Artist Corbin Shaw and CircleZeroEight Takeover Flannels X

As one of East London’s most exciting names in art Corbin Shaw is no stranger to spectacle. On the contrary, it’s precisely the spectacle of sport that serves as one of Shaw’s primary inspirations. A traditionally homosocial space where men are at liberty to express their complete range of emotions, the UK’s football culture has defined much of his work. Most notably, his St George’s flags that are stamped with sweet yet subversive sayings like ‘soften up hard lad’ and ‘I’m never going to be one of the lads’. For the artist’s latest exploration of masculinity, he’s teamed up with sport and fashion publication CircleZeroEight on a new multimedia exhibition at London's luxury retailer Flannels X.

Titled For The Love of the Lads, the centrepiece of the two-day exhibition is a patchwork flag that Shaw created with a group of year 8 boys from Aylesbury Grammar School. At a formative time of their lives, Shaw asked the class to personalise their own flags with drawings and sayings like 'ballet is for boys' and 'keep calm, play footie'. Riffing on his signature flags, Shaw's latest piece is more than a thoughtful and heartwarming reflection on what it means to be a man from the eyes of the next generation. It also provides space for the young boys to explore emotions that boys have long been expected to repress like compassion and sympathy.

'I would have such a sense of belonging and been so much less confused at their age if I had been given the chance to talk about my own masculinity and to learn that the rules I’d been taught so furiously weren’t in fact what I needed to be, or who I would end up being,' explains Shaw. 'So, to offer this to the boys was such a privilege, they taught me so much about how to be fearless.'

The dynamic exhibition space, with its floor to ceiling wraparound screen walls, will be magnifying parts of the work. The screens also show a short film by British Iranian documentarian Aria Shahrokshahi showing the process between Shaw and the Aylesbury boys.

A longtime SHOWstudio contributor, Elgar Johnson launched CircleZeroEight in 2022 to marry his two loves of sport and culture, so working on this project with Shaw was a natural fit. 'Corbin’s work is provocative, intelligent and educational. He reminds me a bit of the YBAs (Young British Artists) in the 90s. It feels very relevant and I think he will continue to influence with his work for a long time,' says the CircleZeroEight editor-in-chief.

To accompany the exhibition CircleZeroEight editor Gary Armstrong will be hosting a panel discussion with Shaw, musician Guvna B, Business of Fashion journalist Daniel-Yaw Miller, footballer Kelz, and pro-boxer Hassan Azim to discuss the exhibition and their thoughts on contemporary masculinity and sport. For those unable to head to Oxford street will be able to tune in at 19:00 BST on the Flannel X TikTok and Instagram accounts to watch the discussion live.

For The Love of the Lads is open to the public from 3-4 May.