From 2004 to 2009, Barrison played solo in the London Police Band and ventured to other cities. “At this point I was doing it myself, in every other country what I was doing was illegal because there were no electrical boxes and paper, but I would still try to pick my spots so as not to mess with someone else’s beautiful wall. I would find a wall that already had some graffiti on it or boarded up a shop. I would try to find places that I thought could beautify rather than destroy. I did this for years, secretly spraying and going out in Barcelona – it was a great place to paint,” he recalls. “You definitely have to be out between twelve and five in the morning. That’s a good time to be out. There’s no one on the street. You can take your time, do stenciling or spray painting, and come back later to do pen work.”
For years, Barison enjoyed painting in the streets. However, about a decade ago, he said, things started to change. “The fine is more serious,” he added. “You’re a man in his thirties. You get caught drawing on the wall and things change,” he said.
I try to find places that I think can beautify rather than destroy.
“Then the mural scene started to emerge. People wanted bigger and better murals. And, you lose the excitement of getting up at 3 a.m. in Barcelona and putting up these figures that would only be painted the next day, or someone would knock it down or someone would walk through it. At a certain point, you start thinking, ‘I want to put effort into something that I know is going to be there for two years,'” he said. “Honestly, that’s when you put more into the mural, the little job and the canvas. Put the same effort and work into the canvas and then it can go on to be sold, it can hang on someone’s wall. It can become part of an exhibition.”
In 2009, Barison and Gibson reunited. It began as a collaboration between the two artists, combining Barison’s characters with Gibson’s architectural style. From that point on, the piece began to feel like the work of two artists. The Metropolitan Police reunited and, ten years later, they are still partners.
“I think it works best for us when the two styles come together well,” Gibson said. “I loved how it all came together and it was this fantasy landscape filled with Chaz’s stuff and my stuff. At that point I thought it was working well. It’s an ongoing thing. There’s so much to explore and we can do so many different things with it.”
The work they create together blends the unique styles of both artists in a way that is always complementary. The street art sensibility that Barrison had when he founded the Metropolitan Police many years ago remains intact. But Gibson added his own illustrative style with realistic portraits and detailed urban backgrounds.
“Flexibility is definitely key to getting the mural done, but, of course, we’ve done hundreds of pieces together now,” Barison said. Therefore, although the two
They are open to flexibility and it does start with planning. Depending on the project, they may approach their art in a few different ways. “If it’s a complex piece, it starts with Chaz spraying the background color, and then he does all these throw-in logos,” Gibson said. “That was a few days before I got it.”
Line is a key detail in every piece. They wanted the lines to be so tight that you might think they were printed rather than handmade. “In our artwork, we want it to be exemplary,” Barison said.
There’s a lot of humor in the Metropolitan Police production, from a group of smiling lads spreading scenes to other characters, like dog astronauts or mermaids. Yet there is a sense of absolute perfectionism to each piece.
They are also wary of images taken by London police. Gibson uses the word “whimsical” to describe their work. What they choose to stand for matters, but so does what they don’t stand for. Barrison noted that they avoid politics and anything that might convey too much information.
“We love creating fantasy stories that we love,” Barison said.
London police recently traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, to paint the North End encampment on the site of the former Ford plant. “They built the Model T car there in the early 1900s,” Gibson said. Later, it was used as a manufacturing base for military contractors. It is now being redeveloped into a shopping mall and business center. London Police added elements of the Lads on the conveyor belt and other characters such as Tankey and their Lads-style dog in the foreground.
I think it works best for us when the two styles work well together. “
These canvases and murals are just part of the output of the Metropolitan Police. There is also a performance aspect to their jobs. The two like to sing songs about dogs. They even produced a “documentation” that compiled the work. Perhaps we can think of their Instagram as part of their art, filled with stories of adventures in the studio and on the road. In the future, they are interested in working more in animation. “A lot of times Bob’s paintings feel like stills from animation, short films or cartoons,” Barison said.
Even early in their careers, the Metropolitan Police wanted to make travel part of their art. Ballison and Gibson have traveled everywhere from the Netherlands to the United Arab Emirates to Mexico. But their journey isn’t a quick one, and they hope to continue a steady flow of creative and commercial progress. “It’s just a matter of years of trying to slowly build it up and keep it on an upward trajectory,” Barison said. “You’re not going to be yesterday’s news, but you’re going to keep moving forward, but not too fast, not too fast.”
This article originally appeared in High Fructose Issue 52, which is now sold out. Subscribe to High Fructose today and get our latest print issue here.
