The new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has announced it will open on 5 June in Clerkenwell, London.
Set to be the world’s largest space dedicated to illustration, the centre will provide three exhibitions, a library and creative studio, gardens, a café, and a shop selling illustration gifts.
Located in a restored waterworks, it will open with three exhibitions – Quentin Blake: Performance, Queer as Comics, and Murugiah: Ever Feel Like..., which was announced last year.
Quentin Blake: Performance will explore Blake's depiction of theatre through illustration, including circus, pantomime, Greek comedy and Shakespearean drama.
Queer as Comics will celebrate 80 years of LGBTQIA+ comics, showcasing previously-unseen original works by more than 60 artists from around the world.
Murugiah: Ever Feel Like... will be a kaleidoscopic look at identity through prints, paintings and sketches inspired by Hollywood film, sci-fi and 2000s era pop-punk.
Ahead of the opening this summer, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has refreshed its branding to include a crackle of cockatoo characters plus a parakeet (pictured below).
Quentin Blake, who has drawn hundreds of cockatoos, parakeets and other birds over his nearly 80-year career, said: "I have liked birds – to look at and to draw – ever since I was a child; and more recently I have found that if you need an extra note of colour, a small parrot or cockatoo is very useful."
Tickets to the new attraction will go on sale on 29 April.
Images courtesy of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration
