The red telephone box and red postbox are classic British icons of the street, but now an artist has given them a new twist – literally – around one part of the harbourside in Bristol.
Alex Chinneck’s twisted red phone box sculpture, along with a pair of lamp posts that have got themselves in a knot, have joined the knotted post box in an area on the Floating Harbour.
Chinneck unveiled the sculpture of the post box tied in a knot in the heart of the new BT Assembly building, next to the Temple Way Bridge, and has now followed it up with several more sculptures along this stretch of the Floating Harbour towards St Philips Bridge.
“Red pillar post boxes are an icon of British design, recognised throughout the world,” said a spokesperson for the Assembly building.
“Their ubiquity, shape and colour help create a quintessentially British landscape.
No variation to their design is allowed, except in very exceptional circumstances. Chinneck’s playful reimagining of the post box continues his track record for creating surreal sculptures and public artworks that disrupt the world around us.
“Over the last ten years, he has realised a succession of major public artworks, that have established his reputation as ‘art’s master illusionist’.
“The artist uses simple, playful narratives to weave fantasy into everyday scenes. He has made bricks melt, stone hover, and four storey buildings bend and unzip. His work is highly accessible and engages a global audience,” he added.
Chinneck’s work is usually temporary, and the knotted post box first appeared in 2019, and has moved around towns in the UK. But now it, and the other sculptures of the phone box and the lamp posts, are going to be a permanent addition to Bristol’s street scene.