Bricks launches four public art commissions for the new Moxy Bristol hotel

The newly opened Moxy Bristol hotel sits on Newfoundland St on a main artery road into the city, and on the edge of St Paul’s.

Celebrating the local community and the artistry of the area, the social enterprise Bricks Bristol has launched a series of public art commissions especially for the hotel, for locals and visitors alike to experience.

The four artworks, which have been variously installed on the interior and exterior of the building, are by Lawrence Hoo and Charles Golding, Dr Myles-Jay Linton, Bo Lanyon, and Lucas Antics.

The artists were selected by the developer, Bristol City Council, and local community members LaToyah McAllister-Jones and Marti Burgess.

Their work is a creative response to the rich cultural heritage and history of the area, and a look to the future.

Lawrence Hoo and Charlies Golding: Jewels

Charles Golding, Lawrence Hoo and Rowan Bishop recording the Moxy Podcast – photo: Kali Ackford

Bristol poet and educator Lawrence Hoo and art director and immersive designer Charles Golding have collaborated on Jewels, a mixed media photographic sculpture featuring a series of diamond shapes hung with lights and mirrors and overlaid with Hoo’s poem dedicated to St Paul’s.

The deliberate decision to hang the piece in the ground floor windows of the Moxy building allows onlookers to place themselves both in St Paul’s and within the artwork itself.

What inspired the artists’ choice of diamonds to represent the vibrant local history of St Paul’s? “A jewel, a diamond, it’s actually created over layers, and actually the pressure of those layers over time creates something that’s really beautiful,” explains Hoo.

He talks more about the process in The Jewels of St Pauls, one of a pair of specially commissioned podcast episodes complementing the public art launch (the other by Dr Myles-Jay Linton).

Dr Myles-Jay Linton: Good and then bad and then good again

Dr. Myles-Jay Linton, ‘Good and then bad and then good again’, 2022 – photo: Bricks

A psychologist, figurative artist and illustrator, Dr Myles-Jay Linton is interested in physicality and emotion, and the stark contrast between solitude and connection that so many of us experienced during the lockdowns of COVID-19.

His neon artwork is now on display in the lobby area of the Moxy. It began as a digital line drawing and was brought to fruition by signmakers Cabot Neon.

“Experimenting with light has been a real pleasure,” he says. “It floods the room in a way that only light can. I was really trying to find comforting colour combinations that would create an atmosphere of warmth, and invite people into the space.”

Bo Lanyon: Procession

Bo Lanyon, ‘Procession’, 2022 – photo: Bricks

On a large-scale canvas suspended on the main lobby entrance wall, sculptor, painter and digital artist Bo Lanyon’s contribution to the project is a vibrant painting that draws on imagery from motifs from St Paul’s Carnival.

Recalling his first experience of the annual event, he describes it as “like a warm hug or an embrace. It was kind of a welcome, [indicating] ‘this is how we do things’”.

Lucas Antics

Lucas Antics, Moxy Bristol Grafitti Seated Area – photo: Chris Baker, Moxy Bristol

Illustrators, street artists and muralists Lucas Antics are Alex Lucas and Paul Fearnside. For the Moxy public art project, they have produced paintings to hang above the seating booths, honouring the Windrush generation who settled in St Paul’s. Their chosen colour palettes are inspired by wildlife, flora and fauna from the Caribbean.

For public art producer at Bricks, Riah King-Wall, the entire project has been able to elevate, and celebrate, voices and stories from the local community: “We are thrilled that the artists involved are all Bristol-based, and that Moxy has been such a willing partner in creating a public art programme that reflects the local community and supports local creatives”.

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Main photo: Ruby Turner, Bricks

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