Acclaimed Liverpool City Region street artist Paul Curtis has given away two artworks to charity and got one of his favourite local musicians to help.
This February Paul Curtis held his first ever exhibition ‘In One Place’ at the iconic Royal Liver Building. The exhibition was extended twice due to popular demand, attracting more than 7,500 visitors and over that time Paul created three new paintings live at the venue.
The largest piece is a mural depicting the construction of the Royal Liver Building, which will remain on public display in the atrium. The artist also painted two canvases, one of a gorilla and the other a tiger, which were auctioned and raffled to raise funds for charities close to Paul’s heart; The Whitechapel Centre and Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
Directly after the exhibition both paintings were displayed at the Adam Partridge sale room on Jordan Street. The physical auction took place on the 8th of March and Adam Partridge very kindly wavered all commission and fees so that 100% of the money would go to charity. The winning bidder got to select which of the two paintings they wanted and that person was Sean Ging, who chose the tiger, meaning the gorilla became the first prize in the draw.
Paul with Sean and Camille Ging, who made the winning bid for the tiger
CBRE which manages The Royal Liver Building was extremely supportive of the exhibition and Paul and curator Laura McCann were very keen for the draw to happen there on the 1st of April. They wanted to make the occasion even more memorable by having a surprise guest to pick out the winning ticket and they had a good idea of who they wanted to ask.
Wirral based musician Michael Aldag first caught the public’s attention when he wrote a song in 2017 called “These Wings”, inspired by Paul’s first mural. Paul invited Michael to attend his exhibition launch and the artist and Laura had talked about asking Michael to draw the winning ticket for the painting. So, when the pair bumped in to Michael straight after the auction, just metres away from Paul’s wings mural, it seemed like fate and thankfully Michael was more than happy to be involved.
Paul Curtis and Laura McCann Paul with both canvases
Michael, who has more than a million followers across Instagram and TikTok, not only picked the winning ticket for the draw, he also played a song at The Royal Liver Building. It’s a place that has a very personal link to the singer, as it’s where his parents met when they both worked there. Yesterday David Roper from The Whitechapel centre thanked Michael and his mum not only for helping with the draw but also for previously volunteering for the charity. The draw and song were streamed simultaneously across Michael and Paul’s social media platforms and can still be seen on Paul’s Instagram @paulcurtisartwork
Paul Curtis said: “A massive thank you to every single person who bought a ticket or helped spread the word online. Together we have raised a fantastic amount for the two charities and it was really important to me that 100% of the funds from the draw and auction went directly to the charities. I am genuinely touched by the amount of people that have gotten behind this and I’m also really grateful to Michael for agreeing to perform and do the draw, it really means a lot”.
The combined total from the sale of the tiger and draw tickets was £4,350. Every single penny will be divided equally between The Whitechapel Centre and Alder Hey Children’s charity to help continue the amazing work they both do in the city.
Artist Paul Curtis next to his mural at Toad Hall in Ainsdale in Southport
Paul Curtis is an incredible talent whose work has left a huge impression in Southport, and Sefton.
In 2021 he created the iconic sand lizard artwork across the Toad Hall building in Ainsdale – the biggest mural in Britain outside London.
It followed his four storey painting of the world’s greatest ever racehorse, Red Rum, in 2020. The giant 15m four-storey high mural on the gable end of a row of buildings on the corner of Scarisbrick Avenue and the Promenade was one of the highlights of the Sefton Borough of Culture. Both works were commissioned by Sefton Council.
A new mural dedicated to local band Red Rum Club has been unveiled by Sefton Council at its Salt and Tar site in Bootle. It was created by Paul Curtis Artwork. l-r Stuart Barnes, Assistant Director Place, Karen Yates, Senior General Manager of Salt and Tar, George Wilson, Manager for Red Rum Club, Paul Curtis, artist, Jo Corby from RRC, Simon Hepworth from RRC, Neil Lawson from RRC, Cllr Atkinson, Francis Doran RRC, Mike McDermott RRC, Tom Williams RRC, Peter Dowd
The former Liverpool City Region Artist of the Year has also painted a mural of Red Rum on the side of the Bold Hotel on Lord Street; a floor to ceiling Red Rum mural in The Atkinson on Lord Street; and an Audrey Hepburn artwork at David H Myers opticians on London Street.
He has also created a mural of Sefton band Red Rum Club at the new Salt and Tar events space in Bootle.
Perhaps his most famous work is ‘For All Liverpool’s Liver Birds’, (aka ‘The Wings’), which he painted on Jamaica Street in the Baltic Triangle in Liverpool city centre in 2017.
It was a huge success with queues of people eager to have the picture taken with the wings, becoming Liver Birds themselves.
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