On the way over
the Wobbly Bridge en route to St Pauls to celebrate
50 years to the day that MLK spoke there, I was delighted to come across Ben Wilson, the chewing gum painter,
who I’d met and wrote about last year summer. As bright and cheerful as ever, despite the cold and damp December evening, there he was laying full length on the cold steel bridge working on a piece a gum by torch light.
His idiosyncratic oeuvre made manifest in this cheerful, colourfully painted chewing gum Christmas card to
James & Lauren. It was part of
series of works he has around Tate Modern. Sadly, time and light did not permit touring his other works, as I did last time we met up. This time however I had the chance to see the work in progress and the finished work.
It was a good fun trying to find that finished work. As by the time we were on the way back he’d gone leaving only his work. Not quite a needle in haystack but looking for a 25mm by 30mm piece of coloured gum on the 325,000mm by 4,000mm bridge at night using the bridge's subdued blue foot lighting was a challenge.
