June, 2022, Watercolour and Ink on Somerset 650 gsm White Velvet, 76cm x 56cm, Watercolour
The Pink Bear first entered LUAP’s work through therapy, when a childhood memory resurfaced and became a means of approaching experiences that resisted direct description. It emerged from the psychological terrain of Lone Soldiers, where trees already functioned as surrogates for states of mind and fragments of childhood imagery had begun to enter the work.
Acting as both alter ego and emotional cipher, the figure creates a space to explore memory, identity, vulnerability and the tension between outward appearance and internal experience. The Pink Bear shifts between familiarity and dislocation. Its playful form is deliberately at odds with the psychological weight carried by the work, allowing complex emotional states to surface through an image that initially appears accessible.
Across Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Performance, Installation and Public Art, the Pink Bear shifts in scale, material and setting while remaining a constant presence within LUAP’s evolving practice. Personal experience is carried into increasingly public forms, while the figure’s ambiguity allows those experiences to extend beyond the autobiographical and become something more universal.
BBC News features LUAP’s giant Pink Bear mural in Cleethorpes, where the familiar figure sits on the beach with a melting ice cream. LUAP returned to the area where he grew up, describing the project as nostalgic and made for the local community.
FLO London speaks with LUAP about the development of The Pink Bear and a practice spanning Painting, Photography, Sculpture and travel, following the launch of the four-metre Pink Bear Pavilion in Hamburg.
GUS Germany covers the launch of LUAP’s Pink Bear Pavilion at Altonale 2024 in Hamburg, a four-metre walk-in Sculpture created with the University of Europe for Applied Sciences and presented at Altonaler Balkon.
Hamburger Abendblatt covers the arrival of The Pink Bear Pavilion at Altonaler Balkon for Altonale 2024, describing LUAP’s four-metre, walk-in Sculpture as one of the festival weekend’s most visible new landmarks.
Trebuchet follows The Pink Bear Pavilion from its development through to its installation at Altonaler Balkon in Hamburg, with two features by Sean Keenan examining the four-metre Sculpture, its construction and the personal history behind The Pink Bear.
LUAP writes for the Embassy of Mongolia in the UK about travelling through western Mongolia with The Pink Bear, reflecting on the physical demands of the journey, the landscape and the experience of making Photography in remote conditions.
LUAP was one of six artists commissioned by Fortnum & Mason to create an original work for the store’s 2024 Valentine’s windows, each responding to the theme of love.
Fortnum & Mason commissions LUAP to create Finding Light in Darkness for its Unleash the Love campaign, curated by Gone Rogue. The commission grows from LUAP’s recurring exploration of love, connection and the psychological movement between darkness and light.
LUAP appears on the cover of ’Cene Magazine for an interview exploring The Pink Bear, travel and storytelling, returning to Canterbury where he studied Fine Art before developing the work that would shape his international practice.
LUAP speaks with PetaPixel about Photography as a central part of his practice, from the evolution of camera technology to the way images made on location become the starting point for Painting.
LUAP appears on the cover of Aspire Magazine for a feature following The Pink Bear across Painting, Photography and the expeditions that provide the source material for his large-scale works.
LUAP writes for Diplomat Magazine’s special publication marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Mongolia, reflecting on his horseback journey through western Mongolia with The Pink Bear and the Photography created along the way.
LUAP features in Happiful’s Good News Stories to Make You Smile, tracing The Pink Bear back to a positive childhood memory reconnected with during therapy and its later development across Painting and Photography.
My Head Feels Clear When I Am Outside at Winter Sculpture Park
LUAP presents My Head Feels Clear When I Am Outside at Gallery No.32’s Winter Sculpture Park in Bexley. The 2.4 × 2.4 metre work is his first large-scale Pink Bear head and first outdoor Sculpture, extending the figure from image and object into the landscape.
LUAP is named HUNGER’s MVP of the Week, with new Photography placing The Pink Bear within Britain’s snow-covered landscapes and bringing together themes of mental health, reflection and the natural world.
LUAP features in Ham & High’s coverage of Open Cells at the former Hampstead Police Station, where The Pink Bear is placed inside one of the building’s original cells to explore mental health, isolation and psychological confinement.
LUAP presents Self Incarceration, developed during a Residency inside a former police station in Hampstead. The Installation explores human caged potential and how fear, trauma and our own feelings can incarcerate us even when the possibility of escape remains open.
