The Chewing Gum Man

If you ever walk across the Millenium Bridge look under your feet and you will see little colourful drawings. These are what the Chewing Gum man – Ben Wilson calls gum pics.

Ben is no stranger to the police and in fact he often has run-ins with them as they try to prosecute him for vandalism, but he replies that he is simply creating art out of rubbish -turning something horrible into something beautiful. After all, who wants to see all that ugly chewing gum all over the place?

These days the chewing gum man is becoming pretty famous with numerous tv appearances and it is quite apt that a lot of his pictures are situated so close to the Tate Modern. However, what is quite typical of London is that when he has been found decorating the chewing gum on the actual Tate Modern property a security guard has asked him to move! So they actually prefer to have ugly chewing gum there than to have a nice piece of art from the Chewing Gum Man!
If you like this London guide about The Chewing Gum Man – Ben Wilson, check out and subscribe to Joolz Guides – a London Guide for Londoners!

Get directions with Citymapper

Rather Splendid London Walks Book

In this book of 20 walks, I will show you some of the fun, interesting, weird and ridiculous things I’ve noticed on my travels around London