Young British artist Adam Salisbury hails from Blackpool, but his art is fast becoming recognised around the world. He has found an audience for his talents through platforms such as TikTok, where he has over 68,000 fans and an incredible 11.5 million likes for his content, which involves everything from time-lapse videos to comedy skits. He has bridged the art world’s perceived gap too between popularity and respectability by being featured on the National Portrait Gallery website. He achieved particular fame during the lockdown of spring 2020 when his portrait of Captain Tom Moore captured the nation’s hearts and led to him being featured on BBC News. He has also worked for Disney, Sony Pictures, and been featured in the popular VICE magazine.

Salisbury had always been interested in art as a youth and got as far as attending art college, but he was put off by the academic side of it. By his mid-twenties, he was working as a supermarket manager, raising a family, and hadn’t touched a paintbrush for five years. Everything changed when he decorated his young son’s bedroom and painted some dinosaurs on the wall. The result became something of a viral hit on Facebook, and so, inspired to start painting again, he began doing murals, filming their creation with time-lapse videos, and sharing them across social media.

Having developed a reputation in his hometown, his content began picking up a wider audience, particularly on TikTok, and before long, he had the world-famous likes of Will Smith reacting to his work.