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Discover a little something in your next Uber

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In partnership with our friends at Uber and SUITCASE Magazine, we are launching #BackseatArt across six UK cities to showcase local artists. This week, cars in London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham and Newcastle will contain limited edition prints by local artists.

More Than Five Stars…

Jump in an Uber in the participating UK cities and you might just go home with more than five stars… So take a peek in the passenger seat and you might discover a little something doing the below dates!

Take an Uber ride in participating cities from 3:00PM until 8:00PM
Tuesday 2 September – Sheffield
Wednesday 3 September – Leeds
Thursday 4 September – Birmingham
Wednesday 16 September – Manchester
Thursday 17 September – London
Friday 18 September – Newcastle

Follow the winners which will be announced and followed with an interview of each artist over the next 10 days. 

BackseatArt winner for Birmingham - Cami Dobrin*

Cami Dobrin is a freelance illustrator and member of the the Association of Illustrators. In her spare time she likes to travel and discover new places, using her surroundings to inspire her artwork.

How has your city informed your art?
I like to walk around and become absorbed in the buildings of the city. I like seeing Birmingham change and grow and head in new directions.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
Usually a walk to the bookshop or sitting on a bench will inspire me. But I also love going to cultural events like Eye Candy or Glug. It’s a real feast for the eyes.

Who are your local art heroes?
Two of my favourite artists are Sweaty Eskimo and Kate Hindley.

What are the best places to see art in your city?
The Custard Factory area, The Framers and Get A Grip screen printing studios – here you can find various prints and T-shirts by some great illustrators. Digbeth is where the up-and-coming art scene is happening – it’s where the streets are painted with colours and where the City of Colours festival is held.

BackseatArt winner for Sheffield - Patrick Weiss

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Patrick Weiss is a 24-year-old artist. By day he works in the property team for a digital outdoor advertising company, but by night his passion is portrait art with oil on canvas.

How has your city informed your art?
Sheffield was home to the steel industry and the remains of this era have driven creative life into the town. There are loads of cool house galleries and music venues which draw in an eclectic mix of people. I photograph and paint these people.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

Local art hero?
Peter Mckee.

Places to see art in your city?
At The Rutland on Brown Street there is an awesome graffiti display by Phlegm (a Sheffield-based artist) on the side of the building. The Cupola Gallery offers such a wide selection of art – printmaking, ceramics, jewellery, sculpture, glass, textiles and photography. Head to Graves Gallery for contemporary art – Damien Hirst’s work has been exhibited here before. S1 Artspace is an artist-led organisation which has a really cool atmosphere. The Bessemer Galler is good for old school contemporary works.


BackseatArt winner for Leeds - Paperface

* Paperface is an illustrator and designer. Having lived and worked in New York City for the past five years, he recently returned to Leeds to reacquaint himself with a good cup of tea and all things Yorkshire.

How has your city informed your art?
After mentally running a list of all the obvious things that come to mind when you think of Leeds, I thought I’d give a classic Leeds saying a bit of a twist by blending it with a lesser known Leeds-inspired factoid. Which Leeds local wouldn’t swell with pride at the thought of the inventor of Jelly Tots hailing from Horsforth?! And Brian Boffey is still alive and an absolute legend from the sounds of it – not content with inventing Jelly Tots, he went on to create space food for NASA.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
I used to live in the Dewhurst Building (where Marks met Spencer!) which is down the road from an amazing coffee shop called Mrs Atha’s, which did (and still does) the most amazing breakfasts. And home-made cakes. Inspirational moments usually go hand-in-hand with cake. I also love the hidden gems that are dotted all over the city. There’s a building on Briggate that has the words ‘India Rubber Company’ carved into the stone. You only see it properly if you’re sitting in Costa and look up but it reminds me of Leeds’ industrial history. And also reminds me to stop drinking coffee and go do some work.

Best places to see art in your city?
Henry Moore Institute, which has awesome sculpture exhibitions smack bam in the centre of Leeds. Colours May Vary is an independent shop and gallery space. Leeds Art Gallery is one of the UK’s best collections of contemporary British art. The Hepworth Wakefield (10 minutes outside of Leeds but an amazing exhibition space all the same) just started hosting an annual print fair too.

BackseatArt winner for Manchester - Josephine Eliza *

Josephine Eliza is originally from South Wales, Josephine graduated from Leeds with a BA Hons in Fine Art. Her influences include Art Nouveau, Surrealism and Hyperrealism. She creates fine art portraits of people and wildlife, working mostly in graphite.

