Angus Fairhurst (1996 - 2008) was a multifaceted British artist known as one of the Young British Artists, also called the YBAs. Best known for his visually distorted designs and humorous sculptures, Fairhurst worked in a variety of different media including painting, video and photography.
Angus Fairhurst (1996 - 2008) was a multifaceted British artist known as one of the Young British Artists, also called the YBAs. Best known for his visually distorted designs and humorous sculptures, Fairhurst worked in a variety of different media including painting, video and photography.
We love how Fairhurst would bring images from magazines and popular culture in his work while also being influenced by other contemporary artists such as Michael Craig-Martin and Julian Opie. These influences can be seen in Fairhurst’s bold colour choices and graphical compositions. Fairhurst studied at Canterbury Art College before studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 1989 alongside peers such as Damien Hirst. This period was a remarkable time in the college’s history that produced a thriving generation of transformative British artists. The group was named the YBAs by the media, and Fairhurst was a key member.
In 1988, Fairhurst organised a student exhibition that is deemed a precursor to the infamous Freeze exhibition that thrust the YBAs into the spotlight. Following this exhibition, Fairhurst’s work has been shown all over the world including shows such as Apocalypse at the Royal Academy, 2001, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida at the Tate Gallery in 2004. In March 2008, on the last day of his solo show at Sadie Coles HQ, Fairhurst sadly took his own life. The director of the Tate Gallery at the time, Sir Nicholas Serota, said of Fairhurst: “[he] was always deprecating about his own talent, but he made some of the most engaging, witty and perceptive works of his generation and was an enormously influential friend of other British artists who came to prominence in the early nineties.”
