Art: Anthony Burrill makes the the largest woodblock poster in history (maybe)

Sometimes there’s a perfect confluence of creative person and project; a delicious coming-together of right moment and right time for all concerned. Such was the case when Dave Sedgwick of Manchester’s curated outdoor art space Print & Paste was chatting to Liam Hopkins of the Lost Heritage agency.

“He suggested it could be possible to make oversized wood type blocks for the project,” Dave says. “We started to talk and it seemed a great idea for Anthony Burrill to take on.” Anthony – who was born and bred in Manchester – was immediately interested. “The idea of using wood block type at billboard size was exciting, something I hadn’t seen done before. And of course I was keen to produce a piece of public art for my home town.”

And so North & South was born, the latest billboard for Print & Paste featuring the huge individually printed letterforms and Anthony’s textual homage to his geographically schizophrenic world. And the artist thinks the piece might be a record-breaker: “We believe it is the largest woodblock poster that has ever been made… maybe.”