I am very proud of the 51 Degrees Collection, recently I had a wonderful reason to remember the cube and my show in Birmingham from 2009.
Fly, my pretties
Somebody contacted me via this website trying to get hold of me because they were interested in buying a piece from the show in Birmingham. They said they have been after the piece for some time and asked if I still had it. The painting had been travelling the south of France more recently, doing the rounds at graffiti auctions. I got the piece back from the agent, just before they were leaving for France, this time leaving for good.
I’m so happy to reunite the painting with the one who desires it.
Daysaver
The collection summarises the bus route from Walsall (my hometown) to Birmingham, along the A34. This route is operated by the same company that I grew up travelling and being amongst, as my father was a driver and my mother began as a clippie and later cleaned off the graffiti.
This pieces are titled by the road which crosses the route at that point, hence Corporation Street, the closest view I can find on Google Street View is this one, you can sort of see it:
View Larger Map
Each of the locations has had some bearing on my journey through life. Least of all because it was my favourite route, it was always a treat to visit the big city by flying over the M6 at the site of Gorse farm (another piece from the 51 Degrees Collection), navigating roundabouts, and graffspotting almost the whole way.
Corporation itself
All of the pieces in the collection are painted in a similar technique, in this order:
- Twelve x 4mm aluminium, with riveted attachment rail manufactured by road sign firm
- Grind the corners round
- Mixture of sanding and priming
- Attaching adhesive material & lacquer
- Defocussed aerosol illustration of view
- Detail drawn in Krink
All twelve were created simultaneously in the studio, after months of preparation.
