In your own words, how would you describe your creative work?

Rubbish. Complete and utter rubbish. I make mural art using littered plastics and tell stories using littered shopping lists.

When did you first discover your passion for art/writing/photography?

Like all good stories, it began on an outdoor snooker table…

While playing on it in the garden, my best mate challenged me to fill it with litter. I naturally did not want to ruin the baize with mucky stuff so decided lids would work nicely because of their colours and universal shape. I reckoned a year’s worth of litter picking would do the trick but it only took a month. One month!

1,603 colourful plastic bottle lids covered the table and, after that, I attempted Mona Lisa and The Scream. People liked them so I began doing more expansive pieces on the table and having prints of them in galleries.

I then formalised it by creating my business, Rubbish Idea. I no longer have the table due to moving but continue to produce both temporary and permanent murals using the lids and ring-pulls. I have tens of thousands of each.

The other side of my creativity (as The Shopping List Guy) is crafting stories from littered shopping lists that I find in supermarket trolleys and baskets. I found my first list four years ago and have since collated over 1,300.

It led to me releasing my first-ever book in June called List and Foundwhere I included my favourites.

I have also turned them into a one-man show where the lists are projected onto a screen, and I find the comedy in them. I recently played The Woodville Halls as part of Gravesham Fringe.

What's the creative process?

When making the temporary murals, I do not actually draw out any templates. I just start and many hours later, I am done. My favourite so far is a Spitfire installation commissioned by the Royal Engineers Museum as part of their VE Day anniversary celebrations.

With the lists, I rely on my ability to come up with something unique for each list which has become increasingly difficult the more I do.

What does a typical day look like to you?

Wherever I walk, I pick litter up front the street. The annoying part is when I cannot find a bin and end up carrying smelly half-full beer cans around while pocketing the ring-pulls as well as any lids.

The main part of Rubbish Idea is school workshops where children learn about the impacts of litter on the environment and then make their own lid mosaics. I am now also doing these for corporates with the emphasis on team building.

What have you learned most about yourself in recent times?

I have a lot more patience than I thought. Some of the murals take hours. Imagine each lid as a single pixel of a larger image.

Regarding the book, I started it in December last year so to have it completed and published six months later is pretty cool.

Do you have any wisdom you can share with others who are thinking of launching a creative business?

Do not be scared to pick up the phone. Emails are great but personal connection wins every time.

What is on your mind right now?

Someone asked me recently if I reckoned I had drunk milk from the same cow twice. It continues to blow my mind.

Links

Book: List and Found

School Workshops

Corporate Workshops

Instagram: Shopping List Guy

Instagram: Rubbish Idea

TikTok: Rubbish Idea

Facebook: Rubbish Idea

LinkedIn: Rubbish Idea