Guerrilla art that's stair-ing you right in the face

The creations at Warriston's Close, above, and Guthrie Street, top left

And like the camera-shy street artist, Edinburgh's equivalent seems content to be equally elusive - so far.

Overnight it appears that two large artworks have sprung up in the Capital.

A 40ft portrait was slashed into thin pieces and painstakingly plastered on to stair fronts at Warriston's Close in Cockburn Street, while a slightly smaller portrait was posted on to the side of a building in Guthrie Street.

The compelling black and white image in Cockburn Street depicts a bestubbled young man under a hooded top and has been likened to a contemporary representation of Jesus.

Strips of the dissected artworks were laid on the vertical edges of the steps, so the images can only be seen from the front and are invisible to anyone descending the stairs.

Yesterday, hundreds of city workers and visitors admired the pieces, with many taking pictures then posting them online.

It is believed they have been created by renowned French street artist JR, who is known for his use of monumental black and white portraits.

The portrait on Guthrie Street contains a website address for the Inside Out global art project set up by JR, aiming to encourage people around the world to put up portraits on the streets where they live.

Andy McGroarty, who works at Underworld Solutions record shop directly opposite the Cockburn Street stairs, said: "I love it when people in the dark of the night get spray paints and do something that brightens up the place. I think it's fantastic.

"All day people have stopped and had a good look. I think things like this pull people out of their sleepy mundane lives and makes them pay attention.

Asked who he thought was responsible for the portrait, he said: "I bet it's some Edinburgh College of Art student that's drawn a portrait of his mate and is having a laugh. A guy from the council came to clean it but was flummoxed by what to do when he saw this!"

Another bystander, Brigadier David Allfrey MBE, boss of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: "I think it could be depicting a contemporary Jesus.

"It makes a great statement and must have taken whoever did it hours to do. It's classical Edinburgh random art."

Councillor Steve Cardownie, the city's festivals and events champion, said: "They are spectacular and we want to give people a chance to see them - we don't want to be killjoys. So we're going to leave them until tonight but then they'll have to be removed in case the rain acts with the paste to make the stairs slippy and a health hazard."

Councillor Tom Buchanan, the council's economic development convener, said the "remarkable 'guerrilla' artwork" had caused "quite a stir".

A HISTORY OF MYSTERY

EDINBURGH has been hit by a spate of mystery artworks recently.

As the Evening News has reported, a talented sculptor has been delivering handcrafted works made from the pages of books to the city's cultural hotspots. The latest intricate model was of a nesting dragon found in the Scottish Storytelling Centre. The Filmhouse Cinema, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Poetry Library have also received the mysterious gifts.

Meanwhile, woolly jumpers knitted for trees as part of the recent Leith Festival were pulled from their trunks just days after being fitted. The Cool Wool project decorations were then mysteriously fashioned into a fabric teepee. And in April, the Evening News told how a mystery collection of stone artworks had appeared on Arthur's Seat. The huge creations included a kilted bagpiper and a cow alongside declarations of love.