A PAIR of barbers have unveiled a new Bangor mural and hope to encourage other business owners to brighten up their walls.
A mural featuring the artwork of famed Bangor artist Terry Bradley, is on display for all to see at Outsiders Male Grooming, located on Bingham Street.
The mural, painted by esteemed graffiti artist Visual Waste, features one of Bradley’s famed paintings Pain and Sorrow, with some barbering features added.
The barbers decided on the artwork, believing that the figure in the painting resembled them after a hard day’s work.
On Tuesday, Bradley joined the two barbers to sign his name to the mural.
Owners of Outsiders Male Grooming, Chris Palmer and Craig McKenna, said they were inspired to commission the mural in an attempt to ‘brighten up the town’ after seeing the new mural by the same graffiti artist at The Ava.
Chris explained: “My business partner Craig does Terry Bradley’s hair and the two of them got into a discussion one day about how to brighten up Bangor by putting artwork up on the walls and Terry gave Craig the go-ahead to get an artist to do one of his paintings on the side of our wall.”
Noting the mural work done at The Ava, Craig continued: “We saw the huge difference it made and with the way Bangor is, with so many shops closed, we thought it just needed something to spruce it up and for people to talk about.
“I told Terry one of his paintings would be cool on the side of the wall as he is a Bangor native and that is something we should celebrate a bit more.
“Obviously he is a very popular artist and people come from far and wide for his paintings so I thought this might attract people to even just come and look at the wall.”
Chris and Craig, who met each other in Melbourne, noted how the Australian city had a graffiti district which often attracted tourists and visitors and believe this could have a similar effect.
Keen lovers of art, the barbershop pair have previously hosted a mental health art auction, with Bradley involved.
“I know we are a barbershop but there is a lot of art surrounding us, which is cool,” Chris added.
Similar to the mural at The Ava, the new Terry Bradley artwork started off as just a series of shapes, as the graffiti artist began free-handing last week.
Craig said: “We have a few Terry Bradley pieces in the shop and one of them is right beside my station and I thought it would look class as a mural.
“I gave the picture to the graffiti artist and he literally took a picture on his phone and began by just putting random x’s and numbers on the wall. It’s almost like painting by numbers but how he has done this I don’t know – it’s baffled me.”
Craig said Bradley is a very ‘modest’ character and often kept his philanthropy quiet, believing he should be celebrated as a local talent.
“I just thought that if he put this up it would be good for his confidence and I think people will like it,” Craig added.
The business owners also hope that the mural will attract people to Bingham Street, referring to it as a ‘forgotten about street in Bangor’.
He continued: “We are hoping to encourage other business owners who have similar walls to start getting stuff done and brightening up the town.”