Cult British artist Jeremy Deller has always been an outspoken voice against the current Tory government and Brexit – his “Strong and stable my arse” posters and an image of Putin with a pro-Brexit tattoo being highlights – but Theresa May isn’t the only one in his sights. Yesterday (March 29) – so-called “Brexit Day” – the Turner Prize winner unveiled a new artwork that has it in for another instrumental Brexit figure, Nigel Farage.
“Farage in Prison” the artwork simply reads. The words are printed on silkscreen and a hundred copies will be released, at £110 each. Proceeds will go towards a crowdfunder to save The Social, a central London bar threatened with closure.
Not only does the succinct slogan capture the anger at Nigel Farage for playing a huge role in misleading the country in the run-up to the EU referendum, it also has a personal side to it. As Deller explained in a 2018 Financial Times interview, he and the former UKIP leader both attended south London’s Dulwich College, where Farage was two years above.
“Me and Farage go back a long way,” says Deller in the interview. “I know where he comes from. I know better than he suspects. I know the environment he grew up in and how horrible it was for a teenage boy – a tough, rightwing culture. He obviously thrived on it. He made it his life’s work in a way.”
Earlier this year Deller also collaborated with Aries on a Stonehenge-inspired capsule collection, because English heritage should be about mystical powers, not about shutting out the rest of the world, right?