Scottish Daily Mail

Is Ed new Banksy?

Artworks turn up around star’s town – and look VERY familiar...

- By Emma Powell Showbusine­ss Correspond­ent

HE’S a multi-talented pop artist who’s proved he’s as much a dab hand on canvas as on guitar.

So when shops and pubs nearby Ed Sheeran’s Suffolk estate received paintings by a mystery artist in the post, tongues started wagging about who could be behind the works.

The anonymous painter, known as The Hat, has been donating artwork to charity shops and businesses during lockdown – and, like street artist Banksy, has even installed some under the cover of darkness.

Some recipients have woken up to paintings left on their doorsteps, along with a note featuring a link to a website called ‘who is The Hat’, a plea to ‘stay safe’ and a picture of what looks like a trilby.

The abstract pieces bear an uncanny resemblanc­e to the Jackson Pollock-style paintings Sheeran shared a picture of on his Instagram page last year. Although Sheeran’s spokesman denies he’s the new Banksy, some residents still believe he could be The Hat.

The singer, 29, who is taking a break from music, lives with wife Cherry Seaborn at his £3.7million Framlingha­m estate – three miles from charity shop East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, which was among the first to receive the artwork. Shop manager Sara Allerton said she discovered two paintings – one entitled Disquiet and the other Brexit – on March 23, when the UK went into lockdown.

‘There’s been a lot of circulatio­n among customers about whether it’s [Sheeran] or not. People talk,’ she said. Maisie McCarthy, who works at The Oyster Inn in Butley, said they received a painting called Confusion in May, before an old phone box by the pub was adorned with painted figures overnight in June, with a note from The Hat.

The Neathouse, a cafe a short walk from Sheeran’s house, received a bust entitled Infection along with a note saying owner Vashti Mouncer’s help in the community during the pandemic had been ‘brought to my attention’.

The Hat describes himself on his website as a man in his 60s who was ‘born to an impoverish­ed family’ and has now ‘discovered he has a love and talent for art’.

But some believe the biography to be a ruse by Sheeran, whose parents ran an art consultanc­y – and who told fans last year he’d ‘spent an entire month’ painting.

 ??  ?? Never mind Jackson Pollock: Ed Sheeran shows off his paintings. Inset left: The Hat’s note
Never mind Jackson Pollock: Ed Sheeran shows off his paintings. Inset left: The Hat’s note
 ??  ?? Master stroke: The artist sent works to Maisie at the Oyster Inn – where he decorated an old phone box overnight – and to staff at a Framlingha­m charity shop
Master stroke: The artist sent works to Maisie at the Oyster Inn – where he decorated an old phone box overnight – and to staff at a Framlingha­m charity shop

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