59 artists, 80 works, one Paul McCartney lyric, and every penny to War Child
Last updated: 4 November 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
The War Child art auction Sound & Vision is live until 12 November 2026. This year 59 artists, including Alvaro Barrington, Genieve Figgis and Sally Kindberg, have made 80 new works for it. Each piece responds to one line from Band on the Run, chosen by Paul McCartney himself, and every lot starts at £100.
The line is "Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun". You can bid online now. Alternatively, see every work for free at Iconic Images Gallery in St James's from 6 to 8 November. All proceeds go to War Child UK, the charity for children affected by conflict.
01 / The auction
What is the War Child art auction?
An online sale of original artworks, each one a response to a single song lyric.
Sound & Vision pairs a musician with a group of visual artists. First, the musician picks one line from their own song. Then every artist makes an original work in response. Finally, the whole set goes on show in London and up for sale online.
This is the third edition. AOAP Projects curates it, and its founder Gemma Peppe is the curator. The auction runs on Indy.auction from 27 October to 12 November 2026. On the final day, the lots close one after another, two minutes apart. Lot 1 ends at 2pm GMT and lot 80 at 4.38pm. AOAP Projects curates the sale with War Child.
02 / The lyric
Why Paul McCartney and Band on the Run
The title track of the 1973 album by Paul McCartney and Wings.
McCartney has backed War Child since the charity's early years. In 1995 he joined Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Steve Cradock, Steve White and Carleen Anderson as The Smokin' Mojo Filters. Together they recorded "Come Together" for the HELP album. It raised money for children caught up in the war in Bosnia. He later gave an alternative version of "Calico Skies" to the 2003 War Child album Hope.
For 2026, he chose the lyric himself. As a result, the line about rain exploding and falling into the sun turns up in plenty of titles. For example, Aleah Chapin's painting is called As We Fell into the Sun, while Charlie Billingham's is A Mighty Crash. Other artists went straight to McCartney himself. Andrew Torr painted Forthlin Road Liverpool, after the street where McCartney grew up, and Nick Grindrod named his two works The Walrus and Northern Song. Official Charts and The Line of Best Fit both covered the launch.
03 / Three key works
Three works to look out for in the War Child art auction
A Venice Biennale artist, a New York painter and a London painter, all on panels small enough to hold in two hands.
Sunset for P, 2026. © Alvaro Barrington, courtesy War Child.
Alvaro Barrington, Sunset for P
Barrington's practice moves between painting, sculpture, textiles and performance, and he is showing at the 61st Venice Biennale this year. For Sound & Vision he has worked in ink, pencil and chisel on a wooden panel.
A flat red-orange sun hangs in a sprayed blue and charcoal sky, above a treeline scratched into the wood. Below, its reflection runs down through pale blue water. Barrington has also gouged chips out of the panel with the chisel, so the surface breaks up like ice or debris.
His artist statement on the lot page begins: "Art is about learning how to be, Painting is about what's in front of you, it's about learning to see".
Lot 78 · 21 x 15cm (8.3 x 5.9in) · from £100
Man Child, 2026. © Sanya Kantarovsky, courtesy War Child.
Sanya Kantarovsky, Man Child
Kantarovsky was born in Moscow and lives in New York. This year he also has a solo show, Basic Failure, at Palazzo Loredan in Venice, according to AOAP Projects.
His watercolour takes its title literally. A small naked figure with a child's body sits on a green stool between two bands of lilac, under a huge black cloud of hair. However, the face belongs to a grown man, with red-rimmed, drooping eyes, a black moustache and a tuft of chest hair.
His lot listing describes his approach to painting as "iterative and intuitive, working through successive versions of a motif in a layered process of addition and erasure". So the thin washes here are typical of how he builds an image up and takes it back.
Lot 73 · 15 x 21cm (5.9 x 8.3in) · from £100
Puddle in the Park, 2026. © Sally Kindberg, courtesy War Child.
Sally Kindberg, Puddle in the Park
Kindberg was born in Stockholm in 1970 and lives and works in London. She studied for both her BA and MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her first New York solo show, Lay of the Land, opened at Thierry Goldberg Gallery in 2022, according to Artdaily.
In Puddle in the Park, a rain puddle fills most of the panel and holds a reflection of blue sky and white cloud. Meanwhile, thick, swirling strokes of green grass close in around its edges. Her auction listing describes paintings that "explore the tragicomic nature of everyday life".
Her three paintings were the standout of the HBH Gallery group show Are We Really Here?, which I gave 4/5. Her gallery is Kristin Hjellegjerde. She also has a second lot in the sale, Sunset Wim.
Lot 49 · 21 x 15cm (8.3 x 5.9in) · from £100
04 / The line-up
Who else is in Sound & Vision 2026
A portrait prize winner, a Bowie collaborator and plenty of emerging painters.
Genieve Figgis, known for her distorted, darkly funny takes on European art history, has made a painting called Wings. British Ghanaian painter Joshua Donkor, whose work deals with ancestry and memory, sent two works, including Aburi Sunset. Aleah Chapin and Anne Rothenstein are in the sale too.
There is a direct line back to the first edition, as well. George Underwood was David Bowie's childhood friend. He hand-coloured Brian Ward's photographs for the covers of Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and took part in the Bowie year. This time his work is Hope You're Having Fun.
