LUAP extends his practice beyond the studio and gallery through murals, interventions and large-scale works developed in response to the places they occupy. The image is not simply enlarged onto a wall. Architecture, local history, the character of a neighbourhood and the everyday use of a site can all influence the scale, composition and final form of the work.
The psychological concerns found throughout LUAP’s wider practice remain central. Memory, identity, vulnerability and belonging take on a different character when The Pink Bear and other recurring imagery become part of a street, building or neighbourhood rather than existing within the controlled space of a gallery.
These works emerge from the same fine-art practice as LUAP’s Painting, Sculpture and Installation. Their public setting introduces an element that cannot be fully controlled, as people encounter the work while moving through their own lives. Personal experience becomes embedded within the cultural and physical life of a place.
BBC
BBC News features LUAP’s giant Pink Bear mural in Cleethorpes, where the familiar figure sits on the beach with a melting ice cream. LUAP returned to the area where he grew up, describing the project as nostalgic and made for the local community.
LUAP's latest creation, "Hope" graces Bateman’s Row in Shoreditch. This 12m x 6m mural depicts The Pink Bear slumped on a staircase, with a bouquet of flowers, and a blue background evoking a powerful sense of emotion.
LUAP paints C'est Ne Pas Banana, a 3 × 3 metre Public Art Intervention in Notting Hill. The Pink Bear appears eating a banana, playing with an everyday object that has acquired an unusually persistent place within art and popular culture.
LUAP’s Love Life, a 12 × 6 metre Pink Bear mural in Shoreditch, is featured by Inspiring City following the completion of his first large-scale painted work in the public realm.
