Drawing out mystery artist behind 'street doodles' in Chesterfield estate

The mysteriously named Coloquix has pasted six of his hand-drawn, digitally coloured creations around Dunston including Rosewood Close where he lived as a child, Kirkstone Road and Cordwell Avenue.

Coloquix swooped on the estate early one Sunday morning to put up his artwork. He said: “I’m happy to be able to report that all the feedback so far has been positive. I have been told that they’re all still standing.

“It’s definitely meant to be a positive thing rather than ‘I own this block’ kind of activity. Apologies to anyone who would rather there wasn’t a Gladiators themed bit of artwork outside their gaff.”

He adopted the moniker Coloquix from his nickname as a teenager when a tipsy friend couldn’t pronounce his real name. Coloquix said: “I am under no illusions that I’m Banksy or anything, but what I do does exist in a bit of a legal grey area, so it’s probably wise to keep my head down and keep my name to myself. It makes it harder for people to call you a rude name if they don’t know who was responsible."

Uncomfortable with the description of street art for his creations, Coloquix said: “It feels like it considers itself superior to graffiti. somehow. So ‘street-doodles’ probably fits better for me.

"I’m pretty chuffed to be able to say that I’ve had work up on walls all over the world, but it was pretty special to do something on the Berlin Wall a few years back. Walls don’t come much bigger or more notorious than that. I have done things in five continents. Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, London all get fairly regular visits.”

Psychedelic necromancy is a major theme in Coloquix’s artwork. He said: “I do enjoy the witchier side of things, so that’s often in there. There’s a female character who is present in 95% of what I do and I’d like to think whether she’s in a witchy mood or not. Some people seem to think that she is in fact Coloquix, which works for me! She definitely has evolved a little over the years but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a pretty strong influence out there."

The Sheffield based artist, who is in his mid-thirties, makes regular journeys back to Chesterfield to see friends and family. He said: “It was on one of those trips back to see a dear loved one, driving through Dunston, that the idea popped into my head. Dunston in the 90s is where and when I was raised. Whenever I’m in S41 my mind fills with 90s imagery, so it just felt like the right place to get some of it out of my system in doodle-form.

"What often comes back when I recall those days is the freedom. Whether we were all just bombing about on bikes, trying to get plastic money to work in those little red vending machines outside the corner shop where all the sweets tasted of fag ash or just hanging about at the park before the night came and the big boys and girls came out and took over, we were always just out and about and exploring. Rose tinted glasses are undeniably a factor here but I loved everything about that decade! The music, the football, the bubblegum that you could buy individually wrapped….it was tremendous.”

Coloquix was about 10 years old when his family left the council estate in Dunston and moved to a house behind Saltergate. He went to Brookfield School and played in a band in Chesterfield. One of his best friends went to university in Leeds and Coloquix was also lured by the attractions of city life. He said: “As much as I loved Chesterfield, having a dozen different awesome bars full of people I didn’t know was just too tempting. I still came back regularly, though. Eventually most of my friends also left but that meant that coming back for Christmas and the like was always pretty special."

Asked if he plans to decorate any other areas of Chesterfield, Coloquix said: “I’ve got some trips to a couple of places booked in the near future and the character I paint does have a tendency to travel. I also do portraits from time to time and as a Chesterfield fan, I might have a little something planned to celebrate just how awesome this season has been.”