Bristol street artist Banksy’s famous ‘Girl with the Balloon’ has been copied, parodied, adapted and changed across the world, but this is a bit of a first - a Scottish roofer has created it using different coloured roof tiles.
Gary McIntyre, from the Highlands, hit upon the idea of creating art or pictures using different coloured tiles and the first image he conjured was a stag’s head.
He’s getting more creative, and last autumn re-roofed a house in Inverness, complete with Banksy’s girl and balloon image. He has been posting the finished results on an Instagram page, and some of the pictures have gone a bit viral, leading him to getting recognition from his fellow roofers.
Read next: The hidden street art revolution of The Chessels
He went to Manchester and picked up an award at the UK Pitched Roofing Awards - taking home the prize for Best Use of Natural Slate on a Domestic Project.
The Scottish roofer said he’s always been a Banksy fan, and suggested it to a customer in Inverness.
“I’ve always loved Banksy, his work is iconic,” he told the Clydebank Post. “I was approached to do a roof by a guy. I asked him if he would be interested in letting me put a Banksy on his roof. He said ‘yeah, what one are you thinking?’ I told him the Little Girl and the Red Balloon and he told me that was his wife’s favourite Banksy, so it was really good,” he added.
His images have caught the attention of art fans around the world, thanks to his Instagram, but he confesses he’s amazed no-one has thought of doing it before.
“You walk past so many plain roofs during the day and your eyes never come to them because they're not pretty to look at,” he told BBC Scotland. “But if you start putting things like Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, stags and fishermen and salmon and stuff like that, then it’s definitely an eye-catcher.”
The first priority is still the same as regular tiling - to keep the wind and rain out. “There can’t be mistakes made. All regulations have to be adhered to. The interest I’m getting is unreal, I’ve not had any negative feedback, it’s all been positive, which is good. I feel super proud. I totally feel passionate about these works, and hope that I can start putting works of art into people’s roofs throughout the UK if possible.
“I’ve had quite a bit of attention from around the world. It’s an original idea and I can’t believe someone hasn’t come up with it before myself,” he added.
Read More:
- Banksy unveils new 'morning is broken' artwork', but it's already been demolished
- 'Banksy is still keeping us going' says Bristol youth club years after mural sale
- Hilarious Bristol Banksy reviews left on TripAdvisor
- Band sells Banksy’s Grim Reaper piece after 13 years as ‘people need to see it’
- Sad state of Banksy's Bristol 'Valentine' mural pictured three years on
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