The new Urban exhibition at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery features street art by the likes of Banksy, but also famous NHS images created by artist Rachel List.
Now the art dealer behind this great display at the city’s gallery has gifted valuable limited edition prints to frontline NHS staff at Peterborough City Hospital. It's all to thank them for “risking their lives” during the Covid pandemic.
John Brandler, from Brandler Galleries in Brentwood, has provided most of the artwork currently on display in the art gallery on Priestgate. He’s now donated 50 copies of mural artist Rachel List’s colourful PPE Angel, which she originally painted on the wall of an art gallery in her hometown of Pontefract in Yorkshire.
Photo: Terry Harris. John Brandler left, donates Rachel List print to Peterborough City Hospital.
The 30-year-old, who usually paints murals on children’s bedrooms, couldn’t work during the lockdowns and instead used her time to boost morale and say thank you to NHS staff with pictures on her town’s walls.
She secretly painted her first NHS mural on the Horse Vaults pub in Pontefract and gained worldwide fame overnight after her picture was mistaken for a Banksy.
Now, as the UK battles against the Omicron variant, John is gifting prints of her PPE Angel picture to NHS staff in hospitals across the country.
John said: “I specifically wanted to thank the individuals who are risking their lives every day by giving them something of lasting value.
“Rachel List is a very popular and rising star in the street art movement, and consequently these limited-edition prints will significantly increase in value over time.”
Rachel added: “I could never have predicted that my art would have reached people beyond my hometown, so the fact it has travelled across the country is a lovely bonus.
“When I couldn’t continue with my murals during the first lockdown I didn’t want to stop painting so I decided to take my art outside. I chose to paint on the walls of businesses that had been forced to close during the lockdown.
“I think a lot of people responded creatively during lockdown, with children drawing rainbows in windows and others taking up new crafts or decorating their homes.
“Lockdown forced people to slow down and I think that’s one reason my murals were so successful. People in Pontefract had time to stop and contemplate them as they went out on their daily walks and it became like an art trail.”
You can see a selection of Rachel's inspiring artwork as part of the Urban exhibition at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery which is on show now.
Pat Carrington, CEO of City Culture Peterborough, which runs Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, said: “We’re delighted to have artwork from a talented up-and-coming artist like Rachel List featuring at our Urban exhibition.
“Rachel’s work has brought a lot of smiles to people across the UK over the past couple of years and we anticipate many people will be keen to see her art in person at our exhibition.”
Rachel’s work can be seen on display, alongside work by Banksy My Dog Sighs, Blek le Rat, Pure Evil, Kaws, Damien Hirst and other prominent artists at the Urban art exhibition at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery from now through until May 2022.
To book visit www.cityculturepeterborough.org.uk/museum-art-gallery