Art for art’s sake

(BartonBorn Art) for Art’s sake

4walls favourite Lhouette is launching an exciting new collaborative venture for mixed media art collections and editions from a number of fresh and unique guest artists.

BartonBorn Art, based near Luton in Bedfordshire, is the latest brainchild of the artist known as Lhouette (born Ciarán Robinson) who is regarded as one of the UK’s premier urban pop art protagonists.

Ciarán (age 36) is the recent winner of our Get Framous competition with his fantastically colourful collaboration with Purling of London called ‘More or Less Chess’. His maximalist creations are revered internationally by leading galleries and art collectors, with previous auctions and exhibitions taking stage at iconic institutions such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and the Dorchester Collection plus he boasts influential celebrity fans like actor Antonio Banderas and music mogul Ronan Keating.

But BartonBorn Art is him diversifying, giving something back and providing a voice and platform to like-minded and unconventional artists - not yet known to the trade, but with huge futures ahead of them.

He explains: “The business up until this point has been known as Lhouette Studios Ltd, with a focus on creating my own personal collections only. BartonBorn Art, however, is an evolution of this, a progression of my own creative ambitions, operating not just as the artist Lhouette, but as a cultivator and curator Pure joy of creativityof a broader collective of artists. “They’ll benefit from my own experience in concept and collection building, and all the practical solutions from my studio team and have the time and backing to grow into their new career pathway, without all the commercial pressures that can take over.

“This new venture is also about going back to grass roots, discovering kindred spirits to work with for the pure joy of creativity. The best works can come from the excitement and electricity of collaboration – and we have already started building collections with three super talented new guest artists to BartonBorn Art.

“As the business has grown over the years with our partner galleries the setup has become very comprehensive, with a main art studio workshop, design and large format printing rooms, picture framing and CNC cutting departments. There are also plans to add in a new paint throwing unit later this year.”

Ciarán adds: “The fresh, new talent we bring in will have access to all that, plus they’ll benefit from my excellent relationship with Larson-Juhl. Presentation is a vital part of the business and Larson-Juhl’s diverse range of mouldings is great for mixing things up and playing with conventions.”