New Morph mural appears in Bristol
Posted on: 01 Aug 2017A likeness of the Bristol-born plasticine character was painted onto a wall in Bedminster, as part of last weekend's UpFest, by Cheo, who frequently draws inspiration from Aardman characters.
Plasticine is a medium which generally reduces its characters to a diminutive size – but models of Morph, who appears in real life as roughly the height of a normal cup of coffee, tend to be pretty accurate. And whilst it is true that the best things come in small packages, a new, enlarged rendering has captured the massive personality Peter Lord and David Sproxton’s original troublemaker on the occasion of his 40th birthday…
Painted by Cheo over the weekend as part of UpFest, the mural (above) features both Morph and his best mate Chas rocking a new street-inspired look, replete with bucket hats, ski goggles and heavy-set bling. This is the latest in a long series of Aardman-inspired murals created by the Bristol-based artist, who has previously immortalised Shaun the Sheep, Feathers McGraw and Wallace and Gromit, in street art form.
These each arrived immediately before the respective Aardman public arts trails were unleashed throughout in Bristol in 2013 and 2015, with the proceeds going to the Bristol Children’s Hospital. The proliferation of Morph’s likenesses in the summer before the next trail has led to speculation that it could be him who is distributed variously throughout the city.
.jpg "Graff Morph")
Earlier in the summer, a three-metre high ‘MegaMorph’ toured various spots in the city and an exhibition called ‘Morph: Still Naughty at 40’ opened at Cribbs Causeway. This will continue until the 14th September.
Co-creators of Morph and co-founders of Aardman, David Sproxton and Peter Lord said: “We never would have imagined 40 years ago that we’d have a big exhibition celebrating the world of Morph in his magnificent home city of Bristol.”
“For a lot of people, Morph inspires real childhood nostalgia and yet he’s also moved with the times; Morph is a 21st century chap with his own emoji set, and has an emerging young fan base generated from his very own online series, so the exhibition really is for everyone.”
Check out our favourite pictures from this year's UpFest here. For more about Morph: Still Naughty at 40, click here.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
