Graffoto
“It’s A Brum Ting” has been the signature of the past fortnight as Birmingham hosted the Commonwealth Games. So what is it about Birmingham, why is it so great? Armed with a cheap cheap day return rail ticket I set out several weeks back to discover what Goldie, Trevor Francis and Banksy (might have) appreciated […]
Banksy, the best known living artist, is an enigma with a perverse attitude to celebrity status and personal information. In an age where non-entities share every plate of food, change of eyeshadow and ill-advised swimwear hot, this is this is a major anomaly. Anonymity and secrecy fuels curiosity so there have been many books about […]
Jean Peut-Etre and Boxitrixi (also feat My Dog Sighs) A wonderful new batch of paste ups from a pair of overseas artists really gave a huge make over to some of Shoreditch’s paste up halls of fame. Jean Peut-Etre and Boxitrixi We can see…. Jean Peut-Etre and Boxitrixi Jean Peut-Etre is from France, quelle surprise, […]
Last weekend marked London’s main 2022 Pride celebration and a lot of new street art appeared in Shoreditch in celebration of and support for the LGBTQ community. On the Shoreditch Street Art Tour on Sunday I was asked by one guest why the London Pride was in July rather than June as they were […]
Any excuse to blow the London vapours from the lungs will do so my travels recently took me to Cardiff thanks to a cheap rail ticket promotion. Cardiff is the capital of Wales and, as a specimen of street art informs me, the 6th most “at risk” city in the world from rising water levels. […]
Double portrait, 2016 Street artist Dale Grimshaw featured in a brilliant BBC programme on TV last night so here is a little profile of Dale’s street art pedigree and a huge recommendation that you to catch up with Dale’s moment of TV glory. Dale Grimshaw work in progress, 2019 In the early years, from […]
Three days ago Russia invaded Ukraine. Street artists in Shoreditch have united with the rest of the world in putting out street art with messages of solidarity with Ukraine and revulsion at war breaking out on the European continent. This afternoon (Sunday 27th February, 2022) these pro Ukraine messages were seen in Shoreditch, shown dovetailed […]
Just suppose someone decided the missing ingredient in street art was monochromatic medieval woodcut images of public hangings or fantasy horror representations of bizarre sea creatures attacking intrepid seafarers venturing beyond the realm of worldly knowledge. Japanese street artist Enigma has stepped up to fix this obvious void in Shoreditch’s globally acclaimed street art scene. […]
Should this Shoreditch Street Art Tours post start with an apology to the spraycan virtuoso Jim Vision? Perhaps. Last night [31 Dec 2020, new Years Eve] we held a short notice online virtual ramble through some of the art that provided great food for thought on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour in 2021. With the […]
Well done 2021 for having the audacity to follow a totally weird year with an equally weird year, way to go! Although life was not “business as usual” the year did yield some wonderful street art with unexpected and inspired new forms of creativity and a re-evaluation of the significance of paste-ups. We are delighted […]
J G Contemporary 45 Churchfield Rd, London W3 6AY 25 Nov – 9th Dec 2021 Graffiti writer and artist Mr Cenz spraypaints vibrant futurist females and photographing his street art portraits at night has given me immense satisfaction down the years. Shoreditch 2019 Shoreditch 2019 Shoreditch 2021 Rewind is Mr Cenz’s first solo gallery outing […]
Secret Art Gallery 28 Cheshire St, London E2 6EH 21 Nov – 19 Dec 2021 Inadequate ventilation is not normally an issue when viewing Orrible’s art as we are mainly familiar spotting it out on the streets. Indoors you better wear a mask for Covid 19 is definitely the theme for his London solo show […]
The history of street art is a complex story whose content varies depending upon author, location, editorial preferences for a “creation” date and people’s differing actual lived experiences. The early phase of its ripping away from graffiti was for many reasons dominated by stencilism and the significant role of the paste-up technique is easily overlooked. […]
London International Pasteup Festival sneaky peek feat Shuby, Uberfubs, Art.tits and Whatifier Street Art has many forms, different techniques have evolved to suit different artistic strategies and different environments. Stencilism is most closely associated with street art’s emergence in the early to mid 2000s thanks mainly to Banksy and the many artists he influenced and […]
Subway Art 25th anniversary hardback cover A bit of context to begin with. All over the world there are graffiti writers who will testify that their introduction to graffiti began with one book, Subway Art written by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant. In 2009 I queued with literally hundreds of other graffiti fans and graffiti […]