Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules
Calling all mayhem-makers and rule-breakers - Beano is taking over Somerset House!
Archived Event
| Dates | 21 Oct 2021 - 06 Mar 2022 |
| Space | Embankment Galleries South Wing |
| Price | £16 / £12.50 concessions Under 6s free |
“Far and away the greatest and most joyous comics exhibition that I have ever attended...It is a walk-through fantasia, a primary coloured dreamland of the shared British unconscious.”
The New Statesman
“★★★★★ “From Viz to the fourth plinth to David Bowie, the perennially upstart comic’s influence rampages on… it is a riot in there”
The Guardian
“Stupid rules! If I had my way there’d only be one – that there are no rules!”
Minnie the Minx
Do you remember your mum and dad dragging you round boring old museums? Bleugh! Well, prepare for your favourite Beano characters to shake things up as we celebrate their spirit of rebellion with our major new exhibition this autumn.
Step into the pages of the comic and take a trip into Beanotown to explore how this beloved icon of British comics has fired up successive generations to break the rules, while discovering artists who push boundaries in their own original and wonderful ways.
Come face-to-face with the Beano gang - including Dennis and Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, Bananaman and the Bash Street Kids – through original comic artwork and amazing artefacts, plundered from the Beano’s archive.
The exhibition is curated by artist and lifelong Beano fan Andy Holden, who gathers today’s greatest creative rule-breakers, including writers, musicians, painters, sculptors and photographers. Each creative revels in their own spirit of rebellion and contributors include Sarah Lucas, Hardeep Pandhal, Phyllida Barlow, pop star Chris Sievey (otherwise known by his alter-ego Frank Sidebottom), Martin Creed, Alex Chinneck, Heather Phillipson, Ryan Gander, Jann Haworth, Emma Hart, editorial cartoonist Martin Rowson, Rene Matić, Bedwyr Williams and many more. New works include a recording featuring young fiction writer Alex Wheatle, a comic strip from artist Nicola Lane and a neon sculpture from Simeon Barclay.
So whether you want to be inspired by fearless artistic mavericks, revisit a much-loved childhood comic masterpiece or explore the Beano’s larger-than-life characters with your own little rebels, this exhibition will prove that there really is no age limit on the art of breaking the rules.
Watch the trailer
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Young people's activities have been generously supported by
Lead image:
Alex Chinneck, Alphabetti Spaghetti, 2019. Photo by Marc Wilmot.
Heather Phillipson, The End, 2020. Photo by James O Jenkins.
Emma Hart, Blind, 2017. Photograph by Renato Ghiazzo. Image courtesy of the artist and The Sunday Painter.
Babak Ganjei, Art is the thing no one asked you to do. 2021. Courtesy the artist.
Nigel Parkinson, Dennis, Gnasher, Yeti, Rubi, JJ, Bananaman.
David Sutherland, Spotty, Plug, Danny (The Bash Street Kids), Biffo the Bear.
Hugh Raine, Betty. The Sharp Bros., Dangerous Dan. Jim Petrie, Minnie the Minx.
A Beano Studios Product © DC Thomson Ltd (2021)