Public artist Rowan Durrant installed the final piece in his latest art series ‘Superfix Archway’ last Friday.
A ‘superfix’ is an object in the neighbourhood that was initially damaged and subsequently fixed and painted a bright glossy orange by Durrant.
It all started seven years ago when Durrant, who was studying at Central Saint Martins nearby, came across a broken bench outside Archway Library and decided to fix it himself.
In 2013 he was commissioned by local independent group the Archway Town Centre Group (ATCG) to do a full series, as part of an Islington Council-funded series of projects.
Fast forward one year, and Durrant has superfixed things under both public and private ownership, everything from bench planks to house numbers, all painted in a distinctive bright orange – “the most un-council-like colour,” he says. It’s not meant to be a criticism of the council at all. Durrant sees it as channelling the idea of optimism.
“We can all change things.”
The project is rooted in the local community in more than just location. Durrant set up a dedicated website and twitter account to crowd-source objects to fix. Anyone could tweet or e-mail in with a suggestion for the next ‘superfix’. Fans could also follow his progress, with photos and tweets detailing the progress and process of each new fix.
Durrant has no concrete plans post-Superfix, though he did hint at experimenting with large-scale sculpture. He says he’ll still continue to look for different things to fix around London.
