A large hand-drawn portrait of Freddie Mercury will be on display at Bedford Corn Exchange this Saturday as Queen tribute band Queenergy takes to the stage.
The artwork is by artist Kirsty Turner, who creates portraits of cultural icons using individually drawn squares of coloured pencil. Up close, the individual squares and pencil marks are clearly visible, but from further away they come together to form a recognisable portrait.
For Kirsty, choosing Freddie as a subject was also personal.
Queen formed part of the soundtrack to Kirsty’s childhood. Her parents were huge fans and saw Queen perform at Wembley in 1986. Her father has since passed away, and Kirsty still watches footage of that concert knowing that somewhere among the thousands of people in the crowd is her dad. She describes it as “quite strange but lovely”, because for those few hours captured on film, there is a version of him that still exists there.
That connection made Freddie an obvious subject when Kirsty began creating portraits of the cultural icons who shaped her growing up. It also gives Saturday’s display an added significance: her own portrait of Freddie will now be surrounded by another crowd of Queen fans, almost exactly 40 years later.
After spending years creating highly realistic pencil portraits, Kirsty began experimenting with a very different way of drawing. Instead of trying to reproduce every tiny detail, she became interested in how little visual information is actually needed for us to recognise someone we know instantly.
The result is a style that deliberately brings together the analogue and digital worlds. Every square is drawn and layered by hand in coloured pencil, despite the finished portrait having the appearance of a low-resolution digital image.
The Freddie Mercury portrait was completed ahead of what would have been the singer’s 80th birthday this September, with Kirsty also releasing a limited edition of fine art prints to mark the occasion.
This Saturday, the original artwork will leave the studio and be displayed at Bedford Corn Exchange during Queenergy’s Queen tribute show, giving an audience of Queen fans the opportunity to see the piece in person.
Kirsty will be at the Corn Exchange with the artwork before and after the performance.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to enter a giveaway to win one of the limited-edition Freddie Mercury prints.
For Kirsty, putting the portrait in front of Queen fans is an important part of the project.
Rather than displaying the work only in traditional galleries, she has been looking for ways to place her portraits in spaces where people already have an emotional connection to the person depicted.
The Bedford show provides exactly that opportunity, with the portrait being seen by an audience gathered to celebrate the music and legacy of Queen.
Queenergy will perform at Bedford Corn Exchange on Saturday 26th September 2026.
More information about Kirsty Turner’s work can be found at www.kirstyturner.art or on Instagram at @kirstyturner.art
