Flaming Nora - art for sale

December 5, 2016 Matt Bannister

South London inspired art for sale in Crystal Palace retro emporium.

Crystal Palace's Flaming Nora are now displaying a whole stack of my painting and ink drawings in their lovely shop at 40 Church Road, SE19 2ET. The art is all inspired by various streets, views and people of South London, but mainly focusses on Croydon. All work is for sale, and is decorating many of the walls of their quirky and well-stocked retro and up-cycled furniture shop throughout December. Pop by for a set of 1950s chairs, and you may end up leaving with one of my pictures too.

South London Art and Illustration Exhibition

June 20, 2016 Matt Bannister

The first solo exhibition of south London inspired art and illustration by Matt Bannister at Cafe Adagio, Croydon.

Matt Bannister's South London art exhibition poster

I'm pleased to say that I currently have a solo exhibition, called 'Rounded Corners', on the outskirts of Croydon, at Café Adagio. The display contains new and older art and illustrations of mine, all responding to the sights, characters and architecture of south London.

I created six new acrylic paintings (and some pen and ink illustrations) specifically for the exhibition, each featuring a different view of Croydon sprinkled with a few local characters. The people in the works are inspired by the shoppers, children and commuters I've seen nearby, so you may even recognise someone if you live in the area! The other pieces are influenced by a diverse range of south London places: brutalist architecture in Southwark, hungry shoppers in Borough Market, Victorian arches in Crystal Palace and brand new shiny tower blocks on Wellesley Road, Croydon.

Some of the framed Borough Market illustrations in the show have featured before on this blog, when I completed them back in September 2013. I still go there to ogle all the food.

Here's the bio blurb that I wrote to go alongside the paintings, drawings and lithography:

"Matt Bannister is an illustrator and artist obsessed with architecture and people. He creates bold and hand-drawn imagery full of character and is regularly inspired by the urban landscapes of South London. After studying fine art at university, he worked for the BBC for 13 years but has recently picked up the pen/brush/pixel and returned to creating his own work. Recent successes of his include two large bus sculptures for the TFL bus trail in Croydon, covers for The Croydon Citizen, and illustrations for Nesta and Universal Music. His imagery inspired by Crystal Palace is a popular favourite in the SE19 area too."

There are pieces inspired by Southwark, Crystal Palace and Croydon to be seen (and purchased). In addition to the framed originals on sale in the café, limited edition digital prints of some of the new Croydon work are available to buy here.

Café Adagio is located at 227 Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon, CR06RB and is a great little place to relax with a coffee. The exhibition will be up until at least 29th July (but may be extended). More info about the exhibition can be found on my Twitter and Instagram feeds or by using these links:

cafeadagio.uk

facebook.com/cafeadagiouk

instagram.com/cafeadagio

Crystal Palace Subway - Open House Weekend

October 26, 2015 Matt Bannister

The arches and pavements of the Crystal Palace Subway were made available to the public on 20th and 21st September 2015, as part of the annual Open House Weekend that ran across the whole UK.

For the second year running, I helped staff the art stall/shop/display alongside. Last year we were in the 'Rusty Laptop' alongside a heritage exhibition, but this time it was the edge of the park for us.

Luckily the weather was very kind. To celebrate, I produced a new print of the Subway that seemed to be pretty popular.

Some of the other artists had also created new items to buy from the pop-up gift shop.

#crystalpalacepark coasters for sale this weekend @cpsubway stall! pic.twitter.com/2TECOXvrrZ
— James Balston (@jamesbalston) September 19, 2015

Our three wise artists pic.twitter.com/esAiiIWVmz — CrystalPalace subway (@cpsubway) September 21, 2015

screen shot of Crystal Palace Subway fundraising site

The team (of volunteers) behind the Subway have launched a fundraising campaign to secure the £11000 needed to install a gate and make the structure accessible on a regular basis. To make a donation, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/cpsubway

Crystal Palace Dinosaur Cushions

August 26, 2015 Matt Bannister

Back from extinction, my Crystal Palace dinosaur cushions have emerged once again from the railway tunnel.

A while ago, I had some for sale as part of a design competition through OhhDeer.com. That was only ever going to be a short term thing, so after the comp ended I thought that I should get some made myself. The cushions are inspired by my (almost) famous print Crystal Palace Monsters, that featured in that Londonist exhibition all those months ago.

It's a one-sided digital print on 100% cotton cover, with just black fabric on the reverse. Size is 18"x18" or 46x46cm, with an inner cushion pad (100% Polypropylene casing, 100% Polyester Hollow Fibre filling).

The price is £40 plus postage, with £5 from every sale going to the lovely team at Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs to help them preserve and celebrate the Victorian prehistoric sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, south London. On sale via my online store.

In addition to the cushions, if you buy any A3 print of the dinosaurs or the extinct creatures from my site, they also create a £5 donation to FCPD.

Volunteers Needed for Crystal Palace Festival

May 13, 2015 Matt Bannister

I was commissioned by the Crystal Palace Overground Festival charity to create a recruitment poster for them. The 2015 event in SE19 is fast approaching, and they needed an image to go on flyers, A4 and A3 posters that would attract people. Most of the effort for the festival is provided by volunteers, so there is always a need to get more people involved. Of course, I returned to some familiar characters but gave them a kick up the bottom in terms of colour. Now all I need to do is get my hands on a poster for my archives!