How has your city informed your art?
For the last three months I have been living in a hospital, so my art supplies have been limited. With only a mechanical pencil and an A5 Bamboo sketch book, I used this as an opportunity to push myself and focus on highly detailed pencil work. It was a way to escape and to cheer up the ladies in my bay.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
In Manchester you can go anywhere for inspiration, really. I love to be spontaneous, to get on a bus to an area I have never visited and just wander around. It’s easily done in a city as large as this. You can always find someone or something to inspire you. If I had to pick somewhere, I would pick Lyme Park for its tranquil and idyllic setting.

Places to see art in your city ?
China Town – this is a must-see area that’s creative and full of life. It’s very hard not to be impressed by The Lowry. The Manchester Art Gallery is full of Impressionist and Renaissance paintings. The building’s architecture is equally as fabulous. The artwork they choose to display at the Stockport Art Gallery never fails to impress. The Whitworth speaks for itself – it’s renowned for its array of master paintings adorning the gallery’s walls.

BackseatArt winner for Manchester - Coz ‘Skillmatik’ Kilbride*

Coz ‘Skillmatik’ Kilbride is an illustrator/designer working under the title Mr. Skillmatik, whose work ranges from branding businesses to illustrating album covers. Whether sketch work or digital, he likes to keep his work urban.

How has your city informed your art?
The industrial feel of the city definitely informs my work. You can see the grittiness and urban feel in a lot of what I do.

Who are your local art heroes?
Recently I’ve been following a lot of the design agencies – it’s hard to name one. A lot of good work is coming out of the city in terms of art and design, but a childhood hero would be the local legend Kelzo. He was one of the first UK graffiti artists that inspired me in my early days.

Places to see art in your city?
The Northern Quarter – there are tonnes of graff and stickers everywhere, with cool bars like Common and some dope shops.

BackseatArt winner for London - Izzy Benn

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Izzy Benn is a London-based artist who trained in illustration at the City and Guilds of London Art School. Inspired by the architecture around her she specialises in fast pen and ink sketches reflecting the constant movement of the city that surrounds her.

How has London informed your art?
London is my inspiration. The speed and vibrancy of the city influences the way I put pen to paper using a continuous fast moving line that never leaves the page.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
London markets are a continual source of inspiration for me. I love to explore Borough Market Columbia Flower Market, Portobello and Brick Lane. Who are your local art heroes? Sir Hugh Casson – previously president of the Royal Academy and well known for his meticulous watercolours of London’s architecture in Hugh Casson’s London. David Gentleman is another favourite with his characterful sketches of London scenes in his book David Gentleman’s London.

Places to see art in your city?
One of my favourite museums in London is Sir John Soane’s. I love to visit Ham House with its beautiful grounds and Orangery. Tate Britain to Tate Modern by boat is wonderful. A walk down Cork Street is always interesting but my favourite is a visit to the art studio of Feliks Topolski on the South Bank .

BackseatArt winner for London - Polly Williams

*Polly is a freelance illustrator and artist from rural Suffolk, currently living and working in London. She has a penchant for nudity, and can usually be found in public changing rooms or drawing people while they are sleeping. How has London informed your art? London is a wonderfully diverse city with a mixture of people from all walks of life, but all of them fascinating and often hilarious to watch.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
I like to frequent places where people are kicking back and enjoying the many leisure activities the city has to offer – especially public baths and parks. I’m a real creep!

Who are your local art heroes?
My local heroes are Thom Hobson and Stevie Dix – better known as the Cone Sisters, real good pals of mine. They are fantastic painters and run the most fun life drawing classes in the whole city. For real.

Places to see art in your city?
Beach London – I love the shows they put on. They get some really cool artists in and you know you’ve made it as an illustrator if you get to show your work here. The Peckham Pelican is a great place to see artists work. They feature a new lesser-known artist every month. Pick Me Up is a contemporary graphic arts festival that happens once a year. And I’m a sucker for the RA, I go to every show. It’s good to remember how talentless you really are.

BackseatArt winner for London - Eugene Chan

* Eugene is a photographer from Hong Kong whose business major covered both commercial and personal photography, including architecture and landscape, fashion and portrait.

How has London informed your art?
London is a very special city which fuses the old and new. People living in London are open-minded to new concepts and re-work new ideas from old concepts. As an artist in London you feel free to do anything you want without any boundaries.

