Manchester City and OKX certainly left no stone unturned to publicise their new multi-million pound training kit deal.
Erling Haaland was front and centre of the latest link-up between the Blues and their cryptocurrency exchange partner, while to celebrate the launch the pair turned to one of the most iconic artists in Manchester.
Eric Akse, known as Akse-P19 brought his love of public art to the city in 1997, and his works have been a regular feature in the Northern Quarter since 2012 since he started working with the Outhouse in Stevenson Square; tributes to Marcus Rashford, George Floyd and Captain Sir Tom Moore have elevated the artist's fame even further in recent years.
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While his work has been showcased in the city for a decade, it has only actually been a full-time job for Akse for the last five years. He had been working full-time as a scientist before taking the plunge when he was made redundant.
"I'm originally from the Paris suburbs and then I moved to Manchester in 97. When I arrived here, I didn't know that many artists and I started painting more public spaces — from street art and photo realistic art," he said.
"I was studying chemistry in France at university and it was part of the Erasmus exchange so I moved to study and do an MSc at MMU [Manchester Metropolitan University] and then I stayed for a PhD and worked as a scientist for 15 years. I was doing the painting on the side and then five years ago I was made redundant as they shut down my site.
"That's when I decided to paint full time and I've done that ever since."
If Akse was an obvious choice for City and OKX to choose, it is perhaps no surprise that an artist who was originally inspired by the hip-hop culture in Paris likes the idea of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens [NFTs] that have surged in popularity in recent years. His cyber-punk depictions of Haaland, Jack Grealish, Joao Cancelo and John Stones now adorn four walls across Manchester that each include a QR code that can be scanned for a chance to win a season ticket in the OKX hospitality box at the Etihad.
"Commercial work dictates the subjects and the passion projects where I choose the subject. Usually they go together because I filter what commercial work I take," he said.
"For me, an important criteria is that the subject needs to inspire me in some ways for me to want to portray the subjects. That's how it all usually starts.
"On the technical side, the bigger you work, the bigger the wall the more technical things you need to think of to make it happen. The wall I've just painted is around 12m high so you need to work on the lift, you need to put all the outlines in the correct place and trust the process because you cannot afford to come down and have a look to see if it's ok.
"You have to trust the process and get on with it. You learn and improve and become better and faster."
Where the four City murals are in Manchester:
- John Stones: 11 Newton Street
- Erling Haaland: 75 Port Street
- João Cancelo: 60 Shudehill
- Jack Grealish: 7 Thomas Street
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