KERRY ROPER

 

Kerry Roper is a London-based British artist and designer. His work combines illustration, collage, photography, and typography using both traditional media, such as ink and paints, and digital media.

 

Roper was born in Aberdare in South Wales. As a young child growing up in the valleys he witnessed a huge uprising – namely the Miners strike of ’84. Witnessing the power of people and their voices and the huge injustice of the government at the time - namely Thatcher & the despicable Tory party.

 

His core values are –

Treat people how you’d like to be treated.

Be honest always. Liars are one of the worst kind of human kind.

Be humble.

Be respectful.

Be kind.

If anyone does wrong – then correct them.

Stand up for yourself.

Always be your true self.

 

Give people 3 chances. People make mistakes. 

But remember “You can never make the same mistake twice – the 2nd time is a choice.” 

 

On a design level he is all about the idea and craft. Craft, craft, craft.

 

Growing up in an environment where people struggled but always fought for fairness and justice helped shape him as a person. This is reflected in the honesty and raw nature of his work. His aim is to make people feel something when they see his creations – to evoke and provoke.

 

He has a background in advertising which has influenced his strong idea led visual approach. For him – ideas are everything. His aim in his commercial work is to ENGAGE & PERSUADE – draw people in and persuade them or educate them to do something.

 

His idols and influences are artists and designers such as Peter Blake, David Carson, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Graham Wood and Dirk Van Dooren of the legendary Tomato collective, Joseph Beuys and Mark Denton - who from a very early stage in Ropers career taught him the importance of craft and wit.

 

In 2010 the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum London) selected Kerry Roper's works 'Modern Youth', 'Con Amor' and 'Time Waits For No Man' as part of its Street Art Touring Exhibition alongside work by Blek Le Rat, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, D*Face and Ben Eine. These works of art are now in the V&A’s permanent collection.

 

The Science Museum in London have been selling his Human Ingredients t-shirt design since 2012 and it continues to be a bestseller. In 2022 they are also introducing another one of his design concepts.

 

Kerry Roper has been commissioned to create apparel for Nike and Topshop, designed a snowboard range for Rome and illustrated a Snickers NFL campaign - amongst many other. 

 

Topshop commissioned T-shirt by Roper for their Illustreight range. 

 

In 2006 the Air Jordan division of Nike chose Roper to create a T-shirt to celebrate 20 years of Michael Jordan. He has also worked closely with record labels such as Hed Kandi, Minsitry Of Sound, Defected Records and with other numerous bands as art director and designer.

 

In 2019 after a battle with mental illness and being in hospital for a month – with the Head Psychiatrist saying he’d had the most severe psychosis he had ever witnessed – Roper recovered and then later that year his advertising campaign for Cancer Research UK won Campaign Magazine’s Bravest campaign of the year. Everyone has their battles – don’t judge people by them – hopefully Ropers journey is proof that you can get better and go on to do even bigger and better things.

 

Saatchi & Saatchi were fully aware of his battles but still gave him the opportunity to join such a prestigious and arguably – the world most famous advertising agency.

 

To this day this journey continues – working with brilliant people from all disciplines and backgrounds – for clients such as Direct Line, EE, BT, Deutsche Telekom, OBV and many others.

 

He has been designing the sleeves and art for Sushitech since 2008 – long may this journey continue.