23 Paul Curtis wins award

LL ARTS Picture perfect - Paul picks up top award

The artist responsible for multiple eye-catching artworks across the Liverpool City Region has picked up his first award.

Paul Curtis has been announced as Liverpool City Region Artist of the Year in the LCR Culture and Creativity Awards 2020.

Dubbed as Liverpool’s answer to Banksy, the 42-year-old is the talent behind Jamaica Street’s Liver Bird Wings, the Tranmere Rovers Oxton mural and the Abbey Road artwork in the Baltic Triangle.

Paul was nominated by members of the public for the award last November before making the final shortlist of three. He was then presented with his award virtually by Coronation Street actress Eithne Brown.

Speaking about the experience, Paul said: “It felt fantastic. I’ve been shortlisted for one or two other awards in the past but never got over the finish line.

“It always means a lot to me that the public like my work, but I always felt that recognition of this kind, an award by a panel, was never going to happen, so in a sense, it’s like an official stamp on all the public praise. That’s a warm fuzzy feeling.”

The Liverpudlian was also in the mix to win Borough of Culture ‘Star of the year’, but although he didn’t win, he was more than happy to walk away with what he called ‘the big one.’

Paul has been painting for four years now after being made redundant in 2015. Since then, he has created more than 150 public pieces, largely in Liverpool and the Wirral, and recalled his journey up to this point: “It was hard work and perseverance,” he said.

“I know there are more talented artists than myself out there, but I have put incredible effort into getting established.

“ I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way and seen a lot of rejection. I’ve had to bite my lip so many times when people have wasted my time.

“But in contrast, I have seen my work gather more and more interest. I’ve seen it improve and the support from the public has grown. And that makes it all worthwhile”.

Spreading his creativity, Paul’s latest project is bringing colour to New Ferry following the aftermath of an explosion in the area in 2017. The largest explosion in Merseyside since World War II tore out part of the New Ferry shopping district, destroyed many homes and devasted the entire community. He plans to be painting there for the next month.

“It was more a case of New Ferry chose me,” he explained.

“After the explosion in 2017, the area is still trying to rebuild itself and I think they were aware of my work. We started the conversation to see if any work was possible. It was 18 months from initial conversation to the first paint stroke.”

Not giving much away, the former geologist revealed other upcoming works.: “In the summer, I have a huge project in Ainsdale and a collaboration with The Atkinson in Southport. Both works are in the pipeline,” he added.

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