The full list of 59 artists
- Abigail McGinley
- Aleah Chapin
- Alex Hanna
- Alexandra Beteeva
- Alice Kettle
- Alvaro Barrington
- Anaja Hvastija Gaia
- Andrew Maughan
- Andrew Torr
- Anna Pakosz
- Anne Rothenstein
- Carl Randall
- Charlie Billingham
- Chloe Barnes
- Christina Niederberger
- Colin Murphy
- David Hamilton
- David Harrison
- David Rhys Jones
- Diana Copperwhite
- Elizabeth Dimitroff
- Elizabeth Power
- Ellie Cotton
- Emma Tod
- Fletcher Sibthorp
- Genieve Figgis
- George Underwood
- Georgie Huxley
- Gill Rocca
- Grace Lee
- Graham Fink
- Heidrun Rathgeb
- Helena Minginowicz
- Holly Rowett
- Jenni Hiltunen
- Joseph Black
- Joshua Donkor
- Marcelle Hanselaar
- Marcus Cope
- Matt Bollinger
- Matthew Clifton
- Max Renneisen
- Megan Rea
- Mercedes Lucy
- Nana Wolke
- Natalie Wadlington
- Nick Grindrod
- Peter James Houghton
- Peter Messer
- Ralf Kokke
- Sally Kindberg
- Salvatore Fiorello
- Sanya Kantarovsky
- Sunkyung Baek
- Tahnee Lonsdale
- Victoria Cantons
- Xingxin Hu
- Yang Xu
- Zoe Hawk
21 of the artists made two works each, which is why there are 80 lots. You can browse images of many of them in Wallpaper*'s gallery and in FAD Magazine's report.
"Every artist has taken great care to produce a piece worthy of this year's legendary musical artists."
Gemma Peppe, curator of Sound & Vision and founder of AOAP Projects
05 / The exhibition
See the War Child art auction works in London
Free entry, three days only, a short walk from Piccadilly Circus.
Every work goes on show from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November 2026. The venue is Iconic Images Gallery, 16 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AR. Entry is free. There is also an invitation-only private view on the evening of Thursday 5 November.
The gallery sits between Pall Mall and Piccadilly, so Piccadilly Circus is the nearest Tube station. Its usual hours are 11am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. However, the gallery normally opens on Sundays by appointment only, so check the Sunday times before you travel.
If you plan to bid, the gallery lets you check texture, colour and size, which screen images flatten. Afterwards, you can carry on bidding online right up to the close on 12 November.
06 / Bidding
How to bid
First, register on the Indy.auction sale page. Then browse the lots and place your bids. Every lot starts at £100. Bidding on Thursday 12 November closes in lot order from 2pm GMT, so check the countdown on the lot you want rather than assuming one closing time.
Before you commit, check each lot's listing for the current bid, size and medium. If you win a lot, War Child ships the work to you from its offices in London.
07 / The cause
Where the money goes
War Child provides specialist mental health support, education, protection and immediate aid to children living through war. According to AOAP Projects, it works in thirteen countries, including active conflict zones in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza.
Charlotte Nimmo is Fundraising Engagement Director at War Child UK. When the auction launched, she said: "In Sudan, more than 5 million children have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, and since Paul first started supporting us in the 1990's, the share of children affected by war has more than doubled to 20% of all children globally."
08 / Past editions
From Bowie to Kate Bush to McCartney
The first Sound & Vision, in 2024, started from a David Bowie lyric. Then in 2025 Kate Bush chose a line from "Running Up That Hill", and 52 artists, including Peter Doig and Maggi Hambling, responded to it. That edition raised £140,000 for War Child. If you came to this year's auction through Kate Bush, CoolCuration also covers her Before the Dawn live album.
Art on a Postcard curated the first two editions. It is best known for postcard-sized charity artworks. You can read about them on the Art on a Postcard page. For another charity sale by named artists, see the Hospital Rooms poster sale. Or, to buy art outright, the guide to affordable art in the UK covers prints and originals under £500.
The 2026 auction has also been covered by The Art Newspaper.
War Child art auction FAQs
When does the Sound & Vision 2026 auction close?
Lots close one by one on Thursday 12 November 2026, two minutes apart, from 2pm GMT for lot 1 to 4.38pm for lot 80. However, you can bid now, because the auction opened on Tuesday 27 October.
Where can I see the artworks in person?
At Iconic Images Gallery, 16 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AR, from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November 2026. Entry is free.
Which Paul McCartney lyric inspired the artworks?
"Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun", from "Band on the Run", the title track of the 1973 album by Paul McCartney and Wings. In fact, McCartney chose the line himself.
How many artists are taking part?
59 artists made 80 works in total. They include Alvaro Barrington, Genieve Figgis, Joshua Donkor, Sanya Kantarovsky, Aleah Chapin, Anne Rothenstein, George Underwood and Sally Kindberg.
How much do the works cost?
Every lot starts at £100. If you win, War Child ships the work to you from its offices in London.
Where does the money go?
All proceeds go to War Child UK. The charity gives children affected by conflict mental health care, education, protection and emergency aid.
How much did last year's auction raise?
The 2025 edition, inspired by Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", raised £140,000 for War Child.
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