CHECKMATE! 4walls was wowed by artist Ciaran Robinson, a.k.a Lhouette, and winner of our Get Framous competition with the fantastically colourful collaboration with Purling London ‘More or Less Chess’, and we were thrilled to get to know more about him and his journey into the world of art!
Growing up in Luton, Ciaran always knew he had a creative side, and even studied at an art college for three weeks before opting out during his earlier years. However, due to the lack of opportunity he was exposed to in his local area, Ciaran tells us he had a growing desire to get out into the real world and experience all it had to offer. This led to Ciaran joining the Royal Navy at the age of 17, visiting an impressive 21 countries during the five years he served. On finishing his service and returning back to Luton in 2008, aged 22, he knew he had to readjust back into normality after being used to a regimented daily routine. This also meant he had to figure out how he was to utilise his passion for art into kicking off his career. Shortly after his return, Ciaran began living with his brother in East London, which was an epicentre for street art and where Ciaran was initially inspired to take a leap into his art-centric career. He told us:
“This is where my love for urban art really began, being surrounded by popup galleries and seeing large scale works of art on the sides of buildings, I could appreciate the culture as a self-taught antiestablishment art form” .
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It was only after being exposed to such an array of work and opportunities that diverged from the more traditional art-sphere Ciaran had experienced growing up, that he decided to set up his own company. Organising exhibitions and putting together shows for more amateur, post-grad artists, Ciaran was sure to maintain his artistic abilities and continued painting his own work. It was through this that Ciaran’s talent was initially recognised, and he was picked up by a publisher in 2010. Soon after, his artwork was being displayed in galleries up and down the UK. After considerable success, he made the decision to leave his publisher three years ago in order to set up his own independent studio.
