Illustrator and Author Charlie Mackesy’s Christmas Selling Exhibition

The artist, illustrator and best-selling author Charlie Mackesy is taking over Sotheby’s London on New Bond Street this Christmas with a new selling exhibition of his work (December 16 - January 13), and the transformation of Sotheby’s “Story Café” with floor-to-ceiling murals hand painted by the artist himself. Both the exhibition and the mural capture the delicate world within Charlie Mackesy’s beloved book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, and reveal the friendship and poignant conversations between the four main characters.
 
Emotional, cathartic and ultimately uplifting, Charlie says of his work: “Given where we’ve all been and what we’ve come through, I think people need to be told ‘You’ve made it here, you’ve got through – well done’. He has enjoyed creating “an event rather than just an exhibition”. 
 
While the exhibition, called Look How Far We’ve Come, will feature around 60 of Charlie’s original working artworks in ink and paint all available to buy via Sotheby’s, the mural - the first to be created on-site at the café - brings to life the magic of the book in life-size scale for everyone to enjoy.  With Charlie’s distinctive drawings enveloping the walls from floor to ceiling, the mural shares an insight into the working methods of the artist, who creates his artworks by layering up different mediums - from ink to paint - as part of his artistic process. See a timelapse video of the artist at work creating the mural below.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, has touched the hearts of readers around the world, and has been adapted into an animated short film poised to take audiences of all ages on an extraordinary, poignant and heartfelt journey, as the story follows the unlikely friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse as they journey together in the boy’s search for home. The selling-exhibition opens ahead of the animated film adaptation of the book showing on BBC and iPlayer in the UK this Christmas and will be on view until January 13. The animated short film will be accompanied by The Animated Story book, published by Ebury on November 22, available in bookstores and online.