Mik Artistik shows his biro portraits on brown paper bags at York Explore on Friday 6 November, 3pm to 4.30pm, with stories and a special guest. Tickets £7.50.
Leeds artist and musician Mik Artistik is bringing Bags of Life, his portraits drawn in biro on brown paper bags over more than 30 years, to York Explore Library and Archive on Friday 6 November, 3pm to 4.30pm. Tickets are £7.50 on Explore’s Ticket Tailor page.
The afternoon brings original artwork from the project, stories from the encounters behind the portraits, “a few musical moments along the way” and a special guest, according to Explore York Libraries and Archives, the staff and community-owned mutual that runs the city’s libraries. The guest has not been named; the ticket page signs off with “Plus a ‘Special Guest’ …?!!”
Twenty thousand faces on paper bags
Known across Yorkshire as “the brown paper bag man”, Mik first hit on the idea while visiting Ireland in 1983, Explore says, shortly after teaching himself to draw portraits in biro. He estimates he drew more than 20,000 of them over the following three decades.
“The bag held secrets. It was a container. It had mystery. As we do,” he says.
“Everyone ended up on the bag. Judges, butchers, babies, housewives. It was the great leveller.”
He found his sitters by walking in. The event listing says he would “wander into offices, garages, funeral parlours, pubs and ask if anyone would like their own personal paper bag”, and that he “‘bagged’ people from life, for thirty years”. The stories in the book take in “amazing encounters with pop stars, bouncers, priests, and canteen staff”. The banner picture on that page is Jeff Hordley, Cain Dingle in Emmerdale, drawn on a bag.
Steve, 1990
One of the stories in the book recalls a young father called Steve, whom Mik met in 1990. In Mik’s words:
“It was a run down terrace house. The living room had no carpet. No furniture, just a couple of chairs. Steve sat on one, me on the other. He had a tattoo of a tear in the centre of his forehead. He had a tear under each eye as well, and a dotted line around his neck with the words ‘CUT HERE’ in between. He was young small and wiry, in a short sleeved t shirt.
“His children, two little girls, about three and four years old, ran round him as he sat there, giving him a poke every now and again. He took it all with a smile. He offered me tea and a sandwich but I politely said no. It felt criminal to accept. One of the little girls was running round in socks that played ‘Jingle Bells’, even though it was May.”
The book does not have a publisher yet. Explore says the York date is part of Mik’s effort to find one and to take the project to new audiences.
The band
Mik also fronts Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip. Explore says the band have sold out the Crescent and the Brudenell in Leeds, are regulars at Glastonbury and have played Latitude and Leeds Festival. It adds that Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker both play his music on BBC Radio 6 Music. More of his work is on mikartistik.com.
What it means for you
- When: Friday 6 November, 3pm to 4.30pm.
- Where: York Explore Library and Archive, Library Square, Museum Street, YO1 7DS.
- Tickets: £7.50, booked through Ticket Tailor.
- Access: Explore asks anyone with access needs to email arts@exploreyork.org.uk; the York Explore page has the venue access guide.
Later in the month the same building hosts the first of Explore’s four Christmas fairs, on Saturday 14 November. For everything else on in the city, see What’s On in York.
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