Acclaimed street artist PRIEST has unveiled a major new solo exhibition PAPER CUT, transforming part of Saatchi Gallery into an exaggerated primary-school classroom to explore the stark and often unsettling realities facing young people in Britain today.
Darkly playful and visually arresting, the show blends bold humour with uncomfortable truths. PRIEST invites visitors to view the challenges of modern childhood through a child’s eyes, using supersized crayons, glue sticks, colouring-in sheets, magnets and other classroom detritus as a lens to examine knife crime, shoplifting, police harassment, AI and the pressures facing families across the capital.
At the heart of the exhibition are two powerful new installations, Popsicle Squatters: A 3.5-metre-tall, derelict popsicle-stick slum, covered in graffiti tags and inhabited by pipe-cleaner squatters. This fragile, haunting sculpture reflects the precarious situations many children live in today, with Government figures showing that around 4% of London’s children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. And Free Mobile: A 3.5-metre-long spray paint box, sliced open to reveal a cardboard diorama of a phone being snatched by a bike-riding youth in the shadow of Big Ben. Last year, there were around 80,000 phone thefts in London – around 70% of all thefts reported in the capital – with cases of adult gangs coercing disadvantaged young people into criminality.
Surrounding these installations is a series of wall-based works that recreate classic craft table creations, torn sheets of A4, collages, and sketchpad doodles, each dramatically enlarged and pinned to the gallery walls with enormous fridge magnets.
Scattered throughout the space are monumental versions of everyday classroom objects: oversized crayons, pencils, drawing pins, even a vape creating an immersive environment that melds childhood memory with razor-sharp social commentary.
Speaking about the exhibition, PRIEST said:
“I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with ‘white box’ art spaces, so this show really started from my own childish desire to present macaroni art inside a polished, high-end gallery. If it’s seen as a satirical jab at the seriousness within parts of the art world, I’m fine with that.
As the show has developed, though, it’s become something else. My partner works in children’s social care, and the darker, more complex elements of young people’s experiences have become part of our everyday conversations. Some of the works will be tough to digest, but sadly they show the reality for many kids today.
I just don’t think most people grasp how tough life has become for young people today, especially in cities like London. I hope this show gets more people thinking about that, and how we start to fix it.”
For too many young people, childhood now carries the weight of real danger. Many have to navigate unsafe environments, precarious home lives and structural disadvantages. For some, carrying a weapon may feel like necessary self-protection rather than a choice; for others, desperate economic pressure pushes them towards shoplifting or petty theft.
By transforming the innocent visual language of childhood into a raw commentary on fear, danger and survival, PAPER CUT creates a space for reflection, empathy and uncomfortable truth-telling.
PRIEST has built a cult following for works that fuse playful, childhood iconography with unflinching commentary on contemporary urban life. PAPER CUT is his largest and most ambitious exhibition to date.
PRIEST, PAPER CUT, 4th December – 18th January 2026, Saatchi Gallery, FREE
About the artist
PRIEST’s satirical style contrasts playful, innocent imagery with dark, subversive subject matter. His compositions are bright and colorful, combining nostalgic cartoons, video games, and street art in a tongue-in-cheek critique of capitalism and corporate culture. As PRIEST puts it, each project is a ridiculous idea taken much further than it should have been. PRIEST’s work was first shown publicly in 2019. In 2021, KAWS began collecting his work and providing informal mentorship, helping shape his trajectory. His second major appearance came in 2023 as part of Beyond the Streets at London’s Saatchi Gallery, a landmark group exhibition with a large international audience. This was followed by solo shows in Los Angeles, New York, Milan, London, and Venice. With a growing global presence, PRIEST has established himself as a distinctive voice in the next generation of contemporary street art.
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