A GLASGOW artist will have a unique artwork feature at the IRN BRU carnival when it comes to town this week.
Trackie Macleod, 28, was approached by the carnival to produce the work after someone came across a mix he created for underground station Clyde Built Radio titled ‘Sorry I whitied on you at the IRN BRU Carnival’ on Instagram.
After he was approached by the carnival the artist, who’s from Scotstoun, had two weeks to create the piece which he says has been an “amazing opportunity”.
Trackie, who has been featured in GQ, The Face and Dazed, said: “I was over the moon.
“I was so excited because IRN BRU carnival was synonymous with my childhood.
“There’s been some class things that have happened this year, but I think this is up there with it just for the nostalgia factor.
“The fact that I put that mix up was a bit of a funny thing, I didn’t expect it to grow arms and legs the way it did, but it’s class, I’m really happy.”
The mixed media artist, who graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2018, draws upon his experience of growing up working class, producing art that’s relatable and accessible and influenced by lad and pop culture.
For the carnival, he created an A0 lightbox featuring one of his signature tongue-in-cheek slogans.
Trackie said: “It was inspired by the old IRN BRU adverts, the ones that had a cheeky play on words and used colloquial Glasgow patter, the ones that eventually went on to get banned.
“The lightbox is playful but also it’s something that’s quintessentially Glasgow and I hope that it will stop carnival-goers in their tracks and they’ll want to get a photo with it.”
While he’s “not a heights or a rides person”, Trackie says he enjoyed the “freedom” of going to the IRN BRU carnival when growing up. He said: “I think for me, and for more Glaswegians, it’s a right of passage, isn’t it? “It’s the first place I would go without needing to go with my mum and go with a group of pals and you were safe, it was the excitement of it.”
Trackie’s lightbox will be available to view as a public piece throughout the carnival’s run at the SEC which has been reduced due to covid-19 guidelines and will run on December 22, 23 and 24.
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