Carlisle's Tymon de Laat-designed street art highlighted

The Tymon de Laat-designed painting of a girl from Laos, located on the side of the u-Student building on John Street, was voted the second-most popular piece in the world in magazine Street Art Cities’ September edition.

Ben Heslop from Blank Wall Assassins, the organisation behind the art, said: “Street Art Cities tracks art pieces all over the world; they currently have more than 35,000 pieces in 900 cities around the world logged in their website.

“Every month they ask their readers to put forward pieces they like the look of and, from there, the top 25 are selected and then put to a public vote.

ARTIST: The piece was designed by Tymon de Laat

"The poll is open to anyone in the world, but the people who take part are really into street art, so you receive votes from a wide range of people, not just loyal followers. Tymon has pieces installed all over the world so is a recognised artist.”

When asked how the decision for the artwork came around, Ben said: “We continue to keep working with business owners around the city. We received contact from u-Student who were keen to have something vibrant placed on the side of the then bare wall. We got in touch with Tymon, who spent five days in September painting the design.”

The group has plans for the future firmly in place and hopes to make Carlisle one of the main cities for street art in the world. Ben said: “We have been working for four years curating art for the city.

We just want to add a bit of culture to the city’s streets, and as we continue to do so we hope that we can put Carlisle on the map. We’ve had two pieces of art in Street Art Cities’ magazine polls this year, which is an incredible achievement. We want Carlisle to be recognised as a city known for its art.”

Artist de Laat said: “I am very honoured to have been selected for the second position for best wall worldwide. I am aware that art can never be a competition, but it does show there is a strong community that gives it support. For that I am very grateful.”

Tim Marschang from Street Art Cities discussed the vote. He said: "Street Art Cities scans the internet every month for the latest and coolest urban art across the globe.

"We take it upon ourselves to select 100 artworks for “our best of” shortlist and then let our audience do the rest. Through a series of Instagram polls people vote for their favorite art(ist)work, making our task easier as we don’t have to choose the best ourselves.

"These polls reach over 100,000 Instagrammers and helps them (re)discover some new talents.

"So thanks to Ben from The Blankwalls Assasins and Tymon who reached their followers and asked them to vote, the mural ended at number two."