Artist reveals first details for giant colourful mural set to cover Eastbourne’s Towner

But the Towner Art Gallery will soon be painted a kaleidoscope of colours by abstract artist Lothar Gotz.

The gallery is celebrating its 10th birthday in style by having a giant, colourful mural painted all over its exterior walls.

“It will be a three dimensional painting sitting in the town centre,” said Lothar, who is originally from Germany but now lives in East London, “It’s a kind of colourful response where I use the whole facade as a canvas.”

The Herald got a sneak peak at the designs for the enormous mural – there is a lot of slanting lines, bright colours, and geometric forms which will cover the entire building.

The artist, 55, has previously taken on commissions for the South Bank Centre and Leeds Art Gallery. But he said, “I have never done a work on this scale, it’s very unusual.

“The building itself, all the elements of the architecture, the curved facade, the alcoves, the windows, are part of the work. It’s been quite a task to respond to this building. I hope that it will be a positive reaction. But one has to expect a mix.

“Everybody will make their different connections. That can be so exciting, there’s no right or wrong.”

Lothar is starting work with a small team of artists on May 7, and he says it will take two to three weeks to be completed.

The Brewers Towner Commission – created using paint supplied by Brewers Decorator Centres, based in Eastbourne – will be in situ for one year.

Lothar said, “The great thing about that is you can be quite extreme. People use colour a lot more in clothing. But with buildings we have taken that away. If it’s inside the gallery, everybody sees it as art.

“The moment it’s outside you are a bit like, you aren’t on that safe ground because it’s in the public domain.”

On his decision to work with bright colours, he said, “I find it irritating when people think colour is for children and when you are an adult the only colour is magnolia. How did we end up with that?

“Colour has an impact on emotions. It’s something we respond to in different ways, it has a physical presence.

“I think my design will react to the different seasons and different weather. On a bright day one will feel these colours differently than on a grey cloudy day. I imagine then the colours are even more striking because they are more in contrast.”

The work is going to be officially unveiled on June 15.