Damon Albarn has become the latest famous name to donate artwork to Heart Research UK’s anonymous heART project.
The Blur frontman and Gorillaz co-creator, 58, has joined an impressive line-up of musicians and artists – including Olivia Rodrigo and The Cure’s Robert Smith – in donating his artwork to fund life-saving cardiac research.
Olivia said: “It was so much fun to create these pieces of artwork, it was so fun to stretch a new creative muscle for such a great cause!”
Each year, artists from across the globe create new artwork and submit their pieces to be auctioned anonymously – with their identities only revealed once the bidding is over and the auction closes, hence the title anonymous heART project.
Many famous artists have contributed to the anonymous heART project over the years, including Gorillaz illustrator Jamie Hewlett, Bad Seeds singer Nick Cave, as well as traditional artists such as Dame Zandra Rhodes, Deborah Azzopardi, Paul Insect, Julian Opie and various others.
The anonymous heART project aims to demonstrate how art is capable of connecting people with important health messages in an accessible and inspiring manner.
The project allows Heart Research UK to continue supporting pioneering research and encouraging people to make positive choices for their heart health.
The charity was founded in Leeds by Dr David Watson in 1967 and started as an appeal in a newspaper, with the charity since having grown to provide community wellbeing programmes and heart health checks across the UK as well as funding innovative cardiac research that could save lives.
Rachel Brooke, project founder and Philanthropy Manager of Heart Research UK, said: “Having Damon Albarn join the anonymous heART project is incredibly exciting and it feels particularly special to have someone with such a distinctive artistic voice contributing to a project where the work speaks for itself, without names or reputations attached.
“It’s a wonderful reminder that art can bring people together in unexpected ways.”
Bidding can be done online via eBay, with the auction starting on Friday (30.10.26) and closing at 9pm on November 8.