Angus Fairhurst

Angus Fairhurst (1966-2008) was one of the most influential members of the group of artists associated with London’s Goldsmiths College in the late 1980s. He participated in the seminal exhibition, Freeze, which introduced the world to a generation who became known as the Young British Artists, setting the tone for contemporary art in the UK over the next two decades.

"I’m interested in how far you can push something until it’s completely destroyed, because I think it’s not just destruction – you’re making something else. There is a transformation in this process of overlayering and overgilding the lily…"

Selected works

For his collages, Angus Fairhurst seems to adopt twin approaches of iconoclasm and censorship. “Body and text removed” is the refrain in the titles of these works, which were made with magazine and billboard advertisements and a very sharp pair of…