Polly Apfelbaum: Any dream will do

For the winter-spring 2017 edition of 'As You Change, So Do I', artist Polly Apfelbaum will produce Any dream will do, a series of new poster-works produced exclusively for Luton town centre. Typical of the artist's concern for a balance between the two mediums of painting and installation, this project has a profound engagement with colour and drawing in the public realm. The shapes in Apfelbaum's new works, which have recently included hand-drawn alphabets and rudimentary pictures of animals, are influenced in part by Montessori education, a 'phrenasthenic' approach to teaching that is characterised by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child's natural psychological, physical, and social development. This method contains strong evidence that children who start taking handwritten notes in school develop better overall communicative skills later in life. At a time when handwriting is dying out, due to the influence of handheld digital devices and computers, these painted emblems aim to address the wider context of art education for local audiences, and connect in an intimate way to 'As You Change, So Do I's ongoing theme of the potential of graphic signs in public art. Initially, a large billboard poster will be positioned outside of Luton's central railway station, while three other smaller works - Pataphysical Dog, A is for Animals and Celtic Animal Zodiac - will be produced in an unlimited edition to be taken away and reposted around Luton by visitors to the town's new cultural district. In addition, a limited print, in the form of a tea-towel calendar for 2017 titled Pink Giraffe, will be made for the project in collaboration with Luton's Guildford Street Press. London. 'As You Change, So Do I' has been commissioned by Luton Culture and is funded by Arts Council England.