Dave Pop! art exhibition at Theatre Royal Brighton

After last year’s successful collaboration on a Rocky Horror theme, the Theatre Royal Brighton have once again asked local LGBTQ+ artist Dave Pop! to produce an exhibition from Tuesday, December 17, 2019 to Saturday, January 4, 2020 to coincide with the production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

This year, Dave, a Brighton-based artist specialising in bright, bold pop art, with a generous topping of seaside sauce, has chosen five artists from the contemporary queer cabaret scene  who play with the idea of drag, gender, burlesque and sexuality to be the subjects of his exhibition – Dolly Rocket, Boogaloo Stu, Stephanie Starlet, David Hoyle and Dave the Bear.

Dave Pop! says: ‘It was important to me that I chose local performers rather than international stars such as RuPaul (even though I am a massive fan), I wanted artists that are actually working in Brighton now, many of whom I know from the club/ cabaret scene, and have even shared a stage with.’

The process of creating the portraits starts off with drawing, which is fundamental to Dave’s work, then different techniques and materials are used to create a piece that is individual and suits the subject best. For Boogaloo Stu’s portrait a clean sharp line drawing was scanned into the computer, then finished using bright flat colours, whereas for David Hoyle, a much more expressionistic style was adopted to reflect his anarchic look.

To see the artwork, visit the Theatre Royal Brighton’s foyer, which is open to the public from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm

For more info on Dave Pop!