Street artists bid for £30,000 prize

PERTH: Public competition to paint mural on ‘portraits’ wall

Street artists will compete in a £30,000 contest to design an enormous artwork for Perth city centre. The Courier can today reveal plans for the city’s most ambitious public art project. Council chiefs, in partnership with Culture Perth and Kinross, want a massive mural as part of the redevelopment of Mill Street. And they want to use the same brick wall which has been decorated with unauthorised rock star paintings by rebel artist Ian Cuthbert Imrie. The scheme – which is expected to bring “international attention” to the Fair City – will start this weekend. Mr Imrie said he is willing to consider relocating his art to pave the way for the new work. If all goes to plan, the installation will be unveiled in March next year.

JAMIE BUCHAN

A giant £30,000 artwork could tower over Perth as part of the city’s most ambitious public art project, The Courier can reveal. Council bosses are working on plans for a huge piece of street art which they hope will bring international attention. They want to use the same city centre wall that local artist Ian Cuthbert Imrie has decorated with unauthorised paintings of dead rock stars. The competition to find an artist for the work is expected to be launched this weekend. The project is being spearheaded by Perth and Kinross Council and partners Culture Perth and Kinross as part of the transformation of Mill Street into a cultural quarter. It will be funded as part of the multimillion-pound City of Lights scheme which also aims to illuminate landmark buildings and reinvigorate nightlife. Culture Perth and Kinross chief executive Helen Smout believes the project will be a first for Scotland. “As far as I know, it will be the first time that art and lighting technologies are used together in such an innovative way,” she said. “Our hope is that the artwork will change after dark.” The amount of investment that’s going into this shows how significant it will be for Perth. HELEN SMOUT She said: “This will be a real gamechanger for the city. The amount of investment that’s going into this shows how significant it will be for Perth. “Something like this could generate international attention.” She said the move had been inspired by work in other cities, including huge photo-realistic murals on the streets of Glasgow by artist Rogue-One and projected videos of wildlife in LA by Lauren Strohacker and Kendra Sollars. “What we want is something original, something you won’t find anywhere else,” she said. “The wall on Mill Street is a great location as it will be seen by shoppers, visitors to the museum and new city hall, as well as people going to and from the concert hall and theatre. “Mr Imrie’s work has proved popular with a lot of people, and we will be looking at moving them to a new location.” The contest will be launched on social media and artists will have eight weeks to submit their proposals. The work will be judged by an expert panel, including representatives of Perth College, and interviews will be carried out in October. If all goes to plan, the work could be in place by the end of March next year.

Picture: Andrew Cawley. Bobby McNamara, aka Rogue-One, working on a wall mural in Glasgow.