Places to see art in your city?
Brick Lane for its great graffiti. The Victoria and Albert Museum has the best selection of contemporary art. The Serpentine Gallery, the Serpentine Pavilion and the Serpentine Sackler Gallery are all worth a visit. The National Gallery is the one place you have to visit if you come to London. They display over 2,300 art works from over 200 European artists.

BackseatArt winner for London - Charlie Bard

* After previous lives as a martial artist, chef and events manager, Charlie entered the photography world, starting with actors’ headshots and family portraits. Having gained experience in a commercial studio shooting fashion, lifestyle and still life, Charlie is now working as a commercial and editorial photographer.

How has London informed your art?
I’m a born and bred Londoner, so the city has moulded almost all aspects of my life and my art.

Where do you go in the city to get inspired?
Usually the Southbank, there’s always something going on down there, even if it’s just the book market. It’s great for watching all walks of life interacting with each other.

Places to see art in your city?
The Southbank Centre and Borough Market – as an ex-chef I love food markets and seeing what’s going on there. In the National Portrait Gallery it’s great seeing the new and old all side-by-side in a magnificent building. There are so many different types of art in Camden Town – from body art to the fine artist painting on the street. The Photographers’ Gallery is also great.

BackseatArt winner for London - Nick Jackson

* Nick Jackson is an award-winning London-based photographer who specialises in landscape and nature photography captured in his native UK and on his travels abroad.

How has London informed your art?
London has shaped so much of the direction and drive behind my art. The city inspired me to pick up a camera in the first place and continues to provide me with new ideas everyday. There’s a wonderful mixture of historic architecture, modern culture and different personalities here.

Where do you go in London to get inspired?
I like to get up high and shoot the city from above, so rooftop bars or museums with balconies are great. I also love walking along the South Bank at night. It’s a gold mine for great photographic experiences.

Who are your local art heroes?
I just visited David Bailey’s Stardust exhibition in Edinburgh and really enjoyed looking through the decades of his portraiture work. Don McCullin is another local photographer who has taken some exceptionally powerful images of war and urban strife.

Places to see art in your city?
The small galleries off Brick Lane provide a never-ending source of wonderful art which rotates monthly. While you’re there, keep your eyes open for amazing street art on the walls. The Photographers’ Gallery just off Oxford Street is a place I while away the hours, soaking up new ideas and seeing how much further I still need to push myself. The Victoria & Albert and the British Museum are my favourite places to go and see art from across the ages. There’s an eclectic mix of history and modernity. Finally, Lights of Soho is a great new gallery near Piccadilly Circus which showcases neon signs and light art.

BackseatArt winner for Newcastle - Laura Sedgwick

* Laura teaches Graphic Design and Illustration at Newcastle College. She is also a visual theorist examining set design in contemporary horror cinema for her PhD thesis.

How has Newcastle informed your art?
I love contrasts and the city is composed of so many different styles. You have the Norman architecture of the Keep, the 17th century architecture of the Black Gate, the swathes of Georgian architecture around Leazes Park and more contemporary buildings throughout the city.

Who are your local heroes?
John Martin would be the main one. I discovered his work in the Laing Art Gallery while I was studying art and I love the breadth and scope of his vision. His work is very much the ‘blockbuster’ or ‘historical epic’ of the Victorian art world. I’m also a big fan of Jim Edwards – he uses a lot of colour and a lot of contrast in his work, which I particularly like. I often strive for that same sort of balance in my photography. I’d also have to include Ridley Scott – directors are still artists and South Shields is near enough to claim him.

Places to see art in your city?
36 Lime Street – there are plenty of artist studios here and they sometimes do open studios or workshops. Laing Art Gallery – maybe an obvious choice but the permanent collection has some real gems such as William Holman’s Isabella and a good range of temporary exhibitions. Hatton Gallery – this little gallery sometimes gets overlooked but it’s hidden away on Newcastle University’s campus. Mushroom Works – tucked away on St Lawrence Road, it’s home to a range of artists and designers, and also runs workshops as well as a regular art club. The Biscuit Factory – there’s a good range of work on display here which changes regularly along with some beautiful pieces available for purchase. Their café is a great place to sit and have a chat.

A special thanks to Uber and Suitcase Magazine for this great partnership with Creativepool. 
If you have any questions about the project or would like to work with Creativepool, please get in touch with Christie H.Kristensen, Marketing Manager at Creativepool. 

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