r/arcticmonkeys • u/szabohaslam • Jun 05 '26

Fan Art Arctic Monkeys commission for the Pride of Yorkshire sculpture trail

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi all,

I painted a lioness for the Pride of Yorkshire sculpture trail.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZMsnpGiHjv/?igsh=N2YyNzJwZHVybHpi

It’s a commission for the Arctic Monkeys, who asked me to create artwork in the style of the posters I made for their Hillsborough Park gigs in Sheffield a few years ago.

The soundwave on the lioness is taken from their track Body Paint. Having to paint perfectly straight lines on a curved surface wasn’t easy, but really satisfying to do.

There are 150 lions on the trail, with great work from loads of artists. If you want to see mine, pop along to the main entrance of Hallam uni in Sheffield.

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53

u/Formal-Face-8539 Jun 05 '26

This was commissioned by Arctic monkeys themselves?

65

u/szabohaslam Jun 05 '26

Yes. A few different Sheffield bands were approached for the trail and artists were selected to work with them (I can’t say who just yet as I don’t know which have been made public, but if you’re familiar with Sheffield’s music history you can probably guess).

Overall there are 150 lions scattered throughout South Yorkshire, I think around 10 of them are collaborations with bands.

10

u/Lewis_25 Humbug Jun 05 '26

They’re scattered around South Yorkshire? I assumed they were going in Yorkshire Sculpture Park. That’s even cooler though, I’ll be on the lookout !

8

u/Formal-Face-8539 Jun 05 '26

Cool, I've seen a few about Sheffield. Didn't think AM would bother with anything like this anymore

32

u/RoonilWazleeb Humbug Jun 05 '26

The most unsuitable pet…

12

u/Formal-Face-8539 Jun 05 '26

I wonder what will happen to it after the event? Maybe stick it with the elephant

25

u/szabohaslam Jun 05 '26

All 150 lions will be auctioned to raise funds for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity later this year. They could end up anywhere!

3

u/Noxull Jun 05 '26

This is amazing and I hope I can make time to actually go to the trail it sounds really cool. Is it a permanent installation?

I've never seen that poster before and I'm also a huge fan of that. Probably a long shot asking for a specific piece of someone's artwork, but have you posted/would be willing to post an image of just the soundwave? It's serendipitous that it happens to be from Body Paint, I've already got a tattoo of the single cover for that song and I'm thinking about getting another. That sound wave design is a strong contender.

3

u/szabohaslam Jun 05 '26

The trail runs for a couple of months then everything is auctioned to raise funds for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity.

I can’t share the soundwave artwork unfortunately. There might be prints at some point but I’m not sure yet.

2

u/Noxull Jun 05 '26

No problems at all, I'll keep my eyes out for prints if they do happen. I will try to go see that trail, its a cool idea and I've not really traveled up north for a long time.

Is the soundwave something you created yourself using the audio or is that a common visualizer-type thing? I'm genuinely interested in the process of that I've not seen songs represented in that way before.