PUNK culture is being celebrated at a free exhibition at Quay Arts — and will finish in true punk style with a party.

The exhibition opened in the West Gallery on Sunday, December 1, and will run until Saturday, February 9, 2019, when a party finishes off proceedings from 7.30pm.

Punks past and present on the Isle of Wight and further afield are celebrated in the form of visual art, graphic design, graffiti, music and fashion.

The show has been curated in-house to explore the traditional visual art of punk culture from the mid 1970s to now, and its impact on the Isle of Wight through memorabilia such as posters, badges, ticket stubs, vinyl records.

Much of the artwork has been loaned by punk enthusiasts and ex-punk band members from the Isle of Wight, after locals were asked to come forward with their artefacts, stories and memorabilia, to help build a picture of how punk culture has made its influence here.

Quay Arts director Paul Armfield said: "The recently deceased inventor of the espresso Martini Dick Bradsell was formerly a notorious East Cowes punk, his legendary Bramble cocktail was inspired by blackberry picking here with his mum, while over the river David Steele of Cowes was busy fashioning a distinctive punk-reggae style of bass playing that would later be a major ingredient in the successes of The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals.

"As someone whose first creative stirrings were as part of a pre-teen punk band — the shortly lived but brilliantly named Brain Explosion — I've seen many of my generation spurred on by the do-it-yourself attitude of the late 70s to go on and do great things."

Another local punk hero is artist Anne Lewington, who helped found Quay Arts in the late 70s after initially breaking into the building to have a look around.