Press Association, 2005
Comic creation Dennis the Menace has made it big in the art world
as the star of his own exhibition. The Beano favourite has been
given the Andy Warhol treatment by artist John Reynolds. Reynolds
has created a series of giant screenprints featuring the schoolboy
tearaway in his famous red and black stripey jumper.
The artworks are on display at the London Print Studio in west London.
Reynolds has secured the first licence to reproduce original Dennis the
Menace images taken from the Beano. They include the first Dennis the
Menace strip in 1951 – in which Dennis wears a shirt and tie instead
of his jumper.
”Dennis is a gift to the printmaker – the horizontal red and black bars of
his jumper, the exploding hair, the simple outlines and the speech bubbles
all make for dramatic pictures,” Reynolds said. ”Of course, Dennis is a
national icon, so what he says in the speech bubbles take on a kind of
symbolic power.”
Studio director John Phillips said: ”Dennis the Menace is Britain’s unofficial
national mascot. It’s only fitting that he takes centre stage in an art gallery.”
Dennis fans include Prime Minister Tony Blair and Princes William and Harry.
The exhibition ends on July 2.
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