Eleanor Harris : An Eye On British Airways i360

Top graffiti artists paint the i360 hoardings

One of the things I love about this city is the creative buzz. From the number of freelance digital, media and creative people you meet to the independent shops in the Lanes and seafront, and the vibrant graffiti on the walls.
When we open we hope the i360 will become a creative hub: a place where you can see great performances during Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe or hear up and coming artists perform either in the glass pod with sound system or below in our beach building.
So when local legend, graffiti artist Aroe approached us to paint our hoardings and brighten up some otherwise grey boards, this seemed the perfect way to tap into this creativity before we even open.
Our first collaboration with Aroe was last autumn when he along with fellow local graffiti artists Rebus, Gary and Radios painted some of our boards, but this time the project was even more ambitious. We gave over a 100 metre stretch of our hoardings and on Sunday 9th August, 14 talented artists brought together by local graffiti artist Aroe ‘wrote’ on the boards.

The same group returned again this time joined by other equally talented local artists including Jiroe, Vodka, Morf, Warg, Ster and Past, as well as Yes B from Essex, Rench from Reading, Nottingham’s Alert and Europeans Twesh (Italy) and Relay (Germany) who both now live in the UK.
We gave them a blank slate with no direction about what to paint, and the results are truly stunning. It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day and so the event drew lots of crowds.
What was fascinating to see was their artistic method. They don’t use stencils or guides; it is all freehand and it is created in the moment. Many didn’t know what they would paint until they turned up so you were really watching creativity in action.
Alert said Brighton was great at welcoming graffiti artists and he was very positive about participating: “It’s good for the public to get first-hand experience of graffiti. To see how it’s crafted and how each individual artist approaches their piece”
My personal favourites are Aroe’s gorillas piece, Morf’s seagull and Rebus’ donut hotel. Do come down to the i360 site to take a look.
www.brightoni360.co.uk
Twitter: @TheBrightoni360 @Eleanor_Harris
Facebook: Brighton-i360, Pinterest: Brightoni360 Pics: Kevin Meredith