Year Of The Bus – Croydon Sculpture Trail – The Launch

December 17, 2014 Matt Bannister

On a sunny December day, my buses joined the trail in Croydon after a little press launch. The 'Croydon Layers' and 'Surrey Street Market' sculptures hit the streets!

Surrey Street Market

The first bus of mine, that we came to on our mini tour of Croydon, was 'Surrey Street Market'. It's nestling in Matthew's Yard (rather appropriately), directly outside the cafe/arts venue of the same name. It's also a potato's throw from the market itself.

Croydon Layers

The next stop was my bus 'Croydon Layers', which can be found directly outside the doors to the Council offices, in Mint Walk.

Transport for London have also produced some slick photographs of the buses, taken under studio conditions. They look great, and really make the colours pop out.

For more information about the Croydon trail (and plans for all the buses next year) visit either of these links:

http://www.wildinart.co.uk/the-launch-of-the-croydon-bus-trail/3479

https://www.facebook.com/transportforlondon/posts/817091588347652

Year Of The Bus - Croydon Sculpture Trail - The Studio

December 8, 2014 Matt Bannister

A couple of months ago, I was commissioned by Transport For London and Wild in Art to produce two designs for the Croydon leg of the Year of The Bus sculpture trail. This post is part one, and is all about the paint, sweat and tears that went into their decoration.

Having not painted one of these sculptures, I was a little unsure how the coming weeks would pan out. Given that I was doing two buses and everyone else seemed to just have one, there was no time to be wasted pretending to be an art student with all the time in the world. The first task was to choose my buses and start prepping them for all the acrylic paint to come.

Bus 1 - Croydon Layers

The first bus was called 'Croydon Layers', and suddenly looked very complicated...

Bus 2 - Surrey Street Market

Onwards with the next design, and so some more sanding and painting was needed to key the surface.

Surrey Street Market -work in progress- by Matt Bannister

It was brilliant to finish the two designs, and see the transformation from two to three dimensions. I think it was also darkly hilarious that I was working in a former fitness shop. All that getting up and down off the floor certainly put me through a tough work out each day.

A post-creative self portrait was needed when everything was complete.

The buses were installed on the streets of Croydon today (Monday 08/12/14). For more information visit the TFL website but I will be following up this post with more pics and thoughts about how the sculptures have fitted in.

Crystal Palace Overground Festival - Inspired By The Subway

August 25, 2014 Matt Bannister

Back at the end of June, I joined the masses at the Crystal Palace Overground Festival, and helped out on the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway 'Inspired By The Subway' stall.

Regular readers of my blog will know my interest and artistic connections with the Victorian subway at the edge of Crystal Palace Park. The stall was there to promote the existence of the structure to people and also as a small platform for artists to sell their artworks inspired by the wonderful arches down there.

Despite the odd downpour, I found it great fun working with the other artists and volunteers throughout the day. Some of the artists selling their wares on the day included photographer James Balston, Sinead Taylor and Julian Davies.

I found being able to meet people who like your work face to face was really inspiring, and not something you can appreciate if you sell work via the web (or through other shops).

One of Sinead's prints. Photo © Jules Hussey.

Thanks to everyone who let me use their photos, including Joel Antunes who took the black and white shot of me on my own. Keep your eyes peeled for some Subway related art at the forthcoming Open House Weekend in September 2014. More details can be found on the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway website. If you can't wait until then, you can always visit my online shop: bannisterimages.bigcartel.com

Granary Square and The House of Illustration

June 25, 2014 Matt Bannister

The Discovery of Granary Square, King's Cross

I recently booked a ticket to hear the illustrator Laura Carlin give a talk about her work at the new House of Illustration, near King's Cross. What I didn't realise, until I got there, is how great the redevelopment of the area behind the railway stations is. There's still lots to do, but the post-industrial spruce up that's happened so far is exciting to me. If you've not been there, it feels a bit like bits of the Canary Wharf area but I have a feeling it's going to have a lot more soul and far fewer branches of Pret. It also reminded me of round the Albert Dock in Liverpool. The main piazza, on a sunny day, now feels hot and feisty like a square in Barcelona, not waste ground near some gas tanks.

It's great that there is also the Grand Union Canal running round and through the site. When I see these watercourses in London, there is definitely something a bit quaint and old fashioned about them (but that's no bad thing).

Grand Union Canal - King's Cross - London

This rural scene of a father fishing with his kids, near some barges, surely is something you might see in the Midlands countryside - not 10 minutes walk from where you can catch a train to Paris.

If you get there soon, you can still see bits of the industrial architecture that has yet to be completely refurbished. I imagine most of the area was like this until a few years ago. Shame I missed seeing it, as I love progress but you've got to enjoy a bit of dereliction too, haven't you.

House of Illustration - King's Cross - London

The House of Illustration itself seems to be have been carefully ring fenced amongst all the building work. I took this shot as I left the talk later in the evening, and it reminds me of some of the scenes from that great film 'The Ladykillers' which was set in this area during the 1950s, I think. The trailer gives a little flavour of the film, if you don't know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EoPaqgKWWv0

The House of Illustration had put on a series of talks by current illustrators, and I'd definitely take another trip up in the future to any other events they might arrange. The purpose of the whole trip was to listen to Laura Carlin, an illustrator whose work I'd not seen before, but she/it was great. The talk was very interesting and inspiring. Her style is so free and not over-considered which was very liberating to see.

Here is only one example of her style, but I urge you to investigate her output more, through her agents Heart Agency.

Vallance Road, E1, London

May 7, 2014 Matt Bannister

Fairly recently, I did a mixed media picture inspired by a row of derelict buildings I came across in the East End of London. Vallance Road was the address, and 'Vallance Road, E1' is the art. However, the good news is that they have been saved from demolition. Too important an architectural feature to let them become a grey block of offices. There is a great set of photos of the road as it is now, but also what it used to look like on the legendary Spitalfields Life blog here.

There was quite a lot of twitter chat after I shared my image, and somebody from San Francisco, USA has bought a print of it from me. East meets West. So, here's a link to my print shop, and a reminder of the work and the initial pencil drawing I did.