Stourbridge street artist Cal closes Future Rebel gallery to focus on pop-up projects

A Stourbridge street artist who found a permanent home for his creative outlets in Canal Street has decided to go back to his roots with a focus on pop-up projects.

Cal, as he is known, opened Future Rebel art gallery on the ground floor below Grandad’s Attic one year ago and hosted a number of exhibitions throughout the year.

It was a dream come true at the time to find the space to open his very own gallery and he has “loved every moment of it” but for personal reasons Cal has decided to take a step back and close the doors on the gallery.

He said: “It's been great. It's been amazing. Everybody here at Grandad's Attic has been absolutely amazing and so welcoming, helping out in any way that they can.

“It's been a real privilege to work with everyone from Grandad's Attic, and it's been a great experience.”

Despite saying a final farewell to the gallery this week, Cal is not quitting his artistry and he has a number of pop-up and ad hoc style projects planned in the weeks ahead.

He said: “Prior to that Future Rebel was a kind of a pop up organisation, and we just had ad hoc exhibitions in really interesting venues and interesting spaces, and I kind of missed that a little bit. So I'm just kind of going back to the original format. I wanted to go back to my roots and the pop-up style. It’s not the end, it’s the start of a new chapter.”

He said he has a number of “really exciting exhibitions planned” including a multi-media exhibition at The Duke William pub in Stourbridge town centre on October 2 featuring 15 to 20 independent artists. He also has a solo exhibition coming up at RPM in Bearwood.

His Future Rebel clothing brand will also continue - with items sold from Pentagraphix Designs in Stourbridge.

He stressed: “Future Rebel as an organisation will still continue. It's just a different style and a different format.”

Cal, who is responsible for the large murals dotted around the town paying homage to Stourbridge’s music stars including Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Diamond Head, is also looking forward to performing live with PWEI.40 when they play at Stourbridge Town Hall on December 5.

He said: “I'm going to be performing live with PWEI.40 - painting live behind them as they create the music, I create the art. That's going to be a really good event.”

Cal ended up being the main character in a music video shot in July in Stourbridge for a reimagining of PWEI’s most famous hit ‘Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies! as part of 40th anniversary celebrations by founder members of the band Graham Crabb and Adam Mole, who have formed the spin off PWEI.40 project.

The artist had been offered a small part in the video for the renamed Ruff Justice track, which was filmed at Laser Quest, Amblecote, but the role got bigger and bigger until he became the main character.

He’s now also hoping to work on music video projects with top local acts Jess Silk and Birdbrother.