Paintings and Photographs: Derren Brown

The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery presents an exciting exhibition from an illusionist who has turned away

from the paranormal to explore and celebrate the richness of the everyday.

After a two-year break, Derren Brown has created a new series of portraits in his unmistakable style. Many aspects of his work are driven by a delight in facsimile, the fake masquerading as the truth. His artwork is no exception. From a new self-portrait to a six-foot study of Dame Maggie Smith, these absorbingly hyper-real images in acrylic showcase Derren’s lesser-known (but equally mystifying) talents.

Accompanying his new work will be a selection of earlier portraits, and, for the first time, a collection of his street photography. Armed with his Leica, Derren has pursued his fascination with the poetic in the everyday, taking to the streets to capture the moments of wonder hidden in the relationships between people and their environments. As a well-known figure, he has tended in the past to keep his head down in public; now this passion for photography has promoted a new connectedness with people as they become his unwitting subjects.

These themes of public and private self, of togetherness and separation, form a backbone to an exhibition of extraordinary and touching images.