While wandering around the Northern Quarter in Manchester, I came across a heavily boarded building site, inside which I could glimpse the top of a Dale Grimshaw mural. There was a small letter-box hole in the hoarding and I managed to take a snapshot of the piece together with some construction workers. I also took a picture over the top of the hoarding, without really being able to see what I was doing. I wasn’t unpleased with the results.
Dale Grimshaw is no stranger to the pages of Natural Adventures, and his huge portraits featuring people of different regions and cultures are instantly recognisable. Here is a nice little bit of insight from the artist about the piece, written on his Facebook thread last November:
Storytime – So, this piece has been in central Manchester for quite a good, few years now. It was painted as part of the Cities Of Hope festival. It’s seen so many things – the environment around it has changed dramatically, from a potholed carpark to a new, trendy block of flats. The wall has been tagged & blasted with rain & sun over the seasons. It stood alone, staring out at the empty streets, during the years of lockdown. The wall it’s painted on is even crumbling & damp beneath it – yet it shines on! True warrior. Technically it’s not my best piece – (it was a bit rushed) but it seems to have captured something with the good folk of Manchester.
Memories of painting – the alarm on the scissor lift was beeping for the entire time, day in, day out, (I swear I could fckin hear it in my sleep 
) I got to know a few of the local addicts that occupied that spot. One day a pretty wirey guy ran at the scissor lift & climbed up it like Spiderman – I was about 5 meters up & he hung onto the platform edge with his finger tips, staring at an £800 camera within reach, like Gollum & the ring! After that incident, I decided to load all the spray paint in to a shopping trolley at night & take it up to my hotel room in the lift. I’ve always been sophisticated like that.
) I got to know a few of the local addicts that occupied that spot. One day a pretty wirey guy ran at the scissor lift & climbed up it like Spiderman – I was about 5 meters up & he hung onto the platform edge with his finger tips, staring at an £800 camera within reach, like Gollum & the ring! After that incident, I decided to load all the spray paint in to a shopping trolley at night & take it up to my hotel room in the lift. I’ve always been sophisticated like that. All great stuff, a brilliant portrait from a very good artist.
Natural adventures 