Spaghetti Junction, which celebrated its 40th year in 2012, is one of the icons of the second city and its looming intertwining structures have played a major part in the career of Reuben Colley.
The now completed series ‘My Birmingham’ has been over two years in the making, and major paintings of Spaghetti Junction feature heavily in this collection. Each piece of artwork is approached differently, from the almost abstracted ‘Under the Expressway Series VI’ to the more realist ‘NRG’. What is clear from these paintings is the passion the artist has for this piece of Birmingham history.
This series of paintings and drawings were from a single bike journey I made through my favourite route under Spaghetti Junction. I had gone out to collect this inspiration because it was raining, hard! By the time I got back I looked like I had jumped in the canal, but it was worth it, because this is when these huge, looming structures are at their most spectacular, dark silhouettes towering above against the grey sky, rain cascading from the edges in waterfalls, the puddles exaggerating the height of the columns, and all to the sound of the rain. With this series I concentrated on simple mark making and expressive use of the paint to capture the elemental nature of the beast. (Reuben Colley 2012)
