Wilfred Limonious’ Dancehall Artowork Exhibited In Bristol & London

Wilfred Limonious had a hand in shaping the visual identity of Jamaican reggae and dancehall from the early 1970s right through to the 90s. His exuberant style was a lurid mix of Jack Kirby style super hero poses and a finely tuned love of smut, and found it's way onto records by everyone from Sly & Robbie to The Scientist. Had he lived, Limonious would have seen his style directly influence the pop world, with the entire Major Lazer aesthetic pretty much a straight rinse of Wilfred's work. 

Now the first ever Limonious retrospective is planned to take open on Jan 30th in Colston Hall, Bristol, before moving to the South London Gallery on March 23rd. The show has been curated by Al 'Fingers' Newman (who's recent credits also include the Clarks in Jamaica book), and ties in with the launch of a book of Limonious artwork Newman has gathered together, set for release in June this year.  

From the press release:

"Wilfred Limonious began his career producing comic strips for the Jamaican daily newspaper, The Star, with  cartoon characters such as Amos and Chicken becoming particularly popular. During the 1970s he worked as in-house illustrator for Jamaica’s national literacy programme, jamal (Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of Literacy), before going on to produce a huge body of work for the Jamaican music industry, illustrating hundreds of LP jackets and record centres for labels such as Jammy’s, Power House, Studio One, Techniques, Ujama and Midnight Rock. Despite being widely recognised among reggae and dancehall circles, Limonious’ illustrations are relatively unknown in the wider art world."

More details about the show over on the One Love Books website