The art attack of the 40ft teenage hoodie …

A THREE-STOREY tall image of a teenager wearing a hoodie has been unveiled on a gable-end in the Old Town in Edinburgh.

The striking image by Joe Caslin, a student at Edinburgh College of Art, is the first of a series of street art which will appear at secret locations around the city over the next 10 days.

The 40ft image of a teenager Luke Paxton, on the end of a building at 20 Cowgate is part of the Our Nation’s Sons project highlighting the role played by young men in society.

The project features drawings of hoodie-wearing teenage boys, some from St Thomas of Aquin’s High School in the city.

Mr Caslin said: “These drawings of young men will be used as a tool to re-establish young men as legitimate participants within today’s society by giving them a voice and a tangible presence within our city.

“Community cohesion and participation is fundamental to the project.”

The artist described his aims for the series of six works on his website: “The drawings once installed will generate spaces throughout the city charged for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter.”

A second image is now on show in Guthrie Street.

The project is also supported by the safer neighbourhood team of Lothian and Borders Police and Edinburgh City Council’s city centre neighbourhood partnership.

Last July, Mr Caslin and a number of fellow art students created huge pieces of portrait “guerilla” artworks in the city. These included 40ft portraits on the outside of the McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh and elsewhere including large-scale drawing of a teenager wearing a hoodie which was located on the stairs at Warriston’s Close in Cockburn Street. The work was funded and inspired by the French street artist JR.