News — Florist

Florist fills the cracks of urban life. The London-based artist’s hand-cut, pixel-patterned mosaic installations transform blight into beauty, bringing color and purpose to forlorn spaces across Europe, India and Africa. 

Now Florist (@florist.ldn) is setting his sights on America. On July 1, Vertical Gallery will release “Stars, Stripes and Stems,” his first screenprint for the U.S. market, produced in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Learn all about Florist’s blossoming career in the latest installment of our web-exclusive Artist Spotlight series. 

Vertical Gallery: Tell us about “Stars, Stripes and Stems.” 

Florist: It's a symbol of affection for your country — for your culture and your way of life.

There's an artist here in England called Fat Cap Sprays, and we went out for a walk the other day. He said to me “It was really refreshing to hear you say on one of your Instagram videos that you love America. That’s a very controversial thing to say.” Which I think is absolutely bonkers. There are parts of any presidency that people aren’t going to like, but I'm not here for that. I'm here for the America that I loved seeing on TV when I was growing up — the films, the cartoons, the stories, the history. 

I’m sure somebody's gonna pick apart all these things. That's the time we live in, where everybody's arguing over everything. But I just really love America, and I'm not afraid to say that. 

You’ve installed mosaics everywhere from Manchester to Mumbai. Where and how did you learn your craft?

I lived a lot of my life going off the beaten track, and not being as productive as I wish I was. I was drinking and taking drugs and stuff like that. When I got sober, I decided I needed to do something with my life. I had a folder with mosaic photos I’d saved from Instagram, and I was like “I want to do that.” I wanted to create something that would last, you know?

I started out by watching videos on YouTube. I scoured [French street artist] Invader’s videos, trying to learn how to make it efficient and quick. But the process is very confusing to get across in a video, so I became quite stuck. I then paid for a very short course at the London School of Mosaic, which has since closed down. They liked what I created, and said that I should apply for a scholarship. I got the scholarship, but I only stayed there for one term. To be honest, it was too slow, and I already knew what I wanted to do: I wanted to fill these bits of plaster that have fallen off of buildings or whatnot. 

At first I wanted to fill them with quotes, or proverbs, or famous lines from films or songs. But it was too complicated. The biggest mosaic I did read “In the blue of this life,” which is a line from the Beach House song “Lazuli.” It meant the world to me. But when I showed it to a friend of mine called Joe, he said “What the fuck does it mean?” He didn’t know the song. I realized anybody walking by is gonna objectively look at it and be like “It’s meaningless.” I needed to focus on images, so that people can draw from them what they want. 

What is your process? What kinds of materials and tools do you use?

Originally, I would make old-style mosaics laid by hand, the way the Romans and the Mesopotamians made them. The name for that is Andamento [an Italian term for the visual flow, movement and directional lines created by a mosaic’s tiles, known as tesserae]. Putting them up in the street is a real challenge, though. The version I do now is called “pixelated,” and it’s a lot quicker. You just slap the tiles down. You can do a square meter in about three days, whereas a square meter in old-style mosaic will take you a week.

If you’ve ever seen mosaics laid out in grid fashion inside a swimming pool or a sauna or a steam room, there are grout lines in white or black or grey. I don't like grout lines, so I had some trays 3D-printed to remove them. The tiles sit next to each other, held in place using industrial-strength glue. The rest is just my eye — knowing which colors look good, where to put the piece on the street, visibility, and stuff like that.

It takes so long to make a mosaic. A lot of thought goes into it, and it's expensive, so it's kind of soul-crushing when the stars don't align and one gets removed. But with some of my mosaics, the stars have aligned, and they're still there. They're the best ones. Someone recently shared with me an image of a piece I did last year in Barcelona. I love the art, but I'm more interested in the fact that it's still there. It means I did a good job.

Where did this passion for mosaics originate in the first place?

I love repeating patterns. I’ve looked into why using a bit of ChatGPT — Freudian psychology, Jungian psychology and stuff — and it's probably to do with the safety of predictability. The cityscape is chaos. It's lights, it's police sirens, it's this and it's that. A repeated pattern that fills a space gives people a sense of calm very deep down.

I’m most interested in mosaics and alfresco wall paintings from the antiquity period — art that’s stood the test of time. When I was young, I went to a Roman villa, where I saw a mosaic of Medusa. I vividly remember my teacher saying to me “Don't stare at it, or you'll turn to stone.” 

Why did you adopt the Florist alias?

I’ve always been fascinated by the relationship between humans and flowers, and how that must have come about. Flowers are just the most beautiful things in the world. They’re arranged for weddings, anniversaries, deaths — the most profound moments in our lives. I remember reading in a book by [self-help author] Eckhart Tolle that flowers could have been the first form of currency.

There was also a game I played when I was younger, called Final Fantasy VII. I loved this game so much. A character in it is called Arieth, and she was a florist — a flower seller. Arieth gets killed in the game, and my friend Dean and I have always said that moment was kind of our first introduction to grief. It was just so sad. 

What’s next for you?

I’m in ‘Ascending’ [Vertical Gallery’s September 2026 group exhibition]. I've spent the last few days thinking about what to submit. This will be my first U.S. gallery exhibition. I'm excited for that. 

I've also been toying with what to put in Brick Lane, a spot near where I live in London. During the daytime, there’s a lot of commerce there — people buying stuff. At nighttime, there's a lot of addicts running around, and a lot of drunk people. It's the last place you would go for tranquility. I want to do a waterfall: rocks and flowers and a blue sky. Something that would really stand out. It's all about creating little moments of serenity.

