Musician gives Goldie seal of approval to mural depicting him on shop front in Wolverhampton

Goldie MBE made a whistlestop visit to unveil a mural of himself which was made in just a week by Stafford-based artist Eve Whitfield.

Eve, aged 22, specialises in semi-realistic portrait illustrations. She graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a first class degree in illustration last year, winning an award for outstanding professional development in visual practice. She has worked in advertising since then and her personal work has depicted Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana.

But superstar drum & bass music producer, actor, artist and DJ Goldie was the subject of the first in a series of eight works of art which have been commissioned by the Wolverhampton Business Improvement District (BID) team, as part of the Street Stories project to make city centres thriving, exciting places to visit.

Launching in Leicester, it has since swept Colchester and Stirling, and in the coming weeks seven more pieces will be installed in empty shop frontages in Wolverhampton city centre.

Walsall-born Goldie – real name Clifford Joseph Price – made his name as a graffiti artist and his work has been displayed in Wolverhampton Art Gallery. It is re-created within Eve's mural to make a striking picture in Queen Square, opposite The Parisian bar where a reception was held.

Goldie, who is a doctor of design at the University of Wolverhampton, had two DJ gigs to do on Friday night in Manchester and London ahead of a visit to Thailand but made time to see the mural unveiled. He said: "It’s a nice homage to the history of Wolverhampton. The two particular pieces that are used are iconic in their own right.

"Now 40 years later there are a lot of people going back to those original images and using digital art with them so I think it’s really good.

"My music and my art have always been hand in hand. There’s always been a synchronicity.”

Cherry Shine, the managing director of Enjoy Wolverhampton BID, addressed artists, sponsors and invited guests at the Parisian and said: "This has been an absolute dream of a project to work on and we had many fantastic and amazing submissions to us.

"The other seven will be placed strategically around the city centre in the coming weeks but I would like to thank Goldie for being here to launch it and I think people will agree the artwork that Eve and he worked on is stunning and kicks off the Street Stories Wolverhampton project really well."

Eve, who went to Walton High School in Stafford, said most of her work is digital-based. She has worked in advertising since graduating but she had wanted to branch out to mural work.

She said: "Goldie is an iconic figure in Wolverhampton which was the initial thought from me when there was a chance to do something like this because of my connections and his with the university and and it was great working with him.

"I love drawing jewellery so his famous gold teeth was an attraction - it is so striking and I hope it comes across in the artwork. To get his seal of approval was the best part of it and I was so glad he could be here for the soft launch with such a busy schedule."

For more information on the Street Stories project, visit street-stories.co.uk.

For more information about the University of Wolverhampton and the School of Art check out the University’s official website. 

ENDS 

This article was written by Paul Jenkins and first appeared in the Express & Star on 24 March 2024.

Pictures taken by University of Wolverhampton Photography degree student, Jennifer Smith (rekindlethemoment).