Electric Patterns Series: Colourfield

Wandered down Electric Avenue after hours recently? Noticed anything different?!

After overcoming multitudinous obstacles, the Electric Patterns Project (produced by The Brixton Project, funded by Lambeth Council and National Lottery Heritage Fund) is going live and brightening up a street near you with bold, colourful abstractions of Brixton’s essential spirit. So take a twilight stroll and keep your eyes peeled to spot every design. To find out more about the project please see here.

In each article of this series we will be highlighting these innovative heritage- inspired designs and letting you know where you can see them for yourself. To find out more about this local creative opportunity, the artists selected and what inspired their designs continue reading. 

Goats 

Location: 25 Electric Avenue,  SW9 8JP 

Artist: Colourfield

This design is titled Nanny Goat. The design creates a visual language that expresses the bustling and renowned streetscape of Electric Avenue. From afar the design has the impact of ‘Op art’, on closer inspection the pattern, is revealed as a kaleidoscopic array of one of the earliest animals to be domesticated by humans. Neolithic farmers would herd wild goats for easy access to milk and meat, using their dung as fuel and their bones, hair and sinew for clothing, building and tools. The pattern uses a colour often used  by local artist Godfried Donkor. Pink and gold alongside charcoal grey and deep teal to reference a regal past combined with a tonal selection that references an Afro-Caribbean or African heritage.

Sam Harris is a graphic designer based in West Norwood, with a background of working in galleries/museums, marketing, publishing & heritage sectors. His work encompasses print, digital and 3D mediums. Clients include: Royal Collection Trust, BAFTA, Mind, Waterstones, The Economist, Times Educational Supplement.

Adam Harris is a designer and project manager for millimetre, a multi-award-winning community of bold, playful and meticulous makers and designers, known for combining grand scale with tiny detail. Millimetre has worked on projects, such as the Hyundai Commission at the Tate (Kara Walker, 2019) and in conjunction with London Design Festival, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Channel 4, and TFL, to produce some of the UK’s most talked-about work.