Bubba 2000: Sheffield artist 'back where it all started' to unveil 30th anniversary 'Home-Coming' exhibition
A Sheffield street artist has returned to his roots of “sticking posters up in the night” to announce his new ‘Home-Coming’ exhibition.
Bubba 2000 - true name Jonathan Matthewson III, and the man behind Sheffield’s famous ‘Still Common’ mural - is back in the Steel City to celebrate a 30 year career.
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From pasting up posters he cheekily made on friends’ work printers in the 90s, to hitting it big as one of Yorkshire’s premier street artists, to escaping for solo shows in London, and now returning to the Steel City - Bubba has had a long journey to reflect on.
Now, he’s returning to “where it all began” - Sheffield Work Station - for a new exhibition to thank his fans for where he’s got to, and to help him think about what he’ll do next.
“The reason why it’s called Home-Coming is two-fold,” Bubba told The Star. “Not just to the place but the work I’m doing.
“I started out just putting posters up in the middle of the night made from whatever I had to hand that was cheap. My mum was into flower arranging and she had these spray paints for leaves, so... I just used the materials available to me. It’s not the gear, it’s the idea.
“But The Work Station is where it all began. Me and my friends went down there when I was 18 looking for a space and they really took a gamble on me.
“So much has come out of The Work Station since then as well. To me, this is me coming home to where it all began.”
‘Home-Coming’ will be an exhibition of Bubba’s career, alongside never before seen work and a reflection on what he wants to do next - and garnished with a lot of the stuff he’s discarded along the way.
“I’ve got lots of stuff I just experimented with that I just put aside,” said Bubba.
“You’ve got to be able to show your mistakes. You’ve got to evolve, because if you don’t you become a tribute act to yourself.”
“‘Oooh, profound’,” he added, laughing.
“It’s basically showing my thanks to Work Station for giving me my start.
“To be able to do what you enjoy while getting paid for it - it’s incredible. I think the minute you stop being grateful, you’ve lost it.”
The show is his first in Sheffield since he left for a residency at the Quantus Gallery in London.
‘Home-Coming’ on October 3 is a free public opening, sponsored by BrewDog.