Sam Gilbey collaboration with House 337 for Switch Mural campaign.

22 February 2024

We talk to Sam about this amusing and unusual campaign... 

"I never expected to be asked to paint a grumpy-looking goldfish who’s dressed as a dog (because his owner wishes he had a canine pet instead), but House 337 did just that, and frankly I was happy to oblige. Not only that, but seeing my painting of Spike (who stars in a TV for Current Account Switch Service) translated so faithfully onto giant murals in London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow by the talented artists at Global Street Art and Mural Republic, ended up making this one of the most interesting projects I’ve had the pleasure to be involved with! For the mural artists, working on that physical scale must be like painting abstract art, only to see it gradually come together, so I was hugely impressed by how similar each mural looked to my original artwork”

"The artwork had to be planned carefully in terms of accommodating the very different aspect ratios of the buildings, and ensuring that the key elements could be repositioned and rescaled for each location. For the mural artists, working on that physical scale must be like painting abstract art, only to see it gradually come together, so I was hugely impressed by how similar each mural looked. Although I (thankfully) didn’t need to work at the actual scale, I was still very mindful of just how big these would be, and tried to strike a balance of getting plenty of detail in there, whilst ensuring Spike would still pack a visual punch. Many thanks to Jules at CIA for helping to ensure that the project ran smoothly from receiving that unusual brief in the first place, to seeing professional photos of each mural in place.”

Take a look at more Sam Gilbey awesomeness here.

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