Clowns & Jokers in Pusher Movie (NSFW)

This came as a bit of a shock. I couldn’t believe that amongst all of the multicoloured noise that surrounds the Sodtherich triangle, my piece would end up in a crucial scene in a film, using its optical trick of seeing two different images or words.

Warning: The video below contains harsh, audible language from the very start, not suitable for those easily offended.

The movie first came to my attention from a tweet by the director Luis Prieto.

After a little tweet-off it was clear I had to go and watch the film. In the tweets Luis spoke of the direction using the lenticular aspect of the piece, showing the two views.

I really enjoyed the visual madcap style of the movie and its crazy take on a single incident spiralling out of control with some pretty heavy characters. Whenever I go to the pictures to watch a film, I sit through the entire credits to pay respect to the creatives and the entourage that makes the whole thing happen (and I urge you to do the same). I will do this even if it was awful; I’d still like to find out who was responsible for the debacle. There I was sitting snug as a bug in a rug in a vacated cinema, reading the names and service crews at the end… There it was right at the end, knowing I was going to read it!
‘Thanks to Chu’.

Here’s the thing. I painted it over 6 hours in the rain, and I’ve even been asked if I worked with somebody to print it out that big. All the text (Arial) is painted by hand with 6 cans of mtn94 aerosols, planned over the space of around 6 years! I don’t think I’ve seen any other painting that wasn’t commissioned by a movie, that was so in context with the plot and looked like it was meant to be there. I’m left feeling really honoured that Luis chose to remix the original story with the help from one of my street paintings.

Luis actually tells me that they shot several other scenes in Sodtherich, and none of them made the final edit.

Thanks Luis.

Well, it could have been done in many other cities. It could have been a universal story, a very simple universal story, about a drug deal gone badly. It probably could have been done in many other cities, but London felt right because it’s a happening place.

-Luis Prieto, interviewed by Leslie Coffin

Oh, and add me on Twitter if you wish, or Luis or the movie.

Pusher is produced by Rupert Preston from Vertigo Films and Chris Simon and Felix Vossen from Embargo Films.