BLUR 21: The Exhibition
The Great Hall, The Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin
Fri 26th July – Thurs 1st August
12pm-8pm daily
Free Entry
Exhibited in Ireland for the first time, Blur 21: The Exhibition, is an extraordinary collection of over 70 images of Blur from legendary music photographers, designers and artists including Pennie Smith, Kevin Cummins, Paul Postle, Tom Sheehan, Banksy and Julian Opie celebrating the band’s 21 year career.
Over twenty years after the release of their debut album Leisure (1991), Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree will return to Dublin on 1st August for a show at the Irish Museum of Modern Art – and to mark the occasion, the museum will house Blur 21: The Exhibition.
The retrospective collection of items – rare photographs, artwork and images – celebrates Blur’s era defining music, documenting their career as one of the most successful and influential bands of the past two decades, through the lens of legendary and iconic music photographers Pennie Smith, Kevin Cummins, Tom Sheehan and Paul Postle among others – on display in The Great Hall at IMMA from Friday 26th July in the week leading up to the concert.
Blur 21: The Exhibition documents the band’s story from the early days as Seymour through the 1990s and the height of Britpop, the performance at Alexandra Palace in 1994, seven chart topping studio albums and eleven top 10 singles including Country House, Song 2 and Beetlebum, to a historic Sunday night appearance at Glastonbury. Bringing us right up to 2012 – a year that saw Blur awarded the BRIT for Outstanding Contribution to Music and the release of two new songs – Under The Westway and The Puritan – before the release of career spanning Blur 21: The Box in July last year.
Curated by leading expert on photography Dave Brolan, all the key elements of the band’s career will be illustrated – on the road, live on stage, in the studio as well as formal portrait sessions.
Dave Brolan comments: “Blur have always collaborated with the best photographers, artists and graphic designers to create a powerful visual identity that perfectly reflects their music and ideas. The exhibition brings together photography and design produced over the last 21 years from the sketched seeds of ideas for a logo to the most recent portrait session featuring original work from many artists including Simon Fowler, Paul Postle, Stylorouge, Banksy, Paul Spencer, Tom Sheehan, Julian Opie and Pennie Smith”.
Blur 21: The Exhibition will be on display at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin from 26th July through until the band’s open-air live performance on 1stAugust, at the same venue. There is no admission charge to the Exhibition. To mark the occasion Stylorouge, who designed all of Blur’s album covers, are designing a special Dublin edition poster which will be available for purchase at the Exhibition.
