The winning design of Printworks’ Big Art competition was revealed in Manchester today by legendary DJ and record producer Fatboy Slim.
Alex Sylt, 32, was crowned first place in the competition which will see his work produced digitally on a 215m2 feature wall inside Printworks.
Alex’s artwork displayed vibrant strong colours and he revealed in a speech today that he was inspired by ‘various historical parts of Manchester such as the story of the LGBTQ community, Alan Turing and the Suffragette movement’.
Requirements of the competition included creating designs that represented Printworks’ brand values which are:
- Manchester Soul- proud to be Manchester, relevant to Manchester today, larger than life
- Vitality- alive and enlivening, bright and vibrant, fun and playful, surprising and innovative
- Being connected- city oasis, relaxed, refreshing; Do it right: ethics lead; Honest: a place you can trust
- Escape- connected at every level, inclusive and welcoming, convivial and optimistic
Alex, who has lived in Manchester for ten years, said: “I wanted to make the art bright and abstract for people to look at.
“It was such a good feeling finding out I had won, I remember getting the phone call and felt so happy, I went out and celebrated that night.”
The competition was judged by five panellists which included Grammy award winner, Fatboy Slim.
In the announcement today he said: “I’m passionate about public art because it’s here for everyone, it’s not just for the elite, the cultured the rich, it should be available to all and things like this really get art out of the art galleries and onto the streets.
“I became involved in this through a company called Wild in Art and I’m an ambassador for a hospice in Brighton called Martlets and we did art trails with Wild in Art where we did put snails and snow dogs or Shaun the sheep all around the city”.
He said that being part of the selection process of picking the winner for the Printworks Art competition was ‘great fun’.
He added: “There was a panel of five but we also added the publics vote into consideration, but it was all pretty much unanimous.”
The competition was part of a progressive development project which will be seen by millions of visitors at the iconic Printworks venue.
Speaking exclusively to Mancunian Matters Fatboy Slim revealed why he was so drawn to Alex’s display.
“The fact that it covered so much of Manchester and everything that everyone can be proud of about their city, and to you know get that all in one piece was no mean feat.
“The fact that it looked so colourful and beautiful, obviously its so beautifully graphic, but to take something like Manchester that is so industrial to beautiful and flowery is amazing.”
He added: “It’s something that would appeal to everyone, its kind of graphically cool enough that it would appeal to me and lots of different people, It’s a public art, it has to appeal to everyone.”
Work is still taking place to create the new visual space at the Manchester venue, so keep your eyes peels for Alex’s work in the near future!
