Athlone artist to bring 10-foot Rastafarian to Electric Picnic
An eye-catching arrival recently took up temporary residence in the back garden of Chris Flicker's home in Baylin. But, according to Chris, the locals weren't too surprised.
"Some of the neighbours get a chuckle out of it, as they never know what they might see passing my house," he said.
The new figure - named 'Winston from Kingston' - is a 10-foot Rastafarian sculpture which Chris created over the course of approximately three months.
The local street artist had been commissioned to come up with an artpiece for Trenchtown, the reggae music stage at the Electric Picnic festival, which returns to Stradbally in Laois from August 29 to 31.
Chris has produced work for display at Electric Picnic in previous years, most recently in 2023 when he came up with a large-scale art installation called Crazy Train, which involved building an entire train carriage structure from scratch.
Outlining how his latest project came about, he said: "I was asked earlier in the year to come up with an art installation for the Trenchtown stage at Electric Picnic. After long thought, I decided on a sculpture of a Rasta man.
"The stage is set in the woods, and I pictured walking through the path, entering the area, and being greeted by this 10-foot head complete with hat and dreadlocks while the heavy bass of reggae music shuddered through the forest.
"I've had a huge love for reggae music since a young age and connected with the concept straight away."
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Chris’s new creation will be on display at the reggae stage in Electric Picnic later this month.Image 2 of 4
‘Winston’ pictured in Chris’s shed at an early stage of his creation.Image 3 of 4
Chris Flicker and his wife Karen at Electric Picnic in 2023.Image 4 of 4
A life-sized deer which Chris made by welding together old metal objects.In order to create 'Winston', Chris started out with a rough frame and chicken wire, before filling it with expanding foam.
"I covered it with plaster before painting it and then coating it in epoxy resin to make it waterproof," he said.
Chris's vibrant and uplifting artwork is sure to go down well at Electric Picnic, but he pointed out that his involvement wasn't the only Athlone link with this year's festival.
"The Trenchtown area of Electric Picnic is run by an ex-resident of Athlone, Martin Hickey," he said. "Also appearing in Trenchtown this year is Athlone's very own rap/drum & bass act Teggy, and DJ Kenny Tynan."Also, local food van owner Simon Healion (of Simon's Street Kitchen) will have his food truck parked up and selling top-notch grub."
Chris is a completely self-taught artist who has worked on a number of street murals and other graffiti art projects. Originally from London, he had relatives in Athlone and moved here when he was a teenager in the mid-80s.
Another recent creation of his is a life-sized deer in his back garden, which was "made out of welding old spanners, sockets and metal objects together".
On the question of what other future projects might be on the horizon, he said: "I'm not sure what I might come up with next, but my wife is praying I'll take a break from locking myself in the shed for weeks on end!"