David Hoyle: Please Feel Free to Ignore My Work

Cabaret star, actor, and accomplished visual artist, Hoyle’s infamous alter-ego ‘The Divine David’ transported him from radical alternative settings to the studios of Channel 4. Please Feel Free to Ignore My Work (10–28 April) is part retrospective, part residency that celebrates the artist's prolific body of work across multiple mediums created over four decades.

Rarely seen paintings, slogan works and new commissions, as well as screenings of his iconic television appearances and films, will be brought together for the very first time. Hoyle will also host talks, live painting and a classic pub quiz, all at Aviva Studios. A brand-new ‘end-of-the pier’ variety show David Hoyle: Still Got It? on Saturday 27 April merging the best of seaside culture and the avant-garde will bring the three-week residency at Aviva Studios to a climax.

Please Feel Free to Ignore My Work brings together key themes that run through Hoyle’s back-catalogue: gender, mental health, AIDS, revolution, decadence and the effects of capitalism. Tracing his career from the '80s to the present day, this body of work asks how and why we value our art and artists.

Aviva Studios 10–28 April 

Key dates:

Wednesday 10 April  - The Grand Opening  

Saturday 13 April – An Artist At Work (live painting)  

Wednesday 17 April – No Ordinary Pub Quiz  

Saturday 20 April – On Screen and In Conversation (live talk with Hoyle) 

Saturday 27 April – Still Got It…!? (Variety show)  

All images by LEE BAXTER

Published: 20-Feb-2024: (7381)