Art with a twist pops up in Tinsley

The twisted red letterbox on Norborough Road was part of the artist’s Alphabetti Spaghetti project until it vanished yesterday.

It was one of three eye-catching knotted installations installed in the UK - the others can still be found in Margate and London.

Alex is known for his ambitious, temporary public artworks, creating clever illusions and transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. 

The three locations were hand-picked due to Alex’s special connection with the areas. 

His work first appeared in Tinsley two years ago when his gravity-defying one-tonne car hanging upside-down from a curling strip of tarmac attracted crowds to the canalside.

The sculptor has also been commissioned to produce a £450,000 artwork to succeed the demolished Tinsley Towers, named the Canalside Chimneys.

A “family” of four red brick 30m tall chimney sculptures will be built alongside the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal at Tinsley.

Titled Onwards & Upwards, the four chimneys will include:

• A cracked chimney broken into 250 pieces, illuminated from within.
• A hovering chimney with an upper section that appears to amazingly float.
• Two leaning chimneys, standing 45m apart that dramatically bridge the canal
• A curving chimney, made of over 25,000 bricks, tied into a knot.

They have been designed to act as spectacular cultural beacons and attract visitors from the length and breadth of the UK.

Alex’s previous projects include a hovering building in Covent Garden, a house made of 7,500 wax bricks, which melted over 45 days, and an inverted 35-metre electricity pylon.