LUAP is showing his new painting Golden Chips & The Three Bears at the London Art Fair 2026. A work which draws on childhood familiarity but altered with his iconic pink bear. It is remembrance? A recognition of the memories we carry with us and the changing dialogue we have with the past? It’s a significant work by LUAP and well worth a look as you wander through the fair.
Get a signed and numbered LUAP print free with a Trebuchet Subscription
LUAP on Trebuchet
Exhibition Notes from LUAP’s Golden Chips & The Three Bears
British artist LUAP unveils Golden Chips & The Three Bears, a monumental new painting that captures and elevates the luminous charge of an ordinary life. In this work, LUAP stages a powerful confrontation between the familiar and the surreal. Three of his iconic Pink Bears crowd a booth in a seaside restaurant, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, intensely engaged in the ritual of eating fish and chips under a sheet of stark, pale, nostalgic light. The painting is a visual meditation on working-class ritual, shared memory, and the lasting comfort found in simple pleasures.
The restaurant is Steels in Cleethorpes, a traditional fish and chip institution that has been a fixture of the seaside resort since the 1940s. For LUAP, it is a deeply personal space: a family landmark tied to birthdays, Christmas celebrations, and one final meal with his Grandad. Crucially, the setting stands in for many such working-class gathering places where warmth and togetherness are built around hot plates and worn tabletops. Staying true to the place, the portions of fish are genuinely huge, speaking to generosity and value. LUAP harnesses this biographical weight, pushing the scene to the edge of the surreal, transforming the familiar feast into an image of abundance, care, and a well-earned treat.
The painting is materially charged, revealing the complex, layered process behind the image. The surface is built up through vigorous application: the initial abstract washes and ghosted wallpaper patterns from his childhood home, visible in the background’s muted greens and golds, create a texture that suggests both decaying wallpaper and the heavy atmosphere of a remembered room. The plush texture of the bears’ suits is built up with applications of hot pink and magenta paint, giving them an almost sculptural presence. This contrasts sharply with the background, where the light is diffused, running across the formica table and highlighting the everyday objects, from slices of bread and a ketchup bottle that seems to glow with its own small halo, that anchor a sense of belonging and continuity.
In this work, The Pink Bear (an emotional cipher originally developed through cognitive behavioural therapy) is no longer a lone figure. The grouping of the three suggests a collective – a support system, a conversation, and the feeling of being held within a familiar, warm space. Golden Chips & The Three Bears asks viewers to look closer at the rituals of their own lives. It celebrates the joyful friction of being together, and how the memory of a hot meal in a cherished, ordinary room can stay with us long after the plate is cleared, transforming the humble, local restaurant into a temple of shared human experience.
LUAP says
“Fish & Chips was always the Friday treat, but Steels was for special occasions. We would pile in as a family, order the jumbo fish and chips and it felt like the world stopped for a bit. I wanted to hold that warmth and togetherness, and the way those moments stay alive inside you. The Pink Bear creates a space for that feeling, that is open enough for other people to step into.”
‘Golden Chips & The Three Bears’
London Art Fair
Stand M5
Presented by North London Framing
VIP opening Tuesday 20 Jan
Open 21 to 25 Jan
Business Design Centre, Islington
N1 0QH
About North London Framing
Driven by a vision to make art more accessible and celebrated, North London Framing was founded as a testament to the fusion of artistic expression and modern business acumen. Embracing the art world with open arms, our journey has been marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence and a commitment to nurturing London’s vibrant artistic community. With an artist’s heart and an entrepreneur’s mindset, we strike a fine balance between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary aesthetics. Every frame that takes shape under our guidance becomes a canvas to enhance and elevate the story behind each piece.
Our commitment to quality is unwavering. We take pride in sourcing the finest materials and using archival-grade glass to preserve the integrity of every piece. With a keen eye for detail we ensure that each frame we create is a masterpiece in itself. We recognise the significance of reliable partnerships. Galleries
trust us to display their prized collections with the utmost care and attention to detail. Our dedication to delivering exceptional framing solutions has earned us a reputation as a preferred choice among esteemed clients.
Images courtesy of the artist © LUAP
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
