Meet the former scientist behind four giant Man City murals across Manchester

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Manchester City and OKX certainly left no stone unturned to publicise their new multi-million pound training kit deal.

Erling Haaland was front and centre of the latest link-up between the Blues and their cryptocurrency exchange partner, while to celebrate the launch the pair turned to one of the most iconic artists in Manchester.

Eric Akse, known as Akse-P19 brought his love of public art to the city in 1997, and his works have been a regular feature in the Northern Quarter since 2012 since he started working with the Outhouse in Stevenson Square; tributes to Marcus Rashford, George Floyd and Captain Sir Tom Moore have elevated the artist's fame even further in recent years.

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While his work has been showcased in the city for a decade, it has only actually been a full-time job for Akse for the last five years. He had been working full-time as a scientist before taking the plunge when he was made redundant.

"I'm originally from the Paris suburbs and then I moved to Manchester in 97. When I arrived here, I didn't know that many artists and I started painting more public spaces — from street art and photo realistic art," he said.

"I was studying chemistry in France at university and it was part of the Erasmus exchange so I moved to study and do an MSc at MMU [Manchester Metropolitan University] and then I stayed for a PhD and worked as a scientist for 15 years. I was doing the painting on the side and then five years ago I was made redundant as they shut down my site.

"That's when I decided to paint full time and I've done that ever since."

If Akse was an obvious choice for City and OKX to choose, it is perhaps no surprise that an artist who was