West Brom fans given chance to see Tai Schierenberg’s portraits for free

Schierenberg, who produced nine portraits while following the Baggies behind-the-scenes last season, has happily agreed to put on an exhibition with the club after being inundated with requests.

Baggies fans will be able to view the portraits for free at The Hawthorns between 10am-7pm on Thursday, August 30, and Friday, August 31.

And Schierenberg, whose journey from football novice to passionate fan was captured in the documentary, is coming to the home match against Stoke City on Saturday, September 1.

But he’s declined an offer from the club to sit in the directors’ box, and will instead be in the home crowd on the corner of Halford’s Lane and the Smethwick End.

“I was invited to do the corporate thing,” he told the Express & Star. “But that’s not really the point of it is it? Sitting up in the box, when you want to be in there with the fans.

“I definitely want to go up more this season. I didn’t get to go to any away games while making the documentary so I’d like to do that.

“My life has been crazy over summer and the season started early, but once I get my rhythm I’ll get up to some games.”

Schierenberg’s sensational portraits captured a turbulent season at The Hawthorns, but his emotional documentary was well-received by Albion fans.

“I was away on holiday when the programme went out,” he revealed. “My daughter is an avid Twitter user though and she said it’s just gone crazy.

“I’ve got a lot of emails from fans who have welcomed me to the family. A lot of them said, ‘we only got a brief glimpse of the paintings on the programme, we want to see them’.

“I got such a nice response. Everyone was so open who we spoke to. It was a collaboration in a sense.

“Everybody wanted to tell a story. We met more fans than we were able to use.

“We shot 50 hours of film for a 47-minute documentary. A lot of really good stories didn’t make it on, so that was sad.

"But all those fans I spoke to gave an insight into the club. So it’s a collaboration, those paintings were informed by those meetings with the supporters.”

To see more of Tai’s work visit www.taishanschierenberg.com or the Flowers East gallery in Hackney.

Tai will be putting on a separate show at the gallery next May.