THE work of a well-known Whitehaven artist are on display in an exhibition in his memory.

Kevin Carr – A Retrospective, opened last week at the Florence Arts Centre and will be on until May 18.

Mr Carr died last month at the age of 57.

The exhibition has been curated by friend Kevin Weaver. It was planned prior to Mr Carr’s death, but the exhibition is now going ahead as an event in his memory.

Mr Weaver said: “Kevin was a very generous man giving many of his paintings away for nothing, but I think this shows he undervalued his art and ultimately that led him to a very dark place, though artistically West Cumbria is a very tough place to make a living from art, especially if it’s not traditional landscapes.”

Mr Carr’s show at Florence Mine includes some 40 oil and charcoal portraits of local Whitehaven characters including Alfie Dagg, John Dempsy, Angela Stewart, ‘Bertie’, ‘Nickett’ and ‘Pagan Pete’ he has met, mainly in the pubs of Whitehaven.

There are also copies of famous photo portraits of such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Margaret Thatcher, Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot and Rupert Murdoch. There are also two large oil paintings 6ft by 4ft of Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard (given to Cleator Moor Boxing Gym and signed by the boxers themselves).

Mini installation pieces use cigarette packets to create contemporary pieces of political art around the glamorising of smoking, Arafat’s Peace process and Kate & William’s Royal marriage. There are also pieces called Dr Carr’s Spanish Watter using his humour and local dialect.

Entry is free.