Exmouth has long traded on its natural assets. They include a fantastic beach, seascapes to die for, and an estuary envied and admired countrywide. But someone else is fast putting Exmouth on the map. His name is Gary Cook and whether you know it or not, his street art has probably made you pause for a moment or two and smile.

Think new mural on the face of the Pilot Inn. Think the twelve-foot giraffe having his teeth cleaned on the rear wall of the new dental practise on Rolle Street. Or take a stroll along the seafront and ogle Exmouth Rowing Club’s new thirtieth anniversary shout-out on the boathouse doors.

This is Banksy without the political angst, clever design spiced with wit and mischief, every element faultlessly rendered. Art that talks to you. Art that puts a spring in your step as you wander away.

Gary, now 61, spent four busy years at the Berkshire College of Art and design before plunging into the world of commercial design. “Looking back, those years were absolutely critical,” he said. “You’re working to a brief. You have to understand exactly what the client wants, and why. This is art, or design, or whatever that has to make people stop and look.”

Work of this quality brought its rewards but for Gary and his wife Sophie there grew a powerful urge to duck the hourly deadlines and build a new life somewhere a bit quieter. And so, never daunted by the challenge of a number of hands-on trades to make a living, the couple moved west to Uffcombe, north of Exeter. The move turned out to be a blessing and eight years ago they headed south to Exmouth, where Gary succumbed to the lure of gig rowing.

But the drawing and selling bug never left him and lockdown gave him every incentive to dream up new offerings for a brand-new clientele. “My launch bid was the Exmouth Tube Map. There’s always an element of mischief at work in decent advertising, so I kidnapped the London Underground and replaced all those stations with a mix of local street names, shops, must-visit destinations, and – of course – pubs.”

Exmouth, happily, is a town with a sense of humour and Gary’s map went down a storm. Orders flooded in and – once he’d cracked the two-metre rule – he revelled in personal deliveries.

Gary next acquired a stake in his first outdoor project. Local artist Anna Fitzgerald had secured backing for an ambitious mural the length of the beach shelter beside Carlton slip. Her design called for a grid of cheerful beach colours imprisoned in a multitude of straight lines. Challenged in the latter department, she asked Gary to oblige. “I told her no problem. I’m a painter and decorator by trade these days and I’ve never used masking tape in my life. So I did the lines and she master-minded the rest.”

The mural attracted attention and by this time Gary had wised up to the limitless potential of Exmouth street art. First on his hit list were beckoning opportunities in Queen Street, each tied to a local business. He did three of them to general applause. Then came a more ambitious project when the scaffolding went up around the Pilot Inn. “This is graffiti with a difference”, he said. “You come up with something romantic that appeals to the old days, all those craggy seafarers, and it seems to have worked.”

Word began to spread, hence the arrival of brand-new commissions: a cartoon Spitfire pilot for the RAFA Wings Bar; a stabled horse for Exmouth Museum; an Avocet with a top hat and an alarm clock for the Avocet Wealth Partnership on North Parade. “The Avocet was perfect,” Gary says. “I’m very happy to be working in that strip of land between advertising and sharing a quiet laugh. The clients loved the bird. Adopted it for life.”

A brilliant artist, who has taken Exmouth Rowing Club’s welcome to a new level.

By Graham Hurley