Joe Lycett's first major solo exhibition opens in Birmingham

Comedian and artist Joe Lycett has unveiled his first major solo art exhibition, Everything Must Go, at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, running from Wednesday until 21 February next year. The show, described by Lycett as 'a neon graveyard, full of colour', was inspired by 'things that are no longer with us' and includes a life-sized pink woolly mammoth sculpture named Martin, with ceramic yellow toenails and a latex tongue, which Lycett conceived at 4am. Other works feature Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley, Napoleon Bonaparte, BBC Ceefax, a Nokia 2210 phone, a dodo clay sculpture, and a digital sculpture of Cilla Black with a parking meter body. Lycett collaborated with local contemporary artists, including his mother, a retired Cadbury designer who painted Eric Morecambe while Lycett painted Ernie Wise. The exhibition aims to inspire visitors to create art themselves, with Lycett stating, 'I want people to come in and go, well I could do that, and then go and do it'. Lycett's next projects include a live TV show, The Lycett Arms, on Channel 4 later this year, and a tour next year.