[ti:London Artist Paints Crushed Chewing Gum]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-09-05]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Lying on London's famous Millennium Bridge, British artist Ben Wilson paints on a piece of dried gum. 
[00:10.11]It has been crushed flat into the ground.
[00:13.80]"The important thing is the gum is below the metal tread," said the 60-year-old Wilson. 
[00:22.41]"The beauty of it is they're all different shapes and sizes...," he continued, describing pieces of gum.
[00:30.88]Wilson sees possibility in things most people avoid looking at.
[00:37.29]The flattened gum is a chance to turn a piece of waste into something beautiful.
[00:45.22]The artwork also is a way to surprise walkers and get them to take a closer look at the path they are on.
[00:54.89]"By painting a picture which is so small, those that see it then discover a hidden world beneath their feet," Wilson said.
[01:05.64]Back in his north London art room, Wilson paints on the surface of a small mosaic tile.
[01:13.91]It will be part of a collection that he is creating on the walls of London's Underground train platforms.
[01:23.06]The images are more personal than the chewing gum works, Wilson says, and represent a kind of "visual diary."
[01:33.58]"The pictures are a celebration of my life and those that I care dearly about," he said.
[01:41.31]"They are a process of visual inquiry - trying to make sense of the world," he added.
[01:49.13]Wilson was born in London to artist parents.
[01:54.20]He remembers working with clay from the age of three. 
[01:59.33]He had his first art show when he was around 10 or 11 years old.
[02:04.59]He began making sculptures and large pieces for display in nature settings. 
[02:12.59]Then his interest turned to waste, also called trash. 
[02:17.83]He has been painting gum and other pieces of trash for 19 years.
[02:23.53]The top surface of the dried gum is not subject to local or national laws. 
[02:31.49]As a result, the dried gum surface creates a space where Wilson says he can paint without damaging public property.
[02:40.96]"I found this little space where I could create a form of art where I could be spontaneous and do something which evolves out of the place in which it's created," Wilson said.
[02:55.99]Government officials have removed much of the artist's public street art. 
[03:01.78]But the hundreds of gum paintings on Millennium Bridge remain for all to see.
[03:08.89]I'm John Russell.