CHEERIO: 48 Hours with Francis Bacon

About

The exhibition will include three painting by Francis Bacon, alongside works by writers, artists and filmmakers including Jeremy Deller, Bella Freud, DBC Pierre and James Birch.

CHEERIO – a publisher and production company launched in association with The Estate of Francis Bacon – will host the two-day event in collaboration with Tristan Hoare. The exhibition marks CHEERIO’s launch and the publication of BIG SNAKE LITTLE SNAKE by DBC Pierre.

CHEERIO’s name is a nod to Bacon’s favourite drinking toast, and the programme will feature an eclectic mix of readings, exhibits and short films designed to intrigue, disturb and thrill.

Alongside some major artwork from Bacon’s Estate and a pop-up, Bacon-inspired bookshop from Hatchards, visitors can expect a line-up including:

- A free lunchtime live poetry session in collaboration with The White Review and Offord Road Books, featuring young poets including A. K. Blakemore, Sarah Fletcher and Niall McDevitt.

- A ticketed in-conversation between novelist David Keenan and DBC Pierre.

- A ticketed in-conversation between acclaimed journalist, broadcaster and novelist Dolly Alderton and curator James Birch about love, art, time and place, to mark the publication of his memoir BACON IN MOSCOW: an account of Birch’s audacious quest to mount the ground-breaking Francis Bacon exhibition in Moscow in 1988, when he found himself not only the subject of a honey-trap, but also the focus of the KGB and a picaresque and shady cast of officials, attachés and politicians.

- Displays created exclusively for the occasion, curated by CHEERIO writers and artists including Jeremy Deller, Bella Freud, DBC Pierre and James Birch.