LUAP speaks with Creative Boom about The Pink Bear, mental health and the role of travel within his practice, tracing the figure from a memory recovered during therapy to Photography made in remote landscapes and large-scale Painting.
LUAP writes for DPReview about travelling for ten days on horseback through western Mongolia to create new Photography with The Pink Bear, combining the physical demands of the expedition with a desire to document the landscape and its changing traditions.
LUAP and The Pink Bear appear on the cover of ArtDog Istanbul’s November–December 2022 issue, with a feature exploring mental health, recovery, climate, ecology and loneliness across his Painting, Photography and Installation.
LUAP opens the doors to his converted factory home in London for Metro, with the feature looking at how art, design and The Pink Bear sit within the character of the former industrial space.
LUAP features in Camden New Journal’s coverage of Open Cells at the former Hampstead Police Station, where The Pink Bear is placed behind bars inside one of the building’s original cells.
LUAP speaks with London Daily News about the personal history behind The Pink Bear, the role of travel and Photography within his practice, and preparations for an ambitious horseback expedition through western Mongolia.
LUAP features in Art Plugged ahead of an intimate conversation with curator Vestalia Chilton at The Exhibitionist Hotel, exploring The Pink Bear, Painting, mental health and his recent horseback expedition through Mongolia.
LUAP returns to the University for the Creative Arts for a profile tracing his development from Fine Art student at UCA Canterbury to an international practice spanning Painting, Photography and expeditions with The Pink Bear.
LUAP features in MyLondon in a profile tracing The Pink Bear from a childhood memory and a difficult period in his life to an international Photography practice built around travel, adventure and exploration.
LUAP features in Yahoo! Style in a profile tracing The Pink Bear from a childhood memory rediscovered during therapy to an international practice spanning Photography and large-scale Painting.
LUAP appears on the cover of Blow Out Magazine for an interview exploring The Pink Bear, adventure, mental health and the relationship between Photography, Painting and travel within his practice.
LUAP features in Artists Who Work Under Extreme Conditions, bringing his travel-led Photography into a feature alongside Marina Abramović, Chris Burden and ORLAN, whose practices have involved physically demanding, dangerous or unconventional conditions.
LUAP takes the December 2021 cover of Style Magazine, published with Corriere della Sera in Italy, with The Pink Bear at the centre of an issue dedicated to the extraordinary.
LUAP’s The Unconscious Therapy is featured by The Mayfair Musings as Great Portland Estates transforms 95 New Bond Street into an immersive exhibition during Frieze London 2021.
LUAP’s The Unconscious Therapy is featured by Retail Gazette as Great Portland Estates transforms 95 New Bond Street into an immersive exhibition during Frieze London 2021.
LUAP’s The Unconscious Therapy is featured by Property Funds World as Great Portland Estates transforms 95 New Bond Street into an immersive exhibition during Frieze London 2021.
LUAP speaks to Runway Gallery Magazine about The Unconscious Therapy, his solo exhibition at 95 New Bond Street, and the personal experiences, travel and Photography that shape his wider practice.
LUAP’s The Unconscious Therapy receives two features in FAD Magazine during Frieze Week 2021, including a recommendation from art critic Tabish Khan and an in-depth interview with LUAP and curator MC Llamas.
LUAP’s Nature & Nurture at 95 New Bond Street is featured by Art Plugged, bringing Painting, Photography and Sculpture into the heart of Mayfair during a period of dramatic change on the high street.
LUAP’s The Unconscious Therapy is featured by Artlyst, documenting his largest solo exhibition to date and the transformation of three floors at 95 New Bond Street into an immersive exploration of mental health, recovery and connection.
LUAP is featured by Creative Boom in its preview of Art in the Age of Now, a major group exhibition transforming the long-vacant Fulham Town Hall as London begins to emerge from lockdown.
LUAP is featured by Time Out in its preview of Art in the Age of Now, the major group exhibition taking over the long-vacant Fulham Town Hall ahead of its redevelopment.
LUAP is featured in Luxury London’s cultural guide to 2021 as part of Art in the Age of Now, the major group exhibition taking over the long-vacant Fulham Town Hall after lockdown.
Fulham Town Hall opens its doors to the public in May 2021 for the first time in a decade. For Art in the Age of Now, LUAP is given an open brief and a former holding cell in the basement, using the building itself as the starting point for a new sculptural Installation.
LUAP’s Good Vibrations Public Art Installation in Notting Hill is featured by Art Daily, exploring isolation, mental health and the restorative role of nature through the recurring figure of The Pink Bear.
