Robert Smith is auctioning off new artwork inspired by The Cure’s new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ in support of Heart Research UK.
The frontman has created five works for the anonymous heART project – an online auction featuring 576 postcard-sized pieces, with the identity of the artists only revealed after they are sold.
His creations for the 2024 auction are based on tracks from The Cure’s first studio record in 16 years, which was released last Friday (November 1). These are ‘Drone:Nodrone’, ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’, ‘All I Ever Am’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
The fifth piece is a collage that combines the official cover art for numerous past releases such as ‘Disintegration’, ‘The Head On The Door’, ‘Pornography’ and ‘Three Imaginary Boys’, as well as ‘…Lost World’ (see the preview images below).
This marks the fifth year Smith has contributed to the project. His previous artwork has raised almost £50,000 for Heart Research UK – a national heart charity dedicated to confronting heart diseases.
Smith is a patron of the charity, and the auction “inspired” him to start painting again after having a 30-year break when he got involved in 2019.
I’VE CREATED FIVE PIECES OF ORIGINAL ART FOR @heartresearchuk WHICH WILL BE AVAILABLE TO BID ON IN THEIR #ANONARTPROJECT AUCTION – LIVE UNTIL 9PM (GMT) ON SUNDAY 10TH NOVEMBER – https://t.co/dRf7mFuUw2 pic.twitter.com/2SJcp5s85M
— The Cure (@thecure) November 4, 2024
Kate Bratt Farrar, Chief Executive at Heart Research UK, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Robert Smith for his continued support and generosity. His contributions over the last five years have had an incredible impact, raising significant funds for vital heart research.
“It’s wonderful to see how the anonymous heART project has reignited his passion for painting, and we’re honoured to have him taking part.”
She added: “This year’s auction is our biggest yet, and with artists and musicians like Robert involved, we’re excited about the difference we can make in fighting heart diseases.”
Smith joins a host of world-famous artists and musicians in contributing to heART, including Julian Opie (who designed the iconic cover of ‘Blur: The Best Of’), the Levellers‘ Jeremy Cunningham and The Twilight Sad.
Cunningham explained: “I work in mixed media, these are mainly oil paint but there’s acrylic, spray paints and written language in my art as well as pictures.
“That’s because I like to play with the tension between opposites. Hence, one of these images says ‘love’ while the other says ‘riot’, yet the image for both is the same or very similar.”
The auction is live now on eBay until this Sunday (November 10). You can make a bid here, and find more information about the participating artists here.
Additionally, Smith recently auctioned off four signed prints for Heart Research UK and designed two limited edition guitars in aid of a cancer research charity.
‘Songs Of A Lost World’ is currently outselling the rest of the current UK top 10 combined. It is on course to become The Cure’s first record to land the Number One spot on the charts since their 1992 LP ‘Wish’ (via Official Charts).
Smith and co. played the album in full during an intimate, three-hour show at London’s Troxy last week. The group also treated the crowd to various greatest hits and celebrated the 45th anniversary of their seminal second record, ‘Seventeen Seconds’. Fans around the world could live-stream the full set on YouTube – where it is still available on-demand.
The special gig in the capital looks likely to be The Cure’s final live date before they head out on tour next autumn. This comes after Smith revealed that the band have another new album that’s “virtually finished” – with a third new record on the way too. He is aiming to complete one of the LPs before hitting the road again in 2025.
In a five-star review of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, NME wrote: “Merciless? Yes, but there’s always enough heart in the darkness and opulence in the sound to hold you and place these songs alongside The Cure’s finest. The frontman suggested that another two records may be arriving at some point, but ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ feels sufficient enough for the wait we’ve endured, just for being arguably the most personal album of Smith’s career. Mortality may loom, but there’s colour in the black and flowers on the grave.”
