Roar-some art at market
WIDNES Market is looking forward to a boom in trade after the completion of a large tiger mural painted by an award-winning artist.
Paul Curtis, who created the Widnes MarCat, gained prominence with his early work For All Liverpool’s Liver Birds, also known as The Liver Bird Wings, which has attracted a string of famous people and athletes to pose in front of it for pictures including Jamie Carragher, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Bianca Walkden.
In 2018, the mural was the 19th most geotagged place in the UK, nestled between
Stonehenge and Abbey
Road on the list.
His other most famous mural to date, thought also to be the largest painting created by a single artist in the UK, was transforming Ainsdale’s Toad Hall.
In 2020, Paul scooped the Liverpool City Region’s “artist of the year” award.
His Widnes mural was commissioned by the market, which is run by Halton Borough Council, and its traders.
Paul said: “I’m pretty proud of this one, I have to be honest. They gave me quite a lot of freedom on this one allowing me to mix abstract with realism. This roaring trader really brightens up a dark corner of the market.”
Cllr Paul Nolan (community) said: “He was given a loose brief to create a bespoke, colourful and inspiring piece that would capture the imagination of the community of Halton.
“The artwork has been named Widnes MarCat by Paul himself, and represents abstract representations of disorder to order, with a tip of the hat to Chinese New Year (The Year of the Tiger), and the term ‘a roaring trade’ in reference to the traders of Widnes Market.”