Sheffield artist hits back over "creepy" "unfinished" Ronnie O'Sullivan snooker mural
Sheffield artist responds to Ronnie O’Sullivan mural backlash
A Sheffield artist has responded to online jibes over his “unfinished” mural of world famous snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Pictures of the mural went viral after people shared their thoughts on a huge painting that appeared outside the Spot on Snooker Club in Infirmary Road, with some describing it as “creepy”.
Chris Ashmore, the artist behind the mural, posted his response on Facebook claiming he has been contacted by reporters to run stories, which he has declined since the painting is not actually finished.
The post read: “My Facebook has absolutely gone mental today. The scaffolding has now come down, which has actually been useful because I can finally see the mural properly from the ground. And honestly, there’s still more I want to do to it.
“It’s a massive wall and some of the bits I need to sort are miles up in the air, so we’re now looking at getting a cherry picker in.”
Fans of the famous snooker player took to social media claiming it looks slightly terrifying.
One person tagged O’Sullivan directly on Instagram and wrote: “Look, I’m sure it’s a compliment and shows how well loved you are, but I’m sorry to say you look kinda creepy on this one!”
On Facebook, people called it a “zombie” and compared its likeliness to Harry Potter villain Voldemort.
On Reddit, people shared similar views, stating it’s “a bit early for Halloween”.
Spot On Snooker and Pool Club also took to Facebook, and released their own response to the backlash.
They explained how usually, a job like this would be done from a cherry picker, allowing the artist to move around and stand away from the wall to see how it all comes together, but due to the layout and access of the building, this wasn’t possible.
Instead they used a full-length scaffold that was already in place, however this meant the artist’s view was obscured.
The post read: “The good news is that we don’t actually think it’s that far off as a whole. Some relatively small changes will make a huge difference to finish it.
Luckily, Chris was able to see the light within the backlash he received, explaining how “weird” it is that people are talking about something “that isn’t even finished yet”.
He wrote: “I know it’s not perfect. I can see the bits I want to improve and I’ll get as much as I possibly can when I can safely get back up there.
“But it is what it is - I’ve put everything I’ve got into it and I’m still not finished with it yet.”