Last night, (23 July 2026), music icon The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies celebrated the launch of The Kinks: Brothers, a new collaborative art exhibition between The Kinks’ Ray and Dave Davies and the painter Christian Furr, on display at Gibson Garage London from 24 July – 6 September.
The Kinks changed the face of music around the world. But their story started with Ray and Dave Davies; two brothers playing music in their parents’ North London living room.
This month, over 60 years on from The Kinks forming, Ray and Dave Davies are uniting for an art exhibition in collaboration with painter Christian Furr at Gibson Garage, London from 24 July – 6 September 2026.
When Dave Davies saw the finished works for the first time, he was moved to tears and immediately began painting on them himself.
Before forming The Kinks, Ray Davies studied painting at Hornsey College of Art and Dave has painted for many years, making visual art part of their creativity from the beginning.
The exhibition sees Christian Furr reimagine a passport photobooth photograph of the brothers together taken in East Finchley, North London in 1968 as new, original paintings.
Dave Davies says: “It was a magic moment when we crammed into the photobooth all those years ago. Christian Furr has done a wonderful job in developing the image into special artworks. We hope people love these much as we do.”
Ray Davies says: “Over the years it’s been amazing to see creative people take our music and make something of their own. Christian Furr has done just that. It’s great to be doing something new with Dave, and seeing these paintings and the original passport photobooth picture again brings back a lot of memories.”
Christian Furr recalls creating the paintings: “I was thinking about Matisse, punk, pop art, luminosity, and keeping that colour as bright as possible, because that to me is what I see when I listen to The Kinks.”
Christian Furr first came to international acclaim as the youngest artist ever commissioned to paint the late Queen Elizabeth II and has since exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and Saatchi Gallery.
Every painting in the exhibition will be signed by Ray and Dave Davies, and Christian Furr. The paintings and a collection of limited-edition prints will be available to purchase from RedHouse Originals. Limited edition prints start at £195.
The Brothers exhibition will be staged at Gibson Garage London; the flagship UK home of the iconic guitar brand whose instruments helped shape the sound of The Kinks.
To coincide with the opening of The Kinks: Brothers on Friday 24 July, a limited-edition Fan Edition print will be available to purchase exclusively in person at The Gibson Garage London from 11am – 12pm on a first-come, first-served basis. Created especially for the exhibition, the two editions – Waterloo Sunset and Absinthe & Sepia – are each signed by Dave Davies and Christian Furr. Only 25 of each colourway are available at a price of 195.00 GBP. Unsigned editions of both prints are also available to pre-order online at www.redhouseoriginals.com
Ray and Dave Davies grew up in 6 Denmark Terrace, a terraced house in Muswell Hill, London where music and Saturday night family parties were a regular feature. The front room saw the birth of You Really Got Me which became an international hit in 1964 and propelled The Kinks to international stardom. The group followed the iconic single up with seventeen UK top 20 singles, including some of British rock’s best-loved and most influential songs Waterloo Sunset, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street and Lola.
Hailed one of the 100 greatest artists of all time by Rolling Stone, The Kinks became vital influences for Blondie, The Jam, The Ramones, The Clash, Black Sabbath, The Doors, The Pretenders, and Van Halen.
