Street artist Ben Wilson has hidden more than 300 tiny pieces of art across the tube network.
The artist, long famous for painting designs onto spent chewing gum, has placed his decorated tiles without TfL consent. They're lurking in quiet corners of tube stations, awaiting discovery.
In an engrossing interview with CityMetric, Wilson offers some clues on where to find his miniature masterpieces:
Wilson’s focus is “mainly on the Northern Line and District Line,” he says. “I’ve done two-thirds of the Northern Line, hidden among all the adverts, and different places in the underground system… there’s quite a few on the Central Line. And there’re others randomly.”
We've so far found just four of the black and white tiles, which are painted with black-and-white images. The two shown here are from Old Street tube.
Part of Wilson's intention is to get us examining our surroundings more closely — look between and below the ubiquitous adverts for something a little different.
Wilson admits that his handiwork could be seen as criminal damage, even though the tiles are easily removed without leaving a mark. It would be a joyless soul, though, who doesn't get a little thrill at the idea of secret artwork hidden in plain sight.
Read more about the project over on CityMetric.
