A Periodic Table of Swearing, a stuffed toy parody and a Choose Life/F**k It Button - there’s plenty to see at TRAINSPOTTERS, the upcoming exhibition at Atom Gallery celebrating 30 years of Danny Boyle’s era-defining film, Trainspotting.
Curated by the designer behind the original film poster, Mark Blamire (also known as Grow Up or Blam) and its portrait photographer, Lorenzo Agius, TRAINSPOTTERS brings together new works by more than 30 artists, each inspired by the countercultural pulse which earned Trainspotting its global following.
Blamire tells East End Review the exhibition isn’t meant to be a nostalgia trip, but rather a celebration of what’s to come. “We’ve been asked multiple times by other organisations for our work to be included in retrospective exhibitions which showcase 90’s culture”, he said.
“I just thought it would be more interesting, as an idea, to look forward completely and do something entirely new and different again with the theme and involve other artists in the process.
“Lorenzo was quite keen for the two of us to do something independently to celebrate the film poster design in some way. Due to my ‘Don’t look behind you...’ attitude, I really wasn’t sure about a retrospective.
“However, over the next 12 months, we kept returning to the idea and the 30th anniversary was also looming.” A chance encounter with Blamire’s artist friend, Real Hackney Dave (Dave Buonaguidi), ultimately sealed the deal. “[He] convinced me by calling me a moron for having Trainspotting in my history and not wanting to celebrate it”, Blamire added.
Blamire started by giving artists to create new works “around the theme, the time period and the culture” of the original film, giving the subject their own spin. “I felt motivated with this refreshing approach, so we put a few feelers out with other artists to gauge the reaction and in the first week, twelve people had all signed up and thought it was a marvellous idea”, he continued.
Visitors can marvel at pop artist Shuby’s signature banana in a vibrant risograph titled Choose Banana, while Stanley Donwood revamps his legendary artwork for Radiohead's 1997 album, OK Computer, in a special Trainspotting orange variant.
Actor and comedian Phill Jupitus, who began his career as a freelance cartoonist, presents a series of one-off collages dedicated to Trainspotting’s characters, and mosaic artist Florist pays tribute to Irvine Welsh’s 1993 book cover using tile. Five original paintings by Jack Blam pay homage to the story’s protagonists. He explained: “I decided not to include any of the photography from the iconic poster, relying entirely on the colour, pattern and graphic imagery to show the individual personalities through graphic abstraction”.
Anthony Appleyard’s Choose Life/F**k It Button captures the film’s iconic slogan and main character Mark Renton’s ongoing dilemma, while TV comedy duo Adam and Joe present Toytrainspotting - a screen print of their stuffed toy take on Blamire’s original Trainspotting poster.
Meanwhile Megan Gant’s striking ceramic vessels draw on iconic quotes from the film using the same bright orange fans will remember from Blamire’s poster. “Each photo that I chose to use for the transfers alludes to drug use and the heightened paranoia often experienced by users, through phrases such as ‘Do you see him’, ‘Can you hear me’, and ‘Behind you’”, she said.
Blamire continued: “I aspired to have a wide mix of styles and answers from oil painters, screenprinters, potters, etc., so if I had a specific style from one artist that matched someone else’s visual approach, then it had to go with one or the other, which made it tricky to find a happy balance”.
One piece that commands attention is the Periodic Table of Swearing (The Scottish Field Report), documenting the rich and colourful use of language of Scotland.
“One of the world’s leading heritage sites of swearing, a true UNESCO treasure of global importance”, according to artist Modern Toss, who told East End Review: “Ideally people leave reassured that someone has spent an unhealthy amount of time arranging Scotland’s filth into a systematic grid based on the chemical elements.
“Nothing was excluded for being too rude. The reality is there’s simply too much material. Scottish swearing could comfortably sustain a multi-volume encyclopaedia. This is just a carefully selected snapshot”.
Figurative artist Lucy Pass, sharing the inspiration behind the piece COME ALIVE 35, said: “Renton's journey through the film is so tumultuous and complex, so as soon as Blam asked me to create something for the show, I instantly had a vision of how the final piece could look!
“Using the images from the iconic marketing campaign, I wanted to create a piece that would simultaneously capture multiple aspects of his turbulent struggle - fragmented, desperate and slipping in and out of clarity and delirium”.
Ceal Warnants’ vintage-inspired print, Choo Choos(e), reimages characters Renton and Spud as schoolgirls sprinting along a train platform with panicked, dark eyes, clutching suitcases engraved with the words CHOOSE LIFE. Reflecting on her memories of the film, Warnants said: “It was 1996... I was 11, the same age as my son is now. My older sister brought home Trainspotting on VHS. I vividly remember the first beats of Lust for Life vibrating through the speakers and Renton’s speech beginning, ‘Choose Life…’.
“In those opening moments, I knew I was watching something totally forbidden but brutally captivating. I didn’t understand everything, of course, and if my parents found out I would have been in serious trouble but I knew, even then it was filmic gold”.
The impact of the film is as profound today as it was back in 1996 - something Blamire reflected on when discussing the original campaign. He said: “I suppose the clue to making something that does influence culture and get recognition is about being honest and authentic in what you are making and just going with what you are passionate about.
“It’s amazing and really lovely for me personally that 30 years later people still parody and copy the poster and something I made in the 90s is still being repurposed as being relevant today”.
With 10 per cent of the money from all sales going to social enterprise and magazine Big Issue, this exhibition is definitely worth a visit.
TRAINSPOTTERS. Atom Gallery, 127 Green Lanes, N16 9DA. 21 February - 14 March, 2026. Find out more here.
