Sheffield's Ronnie O'Sullivan Mural Goes Viral Before It's Finished — and the Artist Pushes Back

Street artist Chris Ashmore has defended his mural of seven-time world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan on the back wall of the Spot On Snooker Club in Sheffield after online critics likened the image to a zombie or to Michael Jackson, insisting the work is incomplete and that "touch-ups" are still forthcoming. (The Guardian; BBC)

Ashmore was commissioned to paint the mural over a five-week period. He told the BBC he had completed only two of those weeks when the scaffolding came down, and the mural immediately "went viral," with viewers commenting that O'Sullivan's eyes and teeth were wrong and that the face looked skeletal. (The Guardian)

A key technical constraint contributed to the premature exposure. Ashmore said he normally uses a scissor lift (a motorised platform that raises the artist so they can view the mural from a distance while painting) to step back and view his murals as a whole, but the uneven ground behind the snooker club made that impossible for this project. Without that distance, he could not assess proportions and fine details, particularly around the eyes and mouth, until the scaffolding was removed and the full image became visible to passersby. (The Guardian)

Local reaction has been divided. Gillian Jones, who lives near the mural, told the BBC she liked it and that it "brightened her day." Frank Short, another local, called the artwork "OK" but said the eyes were "all wrong" and it looked like O'Sullivan "had taken something." Shaun Spalding was blunter, calling the mural "shocking" and saying O'Sullivan's eyes and teeth were wrong and it looked like "somebody with a skeletal face." (The Guardian)

Dan Kirkland, manager of the Spot On Snooker Club, defended Ashmore's work and acknowledged that parts of the face, particularly around the eyes and mouth, needed tweaking. He said relatively small changes would make a huge difference and that the club would arrange whatever access Ashmore needed to complete the work. Kirkland also pushed back against the tone of some reactions, saying the club was upset by comments that had become personal towards Ashmore and arguing that people should not "slag off" the person who created the artwork. (The Guardian)

The broader context here is a familiar tension in public art: the gap between a work-in-progress and a finished piece, amplified by the speed of social media. Murals on exterior walls are inherently exposed at every stage of production. When scaffolding or equipment comes down before final detailing is complete, the resulting image can spread widely and be judged as a finished product. Ashmore's inability to use a scissor lift meant he lacked the vantage point that would normally let him catch and correct proportional errors in real time, a practical limitation that became consequential once the scaffolding came down and the image was photographed and shared.

The criticism has also crossed from assessment of the artwork into personal attacks on Ashmore, which Kirkland explicitly called out. Whether the promised touch-ups will satisfy critics or whether the viral version has already cemented the mural's public identity is the open question, and one that Ashmore's remaining three weeks of work may or may not resolve. The club, for its part, has committed to facilitating whatever access is needed.