In an era where global migration, popular culture, and personal memory collide, the question of identity often transforms into a complex visual language. Standing right at the center of this collision is MURUGIAH, an artist who blends his Sri Lankan roots with a childhood spent in Wales, transitioning from the discipline of architecture into the limitless universe of illustration. Preparing to open its doors in May 2026, London’s Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration launches its first major exhibition series with the artist’s debut solo show, Ever Feel Like…. This choice is a clear indication that illustration has moved beyond being a mere accompaniment to text, becoming a field of cultural reading in its own right.
The artist’s practice pulls the viewer into a hyper-active dream coated in candy colors. However, just beneath this bright surface lies a fantastic and occasionally uncanny world woven with macabre elements. MURUGIAH’s visual vocabulary is exceptionally eclectic, drawing from a vast pool of references: from the Pokémon cards and X-Men comics he traded as a child to Hollywood cinema and traditional South Asian motifs. Combining inspiration from Surrealist masters like Leonora Carrington with the spatial discipline of his architectural training, the artist presents a multi-layered body of work consisting of sculptures, paintings, prints, and sketches. Having gained recognition for collaborations with giants like Apple and Elton John, or his haunting cover design for George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984, this style is now liberated for the first time to serve his own personal narrative.
The title Ever Feel Like… is essentially an open-ended question directed at the audience, waiting to be completed in the mind. Behind the chaotic and eye-catching scenes he designs, MURUGIAH pursues universal emotions. As he pours his internal conflicts and complex sense of belonging onto canvas or into sculptural forms, he demands a similar confrontation from the viewer. In the artist’s own words, his primary goal is for the audience to find something relating to their own wounds or joys within this unique and strange presentation, leaving the space with a sense of catharsis. In this regard, the exhibition functions less as a visual bombardment and more as a mirror, allowing visitors to navigate their own psychological depths.
Realized with the support of Arts Council England, the Bagri Foundation, and Procreate, this exhibition is also the first ambitious step in the newly established Quentin Blake Centre’s vision to support UK-based contemporary illustrators. Tickets for the center, which officially opens in May, have been made available as of this April. For those who wish to enter the colorful, familiar, yet strangely alien labyrinth of MURUGIAH’s mind and see how the codes of popular culture can be blended with personal memory, London offers a powerful destination on this spring’s agenda.
