7 Year Itch reunited a cohort of designers, artists, illustrators, writers, musicians, animators and directors for an exhibition celebrating the best of their professional and personal work since graduating together seven years ago.

Over the last seven years the Graphic All Stars, as they dubbed themselves, with tongue wedged firmly in cheek, have gone on to pursue impressive careers and life paths. Working individually and collaboratively they have changed the visual world that we encounter in our every day lives. To reflect this, the IKEA sponsored exhibition was mounted as a series of room sets that presented the work in a familiar way; Commercials on a TV, adverts in a magazine, paintings on a wall, platinum selling pop songs on a stereo, illustrations in a kids book, photos on a mantle piece.

Many of the graduates have maintained close alliances and friendships. Tim Blackwell makes films for his course-mate Ricky Wilson and his obscure beat combo the Kaiser Chiefs. Steve Lewis works with fellow graduate Lee Walker for Virgin Media. Others have worked for a variety of clients from; the BBC to MTV, Prada to Per Una, Habitat to Tesco, Yahoo to the V&A gallery. They have been productive and creative across a wide range of activities.

The exhibition displayed the way these graduates have, explicitly and less visibly, entered our everyday lives, from TV programmes and adverts through to platinum selling pop albums, from community-based artwork to high circulation national magazines.

7 years on, 30 graduates from Leeds Metropolitan University reunited for a unique exhibition. We hope you enjoyed the show.

IKEA furniture auction
all proceeds to charity

The IKEA furnishings within the 7 Year Itch exhibition were available for purchase in a charity auction, which took place online.

Auction Closed

Exhibition Dates

1st—9th June 2007

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