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ART

Name: Patrick Vale

Artist Patrick Vale with student

Courtesy of the artist

Patrick Vale: “I think there's a universal need to put the human element back onto the walls.“

The mural "This Is My Philly" coincides with the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Philadelphia. While the city looks back on its history, your work showcases the youth. What significance do the portrayed young people hold for you in the context of this historic anniversary? 

With big anniversaries like a 250th, i guess the urge is to look backwards—painting the founders, the historical events, or the old architecture. The first part of this mural already touched on a lot of those historical anecdotes. So for this phase, I figured, what better way to celebrate a city’s history than by looking at the kids who are going to inherit it? Instead of looking back 250 years, I wanted to point the camera forward. These portraits and their drawings act as a time capsule for the youth of 2026. It’s a burst of unfiltered optimism for the future.

The artwork is in a central location. Do you already know how passersby are reacting to your mural? 

Subways are usually places where people are just head-down, looking at their phones, rushing to work. But even when we were working down there, folks were constantly stopping to chat with us. Now that it's up, I think those massive portraits gently disrupt the commute. The kids are looking directly out at the viewer, so it’s hard to just walk past without locking eyes with them. It’s not aggressive, but it demands a little bit of attention. Hopefully, commuters are walking past, seeing that uninhibited childhood pride, and taking a bit of that joy onto the train with them.

Courtesy of the artist

Courtesy of the artist

You conducted workshops over several months with students from the La Salle Academy. How did the collaboration work in practice – did you give the youth specific drawing tasks, or did you give them free rein?

 I kept it very open. The only brief I gave them was to design a poster that responded to the sentence 'This is my Philly.' I didn't want to influence them or tell them what to draw; I just wanted their authentic voices. We sat around, ate sweets, drew together, and chatted. They absolutely ribbed me for my British accent—I now know how to properly pronounce 'wutter'! When it came to putting their drawings into the final mural, I actually used a projector to trace their lines exactly. It’s something I’d normally never do, but I wanted to make sure I didn't go rogue and accidentally polish their work with my own style. I had to preserve their raw marks.

“Oh, the irony certainly isn't lost on me! Especially with the 250th anniversary coming up—a celebration of when the Americans kicked the Brits out!“

Philadelphia is deeply rooted in American history, yet the city chose you as a British artist for this major public project. Are you proud that this task was entrusted to you? 

Oh, the irony certainly isn't lost on me! Especially with the 250th anniversary coming up—a celebration of when the Americans kicked the Brits out! But honestly, it was incredibly humbling. I was very conscious from the outset that I was an outsider, so my job wasn't to parachute in and tell Philadelphia what it is. My job was just to listen. By working with the kids from La Salle, I essentially handed the microphone directly back to the locals. I just used my skills as a draughtsman to help them communicate their own pride in their city.

“Bristol is great for finding your roots, but New York has this intense, relentless energy. It's loud and fast and the city kind of feeds the work.“

Your journey took you from Bristol via Central Saint Martins in London to Brooklyn. What triggered your move to New York back then, and how does the art scene in New York differ from the one in Bristol? 

Growing up in Bristol was brilliant it’s a highly creative city. But when I was a kid, my dad used to travel to the US for business and bring back photos and books of the cities. To a kid in the UK, the American cityscape looked like a movie set. I became obsessed with drawing it. Eventually, my way of drawing those US environments started getting me commercial work, and an opportunity came up to jump across the pond, so I took it. Bristol is great for finding your roots, but New York has this intense, relentless energy. It's loud and fast and the city kind of feeds the work. Im sure one day i could go back to Bristol though. 

“At the beginning, my only real dream was just to somehow make a living doing the thing I loved without having to get a 'proper' job!“

Your precise freehand style is your trademark today. How did you originally come to art, and what dreams did you have at the beginning of your career and today? 

Like most British kids, I grew up reading Roald Dahl and was obsessed with Quentin Blake’s illustrations, and later, Ralph Steadman’s work. I loved that fast, kinetic, energetic line. I was a stubborn bugger in school; I ended up ignoring most other subjects and just kept my nose in a sketchbook. At the beginning, my only real dream was just to somehow make a living doing the thing I loved without having to get a 'proper' job! Today, the dream has shifted a bit. Now that I have a platform, I want to use it to create more collaborative projects, help to tell stories,  paint bigger walls, and help lift up other young artists—like the kids in Philly—so they can be seen. I also want to continue to get better at drawing hands ;)

In addition to your fine art, you regularly collaborate with globally recognized brands. How do you manage the balance between your own artistic identity and the commercial requirements of famous labels? 

When I first started out doing commercial illustration, I honestly just felt incredibly lucky that I got to wake up and draw every single day. I genuinely enjoyed collaborating on briefs and using my specific skills to help solve a visual problem or tell a client's story. As my career has evolved, though, I’ve become just as interested in telling my own stories, too. Because of that evolution, I don't really see a huge divide between my fine art and my commercial work anymore. I’m quite lucky because by the time brands approach me now, they are usually coming specifically for my drawing and what i choose to draw. Whether it was the secret Apple iPad + Apple Pencil launch in LA, or pulling raw drawings straight out of my notebooks for a Paul Smith collaboration, clients usually want the authentic, unpolished energy I already create. It definitely takes time to marry your skills with your brain, but once you find your voice and stick to your guns, you can solve a commercial brief without having to compromise your own artistic identity. Also there’s no rules, just make the work you want to make and see what happens. 

“Cities everywhere are changing so fast, and I think there's a universal need to put the human element back onto the walls.“

Now that the project in Philadelphia has been unveiled: What are your next plans, and will we see your work again soon in Europe or Germany? 

Right now, I’m just trying to catch my breath in the studio after weeks of painting the mural. But I’m always keeping my sketchbook in my pocket, looking for the next serendipitous moment on the subway or walking around the city. I would absolutely love to bring this kind of large-scale, community-driven work over to Europe and Germany soon. I was in Munich last summer and hope to go back again and explore properly as it rained the whole time. Cities everywhere are changing so fast, and I think there's a universal need to put the human element back onto the walls.

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