The Cure 'Boys Don't Cry' Signed Lenticular Art Print
Four decades after Andy Vella photographed Robert Smith for The Cure's 1986 re-release of Boys Don't Cry, one of the band's defining images has been reworked into an entirely new artwork created by Vella and Smith exclusively for Teenage Cancer Trust.
The original photograph was taken during the filming of The Cure's 1986 Boys Don't Cry video. Smith was photographed in silhouette, guitar slung across his body and his unmistakable hair completing an image that needed little else to identify him. Vella has since seen the photograph reproduced on everything from posters and T-shirts to fans' tattoos.
This new piece takes that silhouette as its starting point rather than simply reproducing it. Across nine individual panels, Smith's figure shifts through a sequence of different poses against blocks of vivid colour, with imagery of the Royal Albert Hall sitting subtly beneath. Together, the panels show the familiar guitarist silhouette being pulled apart, repositioned and set in motion.
The final square changes the experience again. Panel nine is a handmade lenticular artwork, built from multiple frames of Smith beneath a precision lens. Move past the print and the viewing angle changes, revealing a short sequence of movement within the image. The effect gives a physical sense of animation to the progression already taking place across the other eight panels.
The idea was developed by Andy Vella and Robert Smith as part of Vella's work for the 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust concerts. Vella used the Boys Don't Cry silhouette throughout the wider campaign, altering Smith's pose and developing it into a recurring guitarist figure. This standalone artwork takes that idea considerably further, turning the evolution of the figure itself into the subject of the piece.
Vella's connection with The Cure stretches back to 1981, when he began working with the band as a young designer. In the decades since, his photography and design have become closely intertwined with The Cure's visual history, including work on Boys Don't Cry and album artwork such as Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and Disintegration.
Production is appropriately ambitious. The artwork combines traditional silkscreen printing with a bespoke lenticular panel, produced by Coriander Studio and Lentico. The finished artwork measures 600 × 600mm on a larger 700 × 720mm sheet, giving the nine-panel composition a substantial white border.
Only 100 prints have been produced, each individually hand signed by Robert Smith and Andy Vella. It's both a new piece of artwork and a direct continuation of an image the pair first created together 40 years earlier.
Product details
- Limited edition of 100
- Individually hand signed by Robert Smith and Andy Vella
- Created exclusively for Teenage Cancer Trust
- Artwork by Robert Smith and Andy Vella
- Based on Andy Vella's original Boys Don't Cry photography
- Nine-panel artwork with handmade lenticular final panel
- Bespoke lenticular and silkscreen production
- Printed by Coriander Studio and Lentico
- Artwork size: 600 × 600mm
- Paper size: 700 × 720mm
- Shipped flat
- Fulfilled by CCA Galleries
- Unframed
Every purchase supports Teenage Cancer Trust, helping provide specialist care and support to young people with cancer.
Please note:
The lenticular element changes as the artwork is viewed from different angles, so its appearance will vary depending on your position relative to the print.
As each print is individually hand signed, the position of the signatures may vary slightly from the product image.
International customers are responsible for any import fees or duties payable on delivery.