Dion Kitson Rue Britannia At The Ikon Gallery

Dion Kitson recently reached the news headlines, after it was revealed that he, not Banksy, was the artist responsible for the ‘Dorothy’ art work that suddenly appeared on a wall in Birmingham’s Gay Quarter. The work had been commissioned to be part of Joe Lycett’s ‘Late Night Lycett’ programme’s ‘fake news segment’, and had clearly had the desired effect, and had got people asking ‘Who is Dion Kitson?’.

The answer is that he is a local Midlands artist, hailing from Dudley, and that you can currently see some of his most iconic pieces in a new exhibition ‘Rue Britannia’ which is currently on display at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery. Kitson’s work is a celebration of both the beauty and the banality of everyday life in Britain in the 21st century, with Joe Lycett proclaiming that Kiston:-

“understands the state of our nation better than anyone, and why it is the way it is: funny, and beautiful, and dumb.” (from the exhibition catalogue).

I went along to the Ikon last week to take a closer look at Kitson’s work, which appeals to me as someone who grew up on a council estate, went to a comprehensive school and definitely has a soft spot for many fading English towns.

Kitson’s work is full of celebrations of working class life, from pool tables taken from the pub into the world of art, from scratched perspex from bus stops that are literally one step from being shattered, to the strangely wonderful installation Ode to Rubbish Mountain (2022), a very realistic, miniature recreation of the iconic landfill pile that was removed from Brierley Hill in the Black Country in 2016 after a 5-year local battle to have it taken away. The pieces speak of the day to day that is a reality for so many people, something recognisable for a whole generation, art that is warm, witty and yet extraordinary in its ordinariness.

My favourite pieces were the Dorothy shoes – No Place Like Home (2024) , beautiful and iconic, and yet always just out of reach, and the moving Still Life (2024), a mannequin of a young Prince, who is most definitely Prince Harry at his mother’s funeral, which is an examination of a collective memory of shared grief and is haunting in its sorrow.

You can see Dion Kitson’s Rue Britannia at the Ikon Gallery, and can also book tickets to see its companion exhibition Silver Lining, an off-site commission for English Heritage, which is currently at JW Evans Silver Factory in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. (You can book tickets here)

Sharing is caring!