Shared Spaces - process and construction

'Shared Spaces' is a piece I made at the end of last year, but I have only recently framed and documented it. To be honest, it was a bit of an experiment using different materials, and a slight departure from my normally detailed paintings. It's inspired by silhouettes on the skyline and the juxtaposing of natural vs. manmade structures. The reflective materials are normally used in the manufacture of protective clothing. I've employed them here to echo the barriers, warnings, incidents, protections, and safety measures of modern life.

Acrylic paint sketches were made initially of the trees, insects and cranes, working from reference photos.

I began making the squares and rectangles by covering pieces of wood with the different reflective materials, effectively stretching mini pieces of canvas over each block.

Once I had all the three dimensional elements, I began finessing how I wanted them to be arranged together.

I tried to get the composition so that the different surfaces were as diverse as possible, and not have the same colours too close to each other.

The images of the insects, cranes and trees were transferred on to each surface using pencil. I then carefully painted over these using gloss acrylic paint. This is an image of a churchyard beetle.

The trees were all drawn from photos I had taken locally. The insects are all native species to the UK. Shown here is an earwig and an ant.

As each drawing was completed, the elements began to accumulate.

I had to secure everything together on the back, using screws and hardboard. The final piece is fairly heavy, as each square and rectangle is solid, not a canvas on a frame. The construction over all is a little haphazard and not as slick as I’d hoped, but hey - it was always and experiment. I’d like to explore working with more reflective surfaces in the future, though.

I’ve included here a link to a video showing how the artwork looks under varying light sources. This shows how the different materials respond, something not conveyed really by a still image.

Buses on Film

To help promote the forthcoming auction of all the TFL Year of The Bus sculptures for charity, I've created a couple of enhanced 'slide shows' (with a bit of new footage) for each of my vehicles.

Croydon Layers from Matt Bannister on Vimeo.

Surrey Street Market from Matt Bannister on Vimeo.

For more details of the auction, visit the i-Bidder online site. The proceeds from all the sales of the buses (all sixty of them, not just mine) will go to Kids Company, Transaid and London Transport Museum.

Year Of The Bus – Croydon Sculpture Trail – Olympic Park

The Croydon Bus sculptures have moved! They have joined the other buses at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, East London.

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

As required, I took a couple of friends with me to see how my buses were settling in with their new friends and views. Luckily, it was a perfect crisp and sunny day, so there were plenty of other bus-spotters at the park. To see all the other buses lined up across the (very long and wide) bridge near the Orbit was great. I was particularly impressed to overhear one of the volunteer guides (made famous by the 2012 Olympics/Paralympics) explaining the different types of fruit and veg on my Surrey Street Market design. They had obviously done their homework and read the blurb I wrote for the TFL website.

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

Bus sculptures

All the buses will be auctioned on 24th March, by Christies live and also on the online website i-bidder.com, for the following charities:

Kids Company, who provide practical, emotional and educational support to inner city children, young people and vulnerable families.

Transaid, an international development charity who identify, champion, implement and share local transport solutions to improve access to basic services and economic opportunity for people in Africa and in developing countries.

London Transport Museum, a popular Covent Garden museum highlighting the vital role transport has played in the life of the Capital. They also work with more than 150,000 children each year delivering essential travel safety education to keep our children safe, and they run programmes to help young people into employment.

Year Of The Bus – Croydon Sculpture Trail – The Streets

I made a pilgrimage to see my buses (again!), and to take some better photos.

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

metal plaque

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

Whilst out in the winter sunshine, trying to eavesdrop on what other people where saying about my work, I realised that after 25th January - my buses will disappear!  There is always a chance that someone (or an institution / company) might buy one in the charity auction in February, but as far as I'm concerned I'll never see my work again.  Please stand clear of the closing doors.

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

a plaque

Matt Bannister

painted sculpture of a London Routemaster bus

..and finally, I discovered the other day that my work (along with all the other buses on the sculpture trail across London) also features on a tidy app for smartphones. The whole premise is that you use the GPS functions on your phone (and the app) to help you find every bus (whilst ticking them off and reading about the artist). Here are screen shots of my buses (naturally) from the Apple version. Available from the Apple App Store or Google Play

Bus App screen shot

Bus App screen shot

For a little glimpse into the past workings of my October brain, I've included here the original designs I submitted to Wild in Art. The 'Croydon Layers' design is very similar to the final bus, but the 'Surrey Street Market' one is more complicated than what eventually happened. A fast approaching deadline was the main influencing factor in making these changes, but I'm still very happy with what I eventually produced.

illustration of a bus

illustration of a bus

Year Of The Bus – Croydon Sculpture Trail – The Launch

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!

people looking at a bus sculpture

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.

colourful bus sculpture

two men with a bus sculpture

three people look at a sculpture

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.

man standing by a bus sculpture

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.

colourful bus sculpture

colourful bus sculpture

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