ROBERT NEWBIGGIN

Upon returning to the UK I produced my very 1st Official UK Public Portrait of Comedy Legend Eric Morecambe unveiled by his Daughter Gail Stuart and Wife Joan. My next Official UK Public Portrait was of Sir Ken Dodd, unveiled by Wife Lady Anne Dodd and on permanent display at the Floral Pavillion in New Brighton on the Wirral. Now on with producing my 3rd and 4th Official UK Public Portrait of Eddie Large and Dame Vera Lynn. It all began for me when I produced a 50ft long Mural at Botanic Gardens Southport. Which led me to completing the largest Sir Tom Moore Portrait Mural at this time in the World, reaching a height of 35ft in Southport on the side of Anthony James Estate Agents and an opposing wall, a tribute to the NHS which then has helped me produce another huge mural for the Care industry in Tulketh Street Southport which is ongoing.

Upon hearing the sad news of the passing of Sir Tom Moore the Mural of him appeared again on the BBC1 News as a very fitting tribute and the local people and visitors alike are enjoying seeing or having their photos taken next to the mural when they pass.

Part of my continuing development and studying of past artists is to see if public paintings that are essentially on par visually as re art galleries indoor but indoor galleries and galleries in general rely on people to visit purposely to see a specific genre or a specific artist whereas out in the public, they have a greater ability to be seen by a much larger audience and to be photo'd and shared on social media just as much as galleries enjoy.

Take the Tom Moore mural the mural is being spoken about all over the world now after being shared on social media and as far as New York and Australia of which I’ve had many emails and messages from to say congratulations. The people are resonating so much with Tom Moores efforts as a 100 year old in these depressing times and many of the comments are saying that the mural is making them smile again even for a short while and is inspirational to them.

Most of the murals I’ve produced are purely for financial reasons and have an already well established narrative I have to adhere to, but now I’ve started a huge 12 8ft x ft board mural for the public car park of Tesco as a donation to the people of Burscough. This will depict the past history of Burscough including the founder of Tesco,  to be included in the mural.

My latest project is to produce a Life size Red Telephone box in the high street in Burscough, Lancashire following the demise of these iconic historic phone boxes, today I went and took some photos of the very last call box that has been decommissioned so to speak, by BT but most have ended up in the hands of collectors or the tip, so after liaising with the people of Burscough, Parrish Council, local Town Councillor and the owner of a pizza shop on the main road where the penultimate phone box had been removed, have all given permission for me to produce a life size image of the red iconic call box but pursuing my quest to add impact on the viewer. I am trying to decide on whether to include a figure inside the phone box whether it be generic or someone famous with a view. I could also update the figure randomly as I feel it will become a positive talking point hopefully, but it comes at the risk of not being favoured over just keeping it simple. I am now leaning towards doing more than figurative inside it.

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What theme are you exploring in the piece/s you have exhibited?

My exploration in my pieces of work is to push the emotional effects and long-term effects on the viewers of the work, but from an inside gallery onto the streets.

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What are your inspirations behind the piece?

My main inspirations have been mainly the NHS as a whole, but Sir Tom Moore became a symbol for what Canberra done we we're down at our lowest and if he can do.it so can we kind of message.

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Which artists influence you and your work?

I'm influenced by the past master in Michelangelo in particular and their huge outdoor public artworks and studied the time it took the and dedicated their lives to the cause where I'm dedicating months but still with huge impact.

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Which medium/s have you used and why?

I've used Oil for the finer Art portraits for the framed indoor work and outdoor always acrylics and exterior masonry paints and sealers.

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What impact do you want to make on the audience?

The impact especially from these pieces is always to be thought provoking, but with a message in a pictorial way and the feedback has surpassed that in a huge unexpected way.

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