Mackenzie Thorpe has found a new platform for his work - Middlesbrough Railway Station.
The artist has been asked by Middlesbrough Council to exhibit some of his artwork at the station.
Mackenzie said it is an “honour” to create a couple of significant new pieces especially for the exhibition which will see nine paintings displayed in fixed frames on Platform 2 for two years.
The 58-year-old’s work has been shown as far afield as the US, Australia and Japan.
Teesside University and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum have hosted recent local exhibitions, and in November he visited the town’s Dorman Museum to sign copies of his latest book Out of the Shadows.
“I have always been a great fan of railway posters and so who would have thought that me, a boy from the Boro, gets the honour of having my work hung in my home town railway station,” he said.
“It is a real honour and even more so because it is Middlesbrough Station, the place I have started and finished so many memorable journeys.”
Mackenzie was one of seven children, spending his early childhood in a terraced house near Union Street before the family moved to the new Beechwood estate when he was a toddler.
He began his working life as a labourer and at Smiths Dock, before his vocation drew him to tell the story of the people of Middlesbrough through his art.
First TransPennine Express Station Manager Mike Drewery said: “Middlesbrough Railway Station is used by around 1.4m passengers every year, so it’s vital to us that they have a good experience and they form a good first impression of the town."
The nine works are due to be installed in March.
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