Interview: `I may be no artist ... but I know what I like'

Chris Eubank has taken to painting. Or, rather, his artist in residence has taken to painting what he commissions. Meg Carter went to view the photo-realist montages at the boxer's mock-Tudor pile.

Fresh from his failed attempt to regain the WBO super-middleweight title in Sheffield, Chris Eubank is in contemplative mood. Dressed completely in white - a natty combination of sparkling leg warmers, shorts, T-shirt and matching woolly hat perched jauntily on his head - he pads restlessly around his Brighton office. It's a strange sight given the autumn chill and apparent lack of central heating. Even more so considering the topic of conversation. We are here to discuss his latest preoccupation: art.

Eubank, it turns out, has become an art patron. And to prove his credentials, he now boasts an "artist in residence" on the payroll. Meet 24-year-old Mitch Griffiths, who commutes daily between his home in Croydon and the boxer's mock-Tudor pile in genteel Hove to produce a series of paintings Eubank hopes will soon form the basis of a London exhibition. "I'm interested in aesthetics, language, art, fashion, everything," Eubank explains. "Art to me means lot of things - images and words. I may be no artist myself, but I recognise the pleasure you get from a new proverb or a new painting. It puts you in a particular frame of mind. Visually I like art, philosophically I like art."

The pair first got together two years ago when Mitch sent the boxer some photographs of his paintings. "I was really interested in boxing and had done a couple of paintings of Chris," Mitch starts to explain. "He just sent me a picture and I said, `Yes, this guy's brilliant'," Eubank chips in. "I really liked it and asked him to do me a few more. I used a couple on promotional fliers for fights and I asked him to come and see me. I asked him to do a series for me, then I asked him, `Do you want a job?' His skills should be recognised and shown to the public."

So Eubank rigged up a small artist's studio in the ground floor of his business centre, a converted family house complete with boxing ring, barber's room and upstairs gym, which stands a neatly manicured lawn away from an identical house that serves as the Eubank family home. And so was born a very peculiar artistic collaboration. Mitch, an art school graduate, prefers painting in a variety of styles. Eubank, however, prefers a photo- realistic approach and has commissioned his young artist to paint a number of giant, themed montages.

The first, Catwalk, depicts nine of the world's super models posing on stage before an audience of 300 celebrities ranging from Bruce Willis and Gianni Versace to Chris Evans. Also on stage to the right of Cindy, Claudia and Naomi is a dandyish Eubank dressed in the style of a designer country squire, complete with cane. Another, Destination Nowhere ("My barber came up with the title," Eubank smiles), was painted under the influence of The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. Mitch explains that he has attempted a visual version of music sampling with hundreds of characters taken from a range of sources - posters, television and magazines - squeezed into a futuristic night club, their faces illuminated by laser beams and swirling strobes.

Three more compositions, including a football scene involving the world's greatest players and another featuring leading athletes, are in the pipeline. Mitch may wield the brush but Eubank, it seems, is firmly in creative control. "I know what I like, but I don't really get involved," the boxer insists. "But you do put a lot of quality control into it," Mitch counters (with some understatement). "What I do is give my advice - put this person in or take that person out, they're no good," Eubank demurs. "Catwalk was very much my idea; Destination Nowhere was Mitch's." Maybe, but it also bears Eubank's mark. "He's had a lot of input," Mitch confides. "He's pointed out where it's not been up to scratch. He's pushed me further than I would have pushed myself, I think." A number of the personalities featured have been re-worked or even replaced two or three times.

Eubank is visibly thrilled by the end result. "These are not pictures to hang in someone's house, these are pictures for public viewing. To do anything otherwise would be such a waste," he says. Mitch is more cautious. "There is little doubt this particular photo-realist style appeals to Joe Public," he believes. "But I wouldn't have thought an art critic would agree. These paintings are not so much `art' as `pictures'. I'm disguising the paint to make it look photo real." Referring to much of his other work - like a pair of giant canvasses depicting Noel and Liam Gallagher - he adds: "In art you experiment with the paint and the brush strokes." And to prove his point he pulls out another photo of an early representation of Eubank in the style of Francis Bacon.

"Shockingly dreadful, that is," Eubank retorts. "Francis Bacon? I wouldn't know." Debating the creative merits of his commissioned pictures is "total doddle", he adds. "You're saying they're not art? But they are. I could say, `OK, I'm not really a boxer, I'm an artist.' But the first thing another boxer or a boxing enthusiast would say about me is that I can box well. Actually, I don't see it like that. I see myself as a martial artist. I'm a creative fighter. It's not about hitting the guy and hurting him, it's about scoring points, with grace. What Mitch does is art, too. People from the art world - the critics - may not say this is art, but many other people would."

"It's about showmanship. And it's about entertainment," he adds. "These paintings are intriguing - there's so much in them. You can't look at them and move on after 20 seconds. Everyone who's come here and seen them says so."

So expect soon, then, further details of Eubank-Mitch's first exhibition. Eubank has already signed Mitch up with his PR company and recently secured him a brief appearance on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.

"What Mitch needs is a conduit and that's what I'm trying to provide - profile, recognition for his work," he explains. "It's not like boxing - you go in there, you win and, suddenly, camera, lights, you know? It's a lot slower with art."