AN ARTIST has described Macclesfield as the home of ‘beer, sex chips and gravy’ in a tongue in cheek poster campaign for the North West.
Eric Jackson has created posters of different towns and cities in the region inspired by traditional seaside advertisements for tourists.
But the humorous posters have a twist as they poke fun at the places they depict, with the Macclesfield poster claiming ‘Stay in Peak Condition! With beer and sex and chips and gravy’.
The poster also shows the mill, canal and a woman wearing walking boots and drinking a pint.
Another poster for ‘Cheshire’ shows a power couple, sports car and the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank with the slogan ‘The search for intelligent life goes on in ...’.
Eric, 58, said: “They are meant to be a bit cheeky without being offensive, to highlight the idiosyncrasies and quirkiness of a place.
“For example, the headline on the Chorlton poster, which shows a yoga woman with a teapot on her head, is: ‘Be different – just like everyone else in Chorlton.’ The people of Chorlton will get that joke and hopefully laugh at it.”
The 12 posters are reminiscent of classic posters used to advertise towns such as Morecambe and Blackpool.
Eric, a dad-of-two from Stockport, added: “I love that bold, stylised look of the old posters from the forties and fifties.
“However, mine are not quite so reverential – they’d just be like advertisements if that were the case. No, these are a lot edgier, but with the same visual elements.”
The posters are now on display in restaurant Fazenda, in the Spinningfields district of Manchester.
Eric, who lives in Cale Green and is also a journalist, then plans to sell copies at markets, bars, coffee shops and, eventually, his own website.
He took up painting after an operation on his feet meant he couldn’t walk for four months.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “This way it means I produce the goods, market the goods and sell the goods – a one-man industry from start to finish.”
To buy one, email: statementartworks@gmail.com
