We are very excited to announce our new billboard commission at East Quay!

This year, the commission has been produced in collaboration with Project Art Works, featuring artwork by Johnny Carroll-Pell.

About Johnny:
Johnny is a prolific artist whose work is both figurative and abstract. There is a beautiful synergism between the dynamic movement of his work and the way he moves around the studio, clearly enjoying his work. ⁠⁠

Often inspired by nature and people, Johnny regularly creates large scale paintings of scenic landscapes and life-size and larger-than-life figures of animals and people. Johnny makes smaller drawings of instinctively interconnected shapes and patterns using charcoal, ink and paint pens. His use of vibrant colour is confident, considered and joyful. ⁠⁠

Johnny started painting around the age of 10 and creates some kind of art most days at home. He has recently moved onto making sculptures in clay and wood and using found objects. He likes to listen to music when he’s creating and will often dance at the same time!⁠⁠

About Project Art Works:
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Their practice intersects art and care, responding to neurodivergence, its gifts and impacts.

Challenging paradigms of inclusion, it spans direct practical and holistic support, film, events, projects and exhibitions.⁠⁠Their studios provide the conditions for a broad range of autonomous and collaborative practices with neurodivergent artists, who take part on their own terms.

Alongside the studios, the Support Collective brings together people who care for people with complex support needs where we share our experience and protect our rights through training, resources and advocacy.⁠⁠

Header image: Billboard in-situ, featuring 'Untitled, Man & Dog' by Johnny Pell, 2024, acrylic on canvas

Below: Johnny in the studio. Image courtesy of Project Art Works