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Father and son from Cranbrook create lockdown art exhibition in aid of The Trussell Trust and inspired by Banksy, Tracey Emin, Gerhard Richter, Peter Blake and Damien Hirst

06:00, 24 May 2020

A father and son's lockdown exhibition, inspired by well-known painters, is raising money for foodbanks and has received a seal of approval from a famed graffiti artist.

Craig Jensen, 45, and son Rollo, eight, from Cranbrook, converted a garage in their woodland home into a studio and put the textbooks aside to create eight pieces in the style of Banksy, Tracey Emin, Keith Haring and other celebrated names.

Watch: Rollo Jensen, eight, speaks about his art exhibition

All of the works examine the coronavirus crisis, with so far £555 raised for The Trussell Trust, which supports foodbanks across the country.

Craig said: "We were home schooling and we started hitting walls. I thought 'how can I turn it into something that's going to be fun? What would you want to do if you're eight-years-old? It's got to be messy'."

The former construction company owner has passed his love of art on to Rollo, who particularly enjoys looking at graffiti.

He taught Rollo about different artistic techniques and the eight-year-old came up with the ideas for the exhibition, such as a Banksy-style rat on a skateboard riding the 'downward curve' of coronavirus cases.

The pair used paint left over from decorating the house, neon lights donated by a Bulgarian company, spray cans and for a Gerhard Richter inspired piece titled Mayhem, even a broom and hose pipe.

Father and son: Craig and Rollo Jensen with several of the pieces they made Picture: Tom Parker
Father and son: Craig and Rollo Jensen with several of the pieces they made Picture: Tom Parker

Speaking about Mayhem, the pair said: "We just painted the whole thing blue at first. It came out completely different, we were chucking paint at it and hitting it with a broom.

"We were just experimenting with loads of different things."

The family garage is now covered in paint, a testament to the six weeks of fun the pair had while creating the show.

"Dad wasn't too happy about me writing Batman in graffiti on the wall," Rollo added.

He wrote to the painters about his exhibition while Craig got in touch with celebrated Graffiti artist and gallery owner Pure Evil, who he knew from his Shoreditch days.

Artist Pure Evil praised Rollo's spray paint work on social media Picture: pureevilgallery on Instagram
Artist Pure Evil praised Rollo's spray paint work on social media Picture: pureevilgallery on Instagram

This led to Pure Evil praising Rollo's spray paint work and sharing the link to the exhibition on Instagram.

Rollo now hopes to follow in the footsteps of his famous fan and become a street artist himself.

Once the pandemic is over, the pair hope to hold a real exhibition but for now show can be viewed here.

To donate and support the Trussell Trust, click here.

For more quirky and unusual stories, click here

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