LUAP’s Good Vibrations Public Art Installation takes over the former AllSaints storefront on Westbourne Grove, with Made In Shoreditch exploring the work’s relationship with mental health, isolation and connection.
LUAP’s KCAW High Street Windows Installation is selected by FAD Magazine as one of the top five outdoor artworks to see in London as lockdown restrictions begin to ease in March 2021.
LUAP’s Good Vibrations Public Art Installation on Westbourne Grove is featured by London Post, exploring mental health, isolation and the restorative role of nature through The Pink Bear.
LUAP paints Love Life, a 12 × 6 m Mural on Batemans Row in Shoreditch, supported by Outside the Zone. The Pink Bear holds a skull with heart-shaped eyes, bringing mortality, choice and the value of time into one image.
LUAP is featured by British GQ as part of its weekly selection of the coolest things to do in London, highlighting his work in the KCAW Winter Exhibition at The Exhibitionist Hotel.
LUAP writes for Artists & Climate Change about how childhood, therapy and The Pink Bear shaped his relationship with nature and his growing concern for the environment.
LUAP speaks to Ecohustler about The Pink Bear, environmental anxiety and the role of travel and Photography in developing work that responds to a changing natural world.
What Was Dark Has Become Light, And What Was Light Has Become Dark
I Used To Be A Polar Bear,
2020,
C-Type Print,
184cm x 123cm,
Photography
The fire dances in the dark shadows of the forest bringing light and warmth. The final fragments of daylight melt away into the encroaching silhouettes of the trees. What was light has become dark, and what was dark has become light.
The Plastic Flood for Let’s Live With Less Plastic
LUAP’s The Plastic Flood appears on digital billboards across the UK for Let’s Live With Less Plastic, curated by Tia Grazette for Plastic Free July. The Photography confronts the growing environmental cost of disposable plastic and waste.
LUAP’s Love Life, a 12 × 6 metre Pink Bear mural in Shoreditch, is featured by Inspiring City following the completion of his first large-scale painted work in the public realm.
LUAP’s I’m Glad I Found You series is featured by Made In Shoreditch, bringing together unseen Paintings completed during lockdown after the exhibition they were intended for was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unrealistic Expectations,
2020,
C-Type Print,
60cm x 180cm,
Photography
A female figure is styled and posed as a doll alongside LUAP’s Pink Bear, creating a surreal image that explores beauty, identity, performance and the construction of appearance.
LUAP is profiled by C-A-K-E in an in-depth interview tracing the childhood memories, environmental concerns and personal experiences that developed into The Pink Bear and his wider art practice.
LUAP donated Purple Star Light, a 60 × 40 cm C-Type Print mounted on Aluminium, to the 2019 Terrence Higgins Trust Auction at Christie’s. Photographed in New Zealand for I Used To Be A Polar Bear, the work marked his third consecutive year supporting the charity.
LUAP presents Plastic Reality in Shepherd Market, Mayfair, a large-scale Intervention that turns The Pink Bear’s own artificiality back on the natural world. The work asks what happens when manufactured versions of nature become more familiar than the living things they imitate.
LUAP’s Pink Bear appears in the Daily Mail after being photographed with Elizabeth Hurley at the VIP launch of Holiday House London, the inaugural UK edition of the design-led fundraiser for breast cancer research.
Well Hung are delighted to announce a group ‘paste up’ exhibition with artists; A.CE, Ben Rider, Donk, Hin, Luap, My Dog Sighs, Pablo Delgado and Shuby.
LUAP supports the inaugural Holiday House London, bringing The Pink Bear into a major interior design showcase raising funds for breast cancer research. The cause has a personal significance following the loss of LUAP’s Nanna to breast cancer.
LUAP creates Home Is A Feeling, a Public Art project supporting New Hope Animal Rescue and Furry Friends Animal Rescue. Featuring The Pink Bear with LUAP’s cat Nipper, the project brings together a large-scale Mural and limited-edition Prints to raise funds and awareness for animal welfare.
Recollection Of Innocence for Street Children in Nepal
LUAP revisits Recollection Of Innocence, originally created as a large-scale Mural in Germany, for a limited-edition scarf made with SKOG42 and Mala & Mad to support children in Nepal.
Home House commissions LUAP to create I ♥ Day Dreaming, an 8 × 4 m Mural for its private members’ club in Portman Square, London. The work brings one of the earliest Pink Bear photographs into the Georgian interior at architectural scale.
