Artist Ian Morris took his new painting of Ozzy Osbourne and Ozzy the Bull on a tour of Birmingham's entertainment quarter, visiting the famous Black Sabbath Bench and various other top sites.
The video and picture tour of the journey was arranged to celebrate the real Ozzy and his fellow original members of Black Sabbath having their individual Freedom of Birmingham honours confirmed this week.
The first stop saw Ian introducing the Ozzy images to each other on the bench, installed by Westside BID back in 2019, before his picture then visited ‘The Golden Boys’ statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch, the Industrial Revolution’s founding fathers.
The tour then stopped at Gillian Wearing’s sculpture of 'A Real Birmingham Family' and at the Hall of Memory, both on Centenary Square, then onto Gas Street canal basin, and Brindleyplace, including a 30-second ‘exhibition’ at the Ikon Gallery.
Next up was JD Wetherspoon’s Figure of Eight pub in Broad Street for a slap-up breakfast, before a local Westside BID street warden helped Ian to continue the tour in the an electric truck.
The special tour came in the same week that Birmingham City Council officially confirmed that Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward are to be given the Freedom of Birmingham honour.
Artist Ian, who comes from Rowley Regis in the Black Country, said: “I am thrilled that all of the members of Black Sabbath are being given a Freedom of Birmingham honour. I painted Ozzy just to follow my dream… he and Black Sabbath are iconic so I thought I would immortalise him in oils.
“When the Bull was named after Ozzy, I thought I’d put it in the background looking up at him, with Ozzy in the pose he had during the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony, which might be the last time we see him perform live.
“It took me a year to paint the picture. With oils you can add layers and layers and layers – which then means you have to work out when to stop. The detail on the Bull, for example, is very intricate.”
Ian, who as well as his art is a welder turned carpenter, says he has already turned down an offer of £20,000 for his Ozzy painting. While he would sell his painting, he said he’d love to have it exhibited somewhere appropriate first.
He explained that he first became aware of Black Sabbath via their hit single and album Paranoid in the early 1970s, adding: “It was just the music, the guitar and the riffs with Ozzy’s distinctive voice out front. Ozzy is so amazing, but all of the parts of the band are equal and complement each other perfectly.
“It’s great that Westside BID now has the Black Sabbath Bench, visited by fans from all over the world when they are in Birmingham.
“I’d love to be asked to create a sculpture of the band as they deserve one and Birmingham should have one – I would have Ozzy at the front, head banging!”
