Original artwork description:

Painting the mural 2025

Painting the mural 2025
I was asked if I would like to apply for the doing the mural, I am known for doing a number of murals in East London UK, 20 artists applied and then 3 shortlisted, I did a presentation in front of 11 people who were the mural panel. The local residents and tenants association of Johns Place, a local estate, had the vision for doing a mural back in 2020 when Covid Lockdowns changed people's lives. The residents were faced with an unpleasant large wall half covered in graffiti and tagging, every-time they left the estate. Joining together with a local historian they wrote a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Once they had the funding they went out to find a suitable artist, I had worked in a community context for 30 years as a community and public artist and I was used to managing creative projects with local groups.
By Mid March I had made 6-8 versions of the design adding new elements each time and trying out different composition ideas. The scaffolding went up on 14th March and in three weeks we had painted the mural, my wife Margy was my assistant. When the mural was finished, I made a small series of works reflecting on the experience of painting the mural, in these works the mural image is partially featured, and some of the characters from the mural and activities from community life are depicted.
When we finished this very intensive and rewarding community project, I felt genuinely bereft and entering the studio a week after the launch I couldn’t believe I was own my own - isolated in a white box - the most purposeful creative work I felt able to do was to paint a canvas about the experience of the making of the mural. The painting has images of us working on the scaffolding, and some of the characters coming to life and moving into the space around Sidney Street.

Materials used:

oil paint

Tags: