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Photos: London chewing gum artist paints 'hidden world' beneath people's feet

Artwork made from discarded items like chewing gum, which he's been painting for 19 years

Published: August 28, 2023 13:50 Compiled by Nathaniel Lacsina, Senior Web Editor and with inputs from Reuters

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London: Lying on his side on the surface of London's iconic Millennium Bridge, artist Ben Wilson paints a piece of dried chewing gum trodden into the ground. Image Credit: Reuters

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"The important thing is the gum is below the metal tread," said 60-year-old Wilson, dressed in a paint-daubed orange jumpsuit. "The beauty of it is they're all different shapes and sizes so there's no conformity." Image Credit: Reuters

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What most people actively avoid or simply don't see, Wilson views as an opportunity to turn a tiny piece of discarded rubbish into something beautiful. It's also a way to delight passersby, enticing them to take a closer look underfoot. "By painting a picture which is so small, those that see it then discover a hidden world beneath their feet," Wilson said. "If they look then they see, so it's about perception." Image Credit: Reuters

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Back in his north London studio, Wilson paints on the surface of a small mosaic tile which will be part of a collection that he sticks on the walls of London's Underground train platforms, hidden in plain sight. Image Credit: Reuters

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The images are more personal than the chewing gum works, Wilson says, and represent an "intuitive visual diary". "The pictures are a celebration of my life and those that I care dearly about ... they are (also) a process of visual inquiry - trying to make sense of the world," he said. Image Credit: Reuters

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London-born Wilson was raised by artist parents and recalls working with clay from age three, with his first artist show at around 10 or 11 years old. Image Credit: Reuters

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His artwork developed into sculpture and large pieces in the natural environment before his interest turned to rubbish and discarded items from a consumerist world, like chewing gum, which he's been painting for 19 years. Image Credit: Reuters

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The top surface of the dried gum is not subject to local or national jurisdictions, creating a space where Wilson says he can paint without defacing public property. Image Credit: Reuters

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"I found this little space where I could create a form of art where I could be spontaneous and do something which evolves out of the place in which it's created," Wilson said. Image Credit: Reuters

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The artist has had much of his public street art removed by authorities - gum from the pavement or tiles from the Underground - but the hundreds of gum paintings on Millennium Bridge have been left untouched. Image Credit: Reuters

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