Host of great artists try to answer the question: Who is Rupert Ray?

Date
11 May 2012

In the 19th Century there was a corking tradition of setting up societies and supper clubs to celebrate completely fictitious figures, with talks about and toasts to their spurious connections to anything and everything. Sadly said tradition seems to have died out but it has been given a new lease of life by the newly launched Rupert Ray agency.

Formed by ex-Airside co-founder Alex Maclean and his former coleague Caroline Matthews, the agency launched an exhibition asking a host of brilliant creatives, “Who is Rupert Ray?” Armed only with a gnomic biography telling them Ray “had a penchant for adventure, a reckless disregard for his own shortcomings and a hunger for knowledge that would place him close to the eye of a storm overtaking his world,” they set to work immortalising the mystery man in their chosen styles.

Potentially cringeworthy in the wrong hands, it’s the calibre of the creatives involved that made the work eclectically excellent, with established names like Noma Bar and Ian Stevenson alongside newcomers like Sarah Maycock (one of our 2011 Graduates).

And from 3D printing to embroidery, via a host of incredible illustrations, it’s a stonking response to the brief, although the man himself remains somewhat elusive.

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Crispin Finn: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Paul Belford: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Luke Pearson: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Sarah Maycock: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Noma Bar:Who is Rupert Ray?

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Adrian Johnson: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Alex MacLean: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Bob London: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Chrissie MacDonald: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Genevieve Gauckler: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Jean Julien: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Ian Stevenson: Who is Rupert Ray?

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Celyn Brazier: Who is Rupert Ray?

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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