I was invited by the OXO Tower Brasserie to take over their gallery viewing gallery with my Pink Bear with the brief of creating something unlike anything they have seen in OXO before.
LUAP’s Williams Bear G has been exhibited at Christie’s King Street alongside works by Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shonibare and Howard Hodgkin, before selling for three times its listed price in support of Terrence Higgins Trust.
In summer 2014 I was introduced to the eclectic and luxuriously opulent private members club, Home House. The grandeur of the building blew me away. Art adorned the walls of each completely unique room, ranging in styles from 18th century splendour to 21st century avant-garde.
LUAP is featured by Marriott International following his selection as artist-in-residence for the opening of Moxy Berlin Ostbahnhof through the hotel brand’s global #BlankCanvas initiative.
LUAP is featured by VALEUR Magazine following the opening of Moxy Berlin Ostbahnhof, where his Pink Bear Photography and live Installation formed part of the hotel’s launch programme.
Pink Bear at the Moxy Hotel in Berlin - Uber Cool!
I recently submitted a proposal through Talent House to create a Pink Bear artwork for the new Moxy Ostbahnhof Hotel as part of their brand launch. My proposal was accepted and is now hanging pride of place in their lobby.
LUAP speaks to Art Week about The Hero’s Journey at Andipa Gallery, tracing The Pink Bear from childhood memory into an alter ego through which he explores relationships, identity and emotional experience.
LUAP speaks to Talenthouse following the opening of The Hero’s Journey at Andipa Gallery, reflecting on The Pink Bear, the development of his practice and a significant step forward in his exhibition career.
LUAP’s debut solo exhibition at Andipa Gallery, The Hero’s Journey, is featured by AFTERNYNE, following The Pink Bear through a body of work exploring identity, isolation, connection and the search for belonging.
LUAP speaks to ArtJobs about The Hero’s Journey at Andipa Gallery, tracing The Pink Bear from childhood memory into an alter ego through which he explores identity, relationships and the unconscious.
Pink Bear is getting his own show. The Andipa Gallery in Knightsbridge - which is well known for it’s huge collection of Banksy’s - will be showing a curated collection of my paintings, prints and photography in July.
Unrealistic Expectations,
2014,
C-Type Print,
40cm x 60cm,
Photography
She lay on her back in the forest. The dark leafy canopy directly above. She opens her mouth to scream, but instead of sound escaping from her mouth, large clouds of white smoke billow from her mouth filling the forest.
A 6am start & the team of 53 was pumped & raring to go...Vanessa Von Tain arrived fresh as a daisy in her Rock 'N' Roll outfit. Louise Thompson in her rose gold tipped trainers. We all scrambled into Starbucks for a caffeine fix, before turning it into a makeshift beauty salon. We then moved to Sketch.
LUAP is profiled by The PhotoPhore in an early feature exploring the personal memories, visual references and psychological ideas that were beginning to define The Pink Bear within his wider practice.
The Pink Bear Makes Its Music Video Debut with DogHaus
The Pink Bear makes its first music video appearance in DogHaus’s Down & Dirty, directed by Tom Gorst. The cameo places the figure inside a surreal club sequence and marks a new kind of cultural collaboration for LUAP.
Artist Paul Robinson to be exhibited at two of London's most stylish venues – Belgraves Hotel & Ramusake
Paul Robinson – an emerging contemporary artist – has been selected by A Space for Art to exhibit at luxury London hotel, Belgraves, & hip Japanese nightspot, Ramusake.
Cara Delevingne, Sophia Kerrison and Kids of Dada select LUAP’s Fail Guard Screen Print for Art4Animals, an international project developed with Talenthouse. The work will be released as part of a 16-artist limited-edition collection supporting New Hope Animal Rescue.
LUAP is featured in Top Magazin following the creation of Recollection Of Innocence, a 6 × 4 metre Pink Bear Mural made for fashion boutique SKOG42 in Karlsruhe, Germany.
LUAP is featured by German culture magazine Regio Inka following the creation of Recollection Of Innocence, a large-scale Pink Bear Mural for fashion boutique SKOG42 in Karlsruhe.
LUAP creates Recollection Of Innocence, a large-scale Mural for SKOG42 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Developed from original Photography of The Pink Bear, the work combines halftone, pattern and layered paint across the store’s interior wall.
LUAP takes The Pink Bear to Hong Kong in 2013, presenting Paintings at HK Contemporary Art Fair and creating a new body of Photography across the city.
