JCC’s Collaboration With Local Graffiti Artist, Gent 48 – A Biography
The best graffiti artist in Birmingham, Joshua Billingham, better known as Gent 48, has been commissioned yet again by the best Sixth Form College in Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College. Gent 48 has a history of working with the college, and this dynamic collaboration has seen his captivating work featured on flags around Birmingham and buses in the local area. His artwork has even flowed into the college’s canteen, ‘Social Street’, adding a unique style to the space that continues to gain positive attention from students, staff, and visitors alike.
In celebration of this relationship, Joseph Chamberlain College has interviewed Gent 48 to learn more about his life and inspirations. Gent 48 first commented on his early life by stating that he’s “always had a massive interest in drawing,” specifying that he “got into graffiti when (he) was 13” and has “been painting graffiti for longer than (he) hasn’t been.” He cited his early inspirations as being “purely just graffiti, so just letter-based,” with his earliest character iterations being “based around hip-hop culture.”
Gent 48 is renowned for his eye-catching and distinctive style that has had a significant impact on both the college and Birmingham as a whole. When asked about his inspirations and style, Gent 48 said that graffiti is all “about style and competition” and that graffiti artists want to “have the best style so (they) can stand out against a whole wall of other artists.” Discussing his unique style further, he said that the message in his work is his style: “This is what’s in my head; this is what’s developed over 20 years – how I structure faces, how I layer paint.”
Gent 48 also imparted invaluable advice to the students of Joseph Chamberlain College and those in general who are interested in art, suggesting they “produce as much work as you can and be as creative as possible” and also “sketch as much as possible. That’s always good – that’s how you develop your style.” He concluded by stating: “As long as you’re producing stuff that you’re excited about or that makes you happy, then that’s the main thing to consider.”
Finally, Gent 48 revealed his mission in graffiti, expressing that it has always been simply “to get better at painting.” He rounded off by saying, “I still don’t think I’m the best I could be. So I’m constantly chasing, not perfection, but I want to do better than my last painting.”
