CYCLOPS (LUCAS PRICE) (BRITISH B. 1965)
Permanent damage 1
singed and dated Cyclops 2007 (lower right)
acrylic on panel
panel: 25 x 63 cm
frame: 71 x 33 cm
framed
ARR
from his FOUND show, 2007

Cyclops is a street artist whose tribal fury combined with contemporary photo-realistic imagery and antiquated styles and religious iconography creates an impressive style of his own. Cyclops first tried his hand at graffiti at 13, and later went on to study at the Tony Romanoff School of wood craftsmen. Through his work, he creates various figures, the most well know of which is his skull character.

Excluded from school in London due to his early experiments in graffiti, Cyclops moved to Manchester and plunged into a fringe existence coloured by addiction. Funding this lifestyle via forgery, he spent time in prison and was generally of no fixed abode. Emerging ten years later, he found himself energised by the growing street art network, and founded London's Burning Candy crew. An appearance in Exit Through the Gift Shop, at Banksy's request, ended in an arrest that can be seen in the Oscar-nominated documentary.

Cyclops's work earned him a coveted position at the Royal College of Art (other graduates include Lucian Freud and Chris Ofili), where he completed a master's degree. In 2008, he exhibited at the Tate Modern as part of their exhibition ‘Art on the Street’.