EastEnders actor Jake Wood's art exhibition has been brought to a premature close, days after controversy erupted over the use of AI in the pieces. Jake recently unveiled an exhibition entitled 'Icons', with the pieces on display at the Indelible Fine Art Gallery in Brighton.
The individual works that made up the exhibition featured Dame Barbara Windsor, Winston Churchill and David Attenborough, among a slew of other public figures, and were installed with the aim of raising money for Dementia UK. Unfortunately, due to considerable 'horrid and abusive behaviour' amid a public backlash, Indelible Fine Art have taken the decision to end the exhibition.
In a statement posted to Instagram by the gallery, they said: 'It is with sadness that we announce the decision to end the Icons exhibition by Jake Wood at Indelible Fine Art. What was always intended to be a fun exhibition to raise awareness and funds for Dementia UK has over the last seven days, unfortunately escalated into what can only be described as horrid and abusive behaviour directed at ourselves as a gallery and the wider charitable cause involved. Along the way, the main message behind this exhibition has been entirely lost. In order to bring an end to the continual abusive messages, we have been left with no choice but to close the show.'
The statement continued: 'We kindly ask for your continued support as a small independent gallery. We will learn from this experience, continue to grow, and we will continue to support Jake on his artistic journey. We only wish we could have raised more funds for Dementia UK through this exhibition, but we hope to do so again in the future.'
Jake had previously made a statement after the unveiling of his collection, when commenters began to claim that AI-generated imagery had been used. Taking to Instagram, he said: 'I think it's important to address some of the discussion surrounding my exhibition currently on display at Indelible Fine Art Gallery. Whilst I acknowledge that two of the images featured in the exhibition, Attenborough and Trump, incorporated AI-generated source imagery, these images were not personally generated by me and already existed prior to being used within the works.'
He added: 'These particular pieces were created in 2024 and were not originally intended for inclusion in this exhibition. Since then I have not used AI within my artworks and do not intend to moving forward. I understand the concerns and wider debate around AI in art, and I respect the opinions being expressed.'
Jake continued: 'As a relatively new artist, this period has been part of my own creative development in discovering both a style and a process that I am happy with. Inevitably, that journey involves learning, evolving and making mistakes along the way. I would like to apologise to the gallery for any negative commentary directed towards them. Indelible Fine Art are a brilliant small independent gallery in Brighton that supported me and the exhibition in good faith, with the shared intention of creating fun whilst also raising awareness of dementia and money for Dementia UK.'
'I am really sad that the conversation around the exhibition has shifted in this direction and may have taken attention away from the cause and the wider intentions behind the show. Raising awareness of dementia and supporting Dementia UK remain incredibly important to me and, following the recent discussion 100% of my profits from the exhibition will be donated to the charity.'
In the comment section, Jake added: 'As I have said as a new artist I have made mistakes. Important thing is to learn from them. Intention was always to raise awareness and money for Dementia UK.'
