Cranky Pants is a collaboration with UK artist Bruce Asbestos that places identity, emotion and playful self-expression at the centre of the gallery experience.

Curated by Lilly Blue, the exhibition unfolds in a vivid pop-art world filled with larger-than-life characters, inviting visitors to explore a spectrum of rebellious feelings and bold design. Rejecting perfection and prettiness, Cranky Pants encourages people to expand their emotional range and sense of self through playful experiments on the catwalk.

Blending humour, costume design and character-driven creativity, the exhibition creates a welcoming space for audiences of all ages to embrace both the serious and the silly sides of themselves. Along the way, it explores how self-expression can broaden emotional understanding, how shared creativity builds connection, and how colourful pop-art characters can help make gallery spaces more open, accessible and fun.

Bruce Asbestos Bluecoat Gallery 2022. © Bruce Asbestos. Photo © Rob Battersby.