ASHTON ATTZS
Ashton Attzs is a painter, illustrator, and unapologetic joy-bringer. Based in the UK, their work bursts with colour, character, and radical compassion. Through charming figures and bold compositions, Ashton reimagines everyday life as a space for tenderness, connection, and pride. Where all bodies, identities, and experiences are not only welcomed but celebrated.
With a signature palette of flat, vibrant colours and unmistakable visual rhythm, Ashton creates art that feels like a warm hug and a rallying cry rolled into one. Their characters queer, trans, Black, brown, disabled, joyful fill the canvas with softness and solidarity. It’s work that doesn’t just ask to be seen, it invites you in. This is a world where love is loud, and difference is power.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Ashton rose to public acclaim in 2018 when they won the Evening Standard Art Prize with Don’t Stay in Ya Lane, a piece that challenged both the art world and wider society to take a closer look. The painting, a tender portrayal of transgender swimmers in a communal pool, sparked a series entitled Queering the Quotidian. Through it, Ashton turns ordinary scenes such as bike rides, breakfasts, beach days into extraordinary affirmations of queer life and chosen family. The mundane becomes magical. The everyday becomes inclusive.
But Ashton’s work is about more than visibility, it’s about building worlds where joy is resistance and softness is strength. Through themes of LGBTQ+ advocacy, mental health, and community, they shine a light on what it means to hold space for others, for yourself, and for those who have yet to find their voice.
Their art has graced the walls of institutions like Tate Modern, ICA, and the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta, and they’ve collaborated with brands including Adidas, Disney, Instagram, and Universal Music. Their illustrations for the BRIT Awards redefined event artwork into something that was both powerful and playful an aesthetic shift toward inclusion in places that have often felt exclusive.
In 2022, Ashton’s work was featured in the Queer Frontiers exhibition in London as part of Pride Month, another reminder that their practice isn’t confined to galleries, but flows into streets, billboards, and public consciousness. They’ve led creative workshops with Tate Modern, National Gallery, and community-led spaces, empowering others through art that uplifts without compromising on message.
Ashton Attzs makes art that matters. Art that hugs, that listens, that shouts when it needs to. In every brushstroke is an invitation to embrace the full spectrum of identity and to imagine futures that are freer, softer, and more vividly alive.
For Ashton, creativity is a form of care. Their work isn’t just about seeing yourself in the picture it’s about knowing you belong in the frame.
Creative Debuts have commissioned and showcased Ashton many times. Including their first ever exhibition and this commission with Disney
