Lois O'Hara transforms King's Road with mural exploring the power of colour
Multidisciplinary artist and designer Lois O’Hara presents ‘Colourful Street’, a public art installation at Chelsea Fire Station.
The installation follows a number of recent public commissions which have seen O’Hara transform urban environments in the UK and Australia. Her playful style, fluid shapes and bold use of colours have enveloped basketball courts, street crossings, store windows and city buses.
The large-scale mural aims to inject positivity and joy at this time of uncertainty and presents an abstraction of King’s Road, Chelsea in O’Hara’s signature style, capturing the motion of the iconic West London location. The colours used have been derived from a variety of photographs of the local area and the fluid forms reflect the shapes and flow of the streets.
Building on her work to date, which explores the positive impact colour can have on people and places, the artist has worked closely with Pantone and The Pantone Color Institute, the world recognised experts in colour, to gain a deeper insight and understanding of the colour palette and its impact on our mood and our surroundings. QR codes located on the mural and along the road will allow audiences to interact with the artwork and delve deeper into the colour theory.
The project also pays homage to one of the world’s earliest students of colour – Jacob Christoph Le Blon who published a ground-breaking study, ‘Coloritto’ in London in 1723 and who lived on the Sloane Stanley Estate, then known as Chelsea Park, behind King’s Road, Chelsea.
‘Colourful Street’ is supported by Sloane Stanley and Pantone Color Institute.
The public artwork will be on view at Chelsea Fire Station, opposite the junction with Oakley Street and King’s Road throughout Autumn 2020.
The installation follows a number of recent public commissions which have seen O’Hara transform urban environments in the UK and Australia. Her playful style, fluid shapes and bold use of colours have enveloped basketball courts, street crossings, store windows and city buses.
The large-scale mural aims to inject positivity and joy at this time of uncertainty and presents an abstraction of King’s Road, Chelsea in O’Hara’s signature style, capturing the motion of the iconic West London location. The colours used have been derived from a variety of photographs of the local area and the fluid forms reflect the shapes and flow of the streets.
Building on her work to date, which explores the positive impact colour can have on people and places, the artist has worked closely with Pantone and The Pantone Color Institute, the world recognised experts in colour, to gain a deeper insight and understanding of the colour palette and its impact on our mood and our surroundings. QR codes located on the mural and along the road will allow audiences to interact with the artwork and delve deeper into the colour theory.
The project also pays homage to one of the world’s earliest students of colour – Jacob Christoph Le Blon who published a ground-breaking study, ‘Coloritto’ in London in 1723 and who lived on the Sloane Stanley Estate, then known as Chelsea Park, behind King’s Road, Chelsea.
‘Colourful Street’ is supported by Sloane Stanley and Pantone Color Institute.
The public artwork will be on view at Chelsea Fire Station, opposite the junction with Oakley Street and King’s Road throughout Autumn 2020.
