Artist Anthony Burrill and In Good Company Give Leeds a Seven Storey Message of Unity for 2021
Huge new mural offers a positive message to kickstart the year
In Good Company, a Wunderkind Group initiative, today (11 January 2021) unveiled a new 88ft-high mural designed by internationally renowned graphic artist Anthony Burrill in Leeds city centre. Located at 32-34 The Calls on an historic riverside building, the piece is Anthony’s largest ever work.
“We started this project in the middle of 2019 so way before the pandemic, but Anthony’s design couldn’t feel more relevant for the current time,” says In Good Company founder and curator Laura Wellington. “From the start, the plan was that this piece will be here for the people of Leeds for centuries, but I think it’s the perfect message of unity to start 2021 – a year when continued connection and community will be so vital.”
Anthony Burrill’s work has been showcased in galleries and museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the National Design Museum in New York and the Barbican. Despite Anthony having studied Graphic Design at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University) this is the first time one of his works has had a permanent place in Leeds.
“Leeds is the city where I first studied graphic design. The people and the place left a powerful imprint on me and has shaped the artist I have become. It’s great to return the favour and make a piece of art that connects me back to the city. And amazing to have such a huge canvas to work with. Putting art on the streets is a way to give a place back to its community, and it means a lot that we’ve been able to do it on this monumental scale.”
Burrill’s design was executed by multidisciplinary studio Bread Collective, but it also couldn’t have been brought to life without the funding and enthusiasm of local property company King & Co.
“Trust is such an important part of a project like this,” says Laura. “You can’t do something this big and public for a city without property owners, but you can end up with design-by-committee. It takes a partnership with someone like King and Co, who really trusted me to find the right artist and then trusted Anthony to do something brilliant, to create a piece this powerful.”
In Good Company has previously curated large-scale street art projects for The Barge (by Benjamin Craven and Jenny Beard), Victoria Road (by Morag Myerscough) and Graphical House (by Mr Penfold), as well as raising over £15,000 for the NHS with its Posters for the People public art initiative.
In Good Company is currently talking with developers who want to use their properties as canvases for inclusive, forward-looking public art and invites interested property owners to get in touch.
This post is based on a press release issued by In Good Company
I’d rather see the brick that this graffiti