Galeria S.A.L.E.S., Rome, Italy (2012); Scottish Alphabet, at Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, UK (2012); Big Jessie at The Brunswick Hotel, Glasgow in collaboration with Peacock Arts, Aberdeen, UK (2012); Shrimpy’s, at The Filling Station, London, UK; Bi, at Herald St, London, UK (2010); Bi, at Maureen Paley, London, UK (2010); Facing Women, at Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome, Italy (2009); Thank You For Listening, at The Apartment, Vancouver, Canada (2009). Recent group exhibitions include Emotional Resources, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK (2014); Artists in Print: 21 Years of Collaboration, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, UK (2013); Xtravaganza: Staging Leigh Bowery, Kunsthalle Wien, AT (2012); Courtship of the Peoples, Simon Oldfield Gallery, London, UK (2012); I Send My Love A Red, Red Rose, Team Gallery, New York, US (2011); Herald St, Taro Nasu, Tokyo, JP (2010); Tristes Tropiques, The Barber Shop, Lisbon, PT (2010).
