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BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Artist 'humiliated' after giant Belfast mural unveiling cancelled
An artist has said he feels "humiliated" after the unveiling of his latest project in Belfast's Grand Central Station was postponed mural of a local celebrity, thought by sources to be the musician Van Morrison, remains covered at the station almost a month after its Hamilton was commissioned to create the portrait, tied to a high-profile product which operates the station, said it only facilitated the space and further questions should be directed to the artist and company which commissioned the News NI contacted the company representing the Productions, who it's believed also commissioned the painting, did not provide a response. The painting is still positioned at the station but is covered by a large pink question mark painted onto a black on his website, Mr Hamilton, who works under the alias Jossiepops said: "This is not only disappointing, it's humiliating."The BBC had been in contact with the artist with a plan to film the unveiling of the 5m x 2m portrait last month. Mr Hamilton had been teasing followers on social media about who he might be anticipation was evident from the more than 200,000 views he has had across his social media it soon became evident that things were not going to plan. The painting itself took two months of preparation, involved more than 15 tins of paint and was altered twice from its original was filmed; from the actual painting, to its framing and then installation in Belfast's Grand Central painting itself took six people to move comfortably due to its Hamilton said part of his brief was that the piece had to be movable and Translink agreed to facilitate then he was told that the unveiling, set for the early hours of 10 June, was not going ahead. He said he was unsure if it would ever be made public."The piece now hangs in public, covered, with my name attached, yet the project was suddenly pulled the night before launch, without credit or explanation," Johnny told BBC News NI. "I was paid, but what was promised went far beyond money. This was about creative contribution, visibility, and public trust."I want people to know this wasn't my doing. I stand by the work and hope it's eventually shown as intended."Mr Hamilton has been unable to disclose the identity of the celebrity behind the question mark due to a non-disclosure agreement.
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Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Album reviews: Van Morrison Mary Chapin Carpenter Marianne Faithfull
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Van Morrison: Remembering Now (Exile Productions/Virgin Records) ★★★★ Mary Chapin Carpenter: Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers) ★★★ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Marianne Faithfull: Burning Moonlight EP (Decca Records) ★★★★ Mike McKenzie: I'd Wait Again (Metro 13 Music) ★★★★ Such is his prolific flow that it seems barely a week goes by without a new album by Van Morrison. In fact, Remembering Now is only his first album of new material in three years, following collections of skiffle and rock'n'roll covers. Van Morrison | Lewis McClay The past and present ebb and flow across its 14 tracks, as Morrison continues to pay tribute to his musical and geographical roots. Down to Joy is already familiar from the soundtrack to Kenneth Branagh's Belfast while If It Wasn't For Ray ('I wouldn't be where I am today') is a lightly exultant ode to Mr Charles' rocking R&B. The self-soothing hymn Haven't Lost My Sense of Wonder features warm, brooding Hammond organ and gospel reassurance and, as if to prove the point, Back to Writing Love Songs sounds like the burden of grievance has been lifted off his shoulders. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He backs up his claims with the spiritual southern soul of Love, Lover and Beloved and makes light weather of the hard work needed to hold down a relationship on The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours. Stomping Ground crosses over into whimsical nostalgia but the low-slung title track is a more intriguing exploration of what shapes us. Best of all, closing track Stretching Out is a soul jazz saunter which does indeed stretch out to a luxurious nine minutes and is a pleasure all the way. Mary Chapin Carpenter | Contributed Mary Chapin Carpenter also looks back in languor on her latest album. Arriving on the heels of her Looking for the Thread collaboration with Karine Polwart and Julie Fowlis, Personal History was recorded live at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios and produced by Bonny Light Horseman's Josh Kaufmann, with his bandmate Anais Mitchell providing sweet support on the yearning Home is a Song. Telling life stories through song is a running theme, introduced on What Did You Miss and refined on Paint + Turpentine, which ponders the mysteries of creativity. New Religion deals with finding her tribe while The Saving Things is Carpenter's spin on a favourite things list song. Musically, she moves from uncluttered acoustic confessionals to the rootsier rock of Bitter Ender and limpid piano waltz The Night We Never Met with her usual restrained mastery. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Marianne Faithfull | James Robjant Marianne Faithfull's swansong EP comprises four songs recorded in the last year of her life. Like Morrison and Carpenter, she drew inspiration from her own past, specifically her first two albums, Marianne Faithfull and Come My Way, which were released simultaneously in April 1965 on Decca Records. The opening lines of her debut hit As Tears Go By provided a jumping off point for Burning Moonlight, on which Faithfull's commanding voice is accompanied by sonorous strummed guitar. The fuller sound of classy cocktail pop track Love Is, written with her grandson Oscar Dunbar, incorporates spoken word samples of the younger Marianne and the EP is rounded off with two traditional songs attesting to her lifelong love of folk music. Three Kinsmen Bold was originally learned from her father Glynn, while She Moves Thru The Fair is a song she has turned to throughout her career, rendered here as a ghostly a capella. Edinburgh singer/songwriter Mike McKenzie is the spring chicken of the bunch but has lived enough of a life as a musician and frontman to present a sophisticated debut solo album, I'd Wait Again, recorded at Granton's Metro 13 studios. His natural pop voice hits the spot across the ebullient Mr Bang!, big brassy number Control the Tide and the easy, rootsy pop of Sunshine, while the light dusting of Bacharach brass, strings and plangent guitar on Mourn You and Breathe You In are effortlessly but elegantly arranged. Sign up to our FREE Arts & Culture newsletter at CLASSICAL Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Heinrich Biber: Complete Violin Sonatas - 1681 (Delphian) ★★★★★
