Local artist dies

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, the artist once interned as an enemy alien who later turned the entire country into an open air gallery of his work, died yesterday at the age of 81 after a long illness.
His last outing was a few days ago, to his retrospective at the Flowers East gallery in London - but anyone interested in him only has to look around the streets of the capital and dozens of other British towns and cities.

"He was a vital member of the Independent Group and can be regarded as one of the fathers of pop art. His public works, including the designs for Tottenham Court Road underground station, reinvigorate images drawn from comics, design and advertising and place them back in the public domain."
Wilfred Cass, founder of Sculpture at Goodwood Park, West Sussex, described him as "one of the greats, unquestionably". The park holds London to Paris, his last major piece, a 25ft bronze and timber train based on fond memories of childhood trips to the Continent: it filled the Royal Academy courtyard in 2000, before steaming on to Goodwood.
"He could do so much," Mr Cass said. "Other artists are one-string fiddles, but Eduardo was good at everything he turned his hand to."
The artist, who was knighted in 1989, once described himself as "an old poor pro", and accepted hundreds of public commissions.
He enjoyed the unique distinction of having thousands of commuters tramp through a creation every day in his spectacular 1980 tile decoration for Tottenham Court Road tube station. He also gave a major collection, including most of his archive and the contents of his studio, which instantly re-filled with new work in progress, to the National Galleries of Scotland.
He was brought up in his Italian parents' ice-cream shop in Leith, Edinburgh - where he later claimed he had to work from the age of four - but his world changed drastically when he was 16 and Italy entered the war.
His father, grandfather and uncle all died when the ship carrying them to internment in Canada was torpedoed, and the boy was himself jailed at Edinburgh's Saughton prison.
He collapsed in his studio in the late summer of 2000, when London to Paris was completed, but he was still deluged with work. He never fully recovered. Many who knew him thought overwork contributed to his collapse.
At the time his youngest daughter, Emma, said: "The poor old thing, I think all artists like to go out with their boots on."

From The Guardian

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At the top of Leith Walk you can see Paolozzi's scuptures the big foot and hand.