Brazilian football legend Pele visited an art exhibition in London on 22 September put on in honour of his 75th birthday, The celebration at the Halcyon Gallery is called Art, Life, Football and pays tribute to Peles lifetime of sporting and humanitarian achievements.
As well as iconic portraits from the likes of Andy Warhol the gallery commissioned internationally acclaimed artists to create a unique exhibition in honour of the global sporting legend. Open to the public from 26 September until 25 October, the exhibition will display photography, original paintings, limited sculptures and prints by 15 artists including Lorenzo Quinn and Pedro Paricio.
This is a big responsilbility because a lot of artists have given their time to project me. And then I feel so happy because I stopped to play football almost 30 years, and this will help the new generation to know about my life. Its a very big responsibility bit I feel proud of that, said Pele after touring at the gallery.
I try to respect people, I try to give a good message to the young generation and I thank God for that.
Paul Green, President of Halcyon Gallery added: Pele is obviously iconic in every way and its exemplified really by Andy Warhol choosing Pele and saying he expected everybody else to be famous for 15 minutes and Pele broke the rule here, he said hes going to be famous for 15 centuries. And Andy Warhol of course chose some of the most iconic human beings on the planet, which of course then became known all over the world, and we have 13 artists here from all over the world that have done the same.
