I’ve always assumed that Aardman Studios, the creators of the much-loved Wallace and Gromit claymation films, were the pride of Bristol, perhaps because if I were a Bristolian, that would be the first thing I’d brag about. But it was never more obvious as it was now, during Gromit Unleashed. The entire town of Bristol and a variety of businesses and attractions in it embraced wholeheartedly the association with Aardman and proudly planted statues of Gromit the dog everywhere in sight (and sometimes, in hidden places). In a city known for its hip, artistic vibe (Bristol is the home town of famous street artist Banksy, as well as the place where 90’s trip hop artists like Portishead, Tricky and Massive Attack started), people still don’t feel that they are too cool to show their affection for a cartoon dog. And you know who else is entirely unashamed to love a cartoon dog? That’s right, me, and that’s why I travelled to Bristol from London with the sole purpose of seeing the Gromits before they are removed and auctioned to the benefit of The Grand Appeal, a charity that supports Bristol Children’s Hospital.
The Gromit Unleashed exhibition, which started in July and will finish on the 8th of September, spread 79 Gromit statues, each of them re-designed and re-named by a different artist or personality, throughout Bristol and surrounding tourist attractions outside Bristol, such as the Cheddar Gorge and the Westonbirt Arboretum- an 80th was placed in Paddington train station in London. The large distance between some of the Gromits meant, of course, that it was quite difficult-almost-impossible to complete the trail on a day trip; nevertheless, seeing a few Gromits is better than no Gromits at all. The most high-profile artists involved in creating new Gromits (in my humble opinion) were Sir Quentin Blake, known for his illustration work on Roald Dahl books, Raymond Briggs, creator of the Christmas classic “The Snowman”, aired on TV in animated form every year in Britain, and Richard Williams, who directed the animated sequences in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and wrote “The Animator’s Survival Kit”, an excellent manual for learning animation; all of them are now close to 80 or older, which makes their contribution even more remarkable. There was also a Gromit designed by a member of boy band One Direction, but let us never mention that again.
To help us on our Gromit Chase, Aardman was helpfully selling (for 70 p, also donated to the Grand Appeal charity) a smartphone app that could locate the Gromits and provide you with encouragements every time you completed an achievement, like, say, manage to see 10 Gromits or finish a certain part of the trail. Old-fashioned paper maps could also be found in some locations on the way, though, curiously enough, not in the Stanfords map shop that also enjoyed the presence of a Gromit (an Aztec-themed one). Assisted by the app, which was excellently designed and proved very useful, we started the trail with a blue Gromit called Bunty, next to St Mary’s church in Redcliffe, and finished, 42 Gromits later, with Fish Tales, at the Bristol Aquarium.
I never managed to see the masterpieces of the heavyweights mentioned above -Briggs and Williams were too out of the way, and Quentin Blake’s Gromit was in a shop where the queue was terrifyingly long. But that’s alright- there’s no such thing as a bad Gromit. I did see: a Gromit covered in Simon’s Cat drawings by Simon (Tofield) himself, a Gromit covered in bolts, a Gromit covered in pennies (by the Royal Mint themselves), a pirate Gromit, a superhero Gromit, a dinosaur Gromit, an Union Jack Gromit, a world map Gromit, a constellation Gromit, two astronauts, one of them fashioned by Pixar artists in the likeness of Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, two Elvises (I wonder if any of the artists knew what the others were doing) and so on. A very dapper Gromit dressed in a smoking had been removed from the trail after being vandalized, which made us sad –who would want to hurt such a lovely character?-, others were locked indoors safely but also kept away from our eyes by the awkward opening hours of the hosting locations. A lot of corporate sponsors jumped on the opportunity to attract more customers, and as a result many statues were placed in shops, hotels and tourist attractions, although I don’t know if anybody stayed and bought anything after seeing the Gromit. The one at Marriott Hotel was the only one I saw that was kept at a distance from the public with velvet rope, a sign, perhaps, that not all businesses can truly embrace the spirit of such an event and put aside their posh sense of superiority.
As is expected with an animation-themed event, a lot of the other Gromit Chasers were families with children (some of which ignored the DO NOT CLIMB ON THE STATUE signs, much to my annoyance)- in fact, you could pretty much guess where the Gromit was just by following a group of kids. But there were plenty of people of all ages following the trail and taking photos, and the general vibe was that of an extremely fun treasure hunt. The downside of the long trail and the high interest in the Gromits was that you were forced to take a quick snap with the Gromit and then move on to the next one as quick as possible. As a result, I couldn’t get a good look at most of the Gromits, which I quite regret, since some of them had an exquisite amount of detail in the artwork. But I did manage to have a great walking tour of Bristol, and now I feel that I know the town better than many places where I’ve spent more time. From that point of view, Gromit Unleashed is the best thing that ever happened to Bristol, showcasing it better than any travel brochure ever could.
It is also an advertisement of British achiements without being too on-the-nose patriotic. Aardman Studios are, of course, an excellent example of successful home-grown talent, but I also got to find out about many other British personalities I knew very little of. The inventor of the wind-up radio, the designer of The Beatles album cover “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, the political cartoonist of the Sunday Times and the illustrator of the popular puzzle books “Where’s Wally/Where’s Waldo?” were all involved in this Gromit-making endeavour, before which I hadn’t known their names. (Which are Trevor Baylis, Sir Peter Blake, Gerard Scarfe and Martin Handford, respectively).
In the end, “Gromit Unleashed” was just tremendous, pure fun, and the best proof that cartoons and serious business can mix, to everyone’s benefit . It didn’t hurt that Bristol is such a lovely (and somewhat hipster-ish place) where you could find yourself walking past a terrace full of people singing for no reason. I finished the trip with a terrible ache in my legs and the hope that I’d get to return before the end of the show and see the Gromits that I’d missed. I will conclude with revealing my favourite Gromit of the trail. It was a hard decision, but I’ve decided to go for Gromberry. He’s a Gromit, and he’s a strawberry. He’s a gromberry! And his tail is a strawberry stem. Enough said.
Photo: Nadia Barbu
