We meet the man behind ‘Jesus as a B-boy’ ….. !

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We meet the man behind ‘Jesus as a B-boy’ ….. !

Over recent weeks images of Cosmo Sarson’s ‘Breakdancing Jesus’ painting has circulated like wildfire over Graffiti pages and facebook (here) (and here). We thought it would be a good idea to introduce Cosmo and some of his work.



Cosmo comes from London and grew up in the 80′s doing graffiti and breakdancing as a kid. His interest in painting led him to study fine art at The Byam Shaw School of Art . After gaining his degree he later applied his learning’s to his graffiti knowledge.


ISTHISTHEFUTURE caught up with Cosmo twice last year when he came to down to Bristol for the ‘Upfest Street Festival ‘and later the ‘See No Evil’ project.



‘See No Evil’ project – Bristol – Aug 2012

We asked Cosmo “Where did you get the idea of Jesus as B-boy?” “‘I read a newspaper article once, many years ago, about  a polish youth group break-dancing in front of the pope… it stuck in my head so I cut it out and kept it. It took a while, and some ideas grow very slowly, but there was something about the image, that, if you squinted your eyes, it looked obvious. I promised my self that one day I would paint it. Some ideas you have, you think, but you never realise. This painting took me almost 10 years to think, and then 2 weeks to paint.’




Breakdancing Jesus Oil on Canvas 6’ x 4’


Charcoal


Cosmo’s Street Art pieces can be seen by some as a little controversial as he likes to paint quite powerful images of police and rioters, something which during 2011 seemed to be a sign of the times.




Upfest, Bristol 2011 -Cosmo under attack from his own art !

As well as having his work displayed in places such as the Saatchi gallery, Cosmo has done a lot of work painting scenery for the film industry, including graffiti works featured in ‘Children of Men’, ‘Harry Brown’ and the forthcoming Brad Pitt Zombie movie ‘World War Z‘ due for release at the end of 2012.

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