PURCHASE "STARS, STRIPES AND STEMS" HERE

Five Questions with… Vertical Gallery’s Patrick Hull

It’s shaping up to be a busy summer for Vertical Gallery, highlighted by the biennial return of longtime favorite Collin van der Sluijs. ’Wanderland,’ Collin’s sixth solo show in Chicago, runs July 10 through Aug. 22 in partnership with Irving Park’s Joy Machine Gallery, accompanied by the release of the Dutch painter, muralist and graffiti writer’s first comprehensive career retrospective book. Vertical’s third-quarter slate also includes the debut American print release from UK mosaic maker Florist as well as ‘Ascending,’ a globe-trotting group show spotlighting the next generation of artists poised to take over your walls. Vertical owner Patrick Hull reveals all in the latest installment of our web-exclusive Five Questions with… series.  

Question 1: What can you tell us about Collin van der Sluijs’ ‘Wanderland’? 

Patrick Hull: It's gonna be a beautiful exhibition. It’s a wide range of work in Collin’s signature style, and if you think you know what to expect based on his earlier solo shows, think again.

There’s something for everyone in this show, including a selection of small drawings starting around $300, some mid-sized canvases and what Collin calls BACs — “big-ass canvases” — priced up to $15,000. A couple of the BACs are inspired by his small, mixed-media watercolor drawings, but these are giant versions that he calls “Watercolor XLs.” There are also two skate decks, along with a whole series of small paintings that kind of blend in with them. Collin painted on skate decks back in the day, and this is the first time he’s returned to that. 

We first showed Collin back in 2016, and we keep bringing him back every two years. (The photo above is from our first meeting in Brussels 11 years ago; he's on the right, I'm on the left.) As soon as Collin finishes one show, we plan another, and he starts working on it — in fact, he began one of the drawings and one of the paintings in ‘Wanderland’ right after he got home from Chicago in 2024. He starts on something, adds layers of oil paint or mixed media or whatever it is, and just lets it form over time. 

Question 2: What else do you have in store to make this exhibit one for the ages?

We’re publishing a monograph, ‘Wanderland: 1991-2026.’ It’s the first comprehensive book of Collin’s career. It's a really personal project for him: It goes back to the very beginning, when he first discovered graffiti, and continues all the way up to this current exhibition. Almost all of the wall murals that he's done over time are included, and he contributes commentary on many different projects. It’s a really exciting book — [writer] Jason Ankeny and I have been working on it for close to a year. 

‘Wanderland: 1991-2026’ is a 180-page, full-color hardcover, strictly limited to 175 copies total. The regular version of the book is priced at $85. There’s also a deluxe version limited to 30 copies. It’s the same physical book, only it’s signed by Collin and includes an original watercolor drawing. It's a really great way to get one of his originals, and each buyer gets to pick the drawing they want. You also get a signed mini-print. 

The deluxe edition is priced at $275. If you do the math, the book itself is $85, and if you were to buy a small original drawing from Collin, it would cost you $250. Something like the signed mini-print would cost around $50. So it’s a $385 value that you are getting for $275. 

We started the pre-order on June 4, and we only have a few copies of the deluxe edition remaining. People who pre-order can pick up their copies at Joy Machine when the ‘Wanderland’ show opens Friday, July 10, or we’ll begin shipping them out July 9, once Collin arrives in Chicago to sign them. 

Question 3: Just before ‘Wanderland’ opens, Vertical is releasing a limited-edition screenprint from a UK artist named Florist. What do we need to know? 

Florist is a London-based mosaic street artist who’s found his own unique style. I followed him on social media before connecting with him through Patrick Coulson at Always Art, which provides Florist’s certificates of authenticity. Patrick thought Florist and Vertical would be a really good match, and after discussing ways we could work together, we’ll be releasing our first collaboration on July 1. 

Florist’s screenprint is titled “Stars, Stripes and Stems,” and it celebrates 250 years of the USA. It’s kind of funny that we’re working with a British artist to commemorate our country’s anniversary, but he's come up with a really fun image. It’s printed by Chicago’s own POP!NK Editions, and Florist found a great way to make his style work in a screenprint format.  

Question 4: Vertical returns to Chicago in September for ‘Ascending,’ a group show presented at Frame Chicago in Lincoln Park. Where did the title originate, and what does it mean in this context?

When you’re looking for a name for a group show, it's always a challenge if there’s no specific theme. Nowadays, the word “emerging” is used a lot for up-and-coming artists, and then there's “established” when somebody is well-known and further into their career. The title ‘Ascending’ implies these are artists moving to the next level, whatever that level is within their career. They’re all on the rise. I really feel like “ascending” should be the word or category for many of the artists that we work with. 

We will have 45 artists in this show, each doing two works sized 11 inches by 14 inches. There'll be some names everyone will know from the long-term Vertical family of artists, but there are works from several new artists, too, including two originals from Florist — his first time exhibiting in a U.S. gallery. 

It’s a great group of artists. To me, these are must-haves for every collection. We're really excited. 

Question 5: How will you wrap up 2026? 

We are returning to Aqua Art Miami in December, and then we have a couple of projects already lined up for the first quarter of 2027, including a very special project with Flog and a solo show with Jerome Tiunayan. We’re also planning our 14th anniversary show. There’s a lot in the works.