Gunnersbury Gus Makes His Appearance Near the Station
New mural painted by local artist Helga Stentzel
Gunnersbury Gus peeks out. Picture: Abundance London
February 3, 2024
Gunnersbury Gus has arrived in the parklet outside Gunnersbury tube station, peeking out from one of the several electric cabinets that dot the area.
He is the creation of local multidisciplinary artist Helga Stentzel working with Abundance London. She has a significant Instagram presence and works across a wide range of media including photography, illustration, videography, sculpture and mural design. Helga received "Food Art Creator of the Year" award in 2020 and has collaborated with Hermes, Amazon, BBC, Honda and O2, among others. She has also participated in multiple group exhibitions in New York and London, and held a solo show in Seoul in 2022.
She says, “My art is about finding magic in the mundane, seeing beauty in imperfections, and connecting to our reality in a new way. I love noticing playful similarities - be it a sweater on a clothing line looking like a horse or a slice of bread resembling a dog’s head. It’s only the starting point though. From this moment onward the stories and visuals start buzzing in my head!
“I hope that my art will help people to connect with their inner child and rediscover the joy of savouring little visual delights inside and outside their homes.”
The parklet is maintained by West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society. It was funded by the Chiswick Flower Market, planters were supplied by Abundance London and the Chiswick Business Park. Virgin Media gave permission to decorate the cabin.
The project continues Abundance London’s artistic work around the area, which includes the Chiswick Timeline mural, and the W4th Plinth artwork at Turnham Green Terrace. Discussions have been ongoing about beautifying other pieces of street furniture, including dustbins.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
