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 […]
Enigma In Shoreditch
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 […]
Mr Cenz Rewind
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 […]
Orrible Eau de Virus show
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
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 […]
Martha A Picture Story Q & A
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 […]
StolenSpace Gallery 17 Osborn St, London E1 6TD 10 Sep – 3 October 2021 Unity Massive queues, a packed opening night at a gallery – is this 2008 all over again? Actually no, it’s D*Face collaborating with two of StolenSpace’s long term friends Kai and Sunny, a double act counting as one friend, and Shepard […]
After the Sunday tour this weekend I cycled over to the Whitecross Street Party, always a reliable live street art/music/food fest. Here are some mainly work-in-progress highlights. Most of the ground level art, particularly those pieces on hoardings were only on temporary display so I regret not being able to hang around to see the […]
David Speed “Light Of Life”
David Speed Light Of Life Break out street artists are rare beasts. There are the street artists whose appeal grows way beyond the natural base of street art fans leading to popularity and commercial success. Commercial success doesn’t preclude artistic success of course. Soundwave, Shoreditch 2021 David Speed started his neon illuminated portraits and animal […]
East Anglia has in the past week or so became home to a spectacular trove of street art that finally this afternoon was verified as genuine Banksy. Banksy has verified a grand total of 10 new pieces of street art and to put this in context, there were only 5 outdoor Banksy artworks at his […]
JR: Chronicles at Saatchi Gallery
JR: Chronicles Saatchi Gallery 4 June – 3 October 2021 Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4RY Booking essential: tickets One question I always flounder with is “Who do you think the up and coming future stars in street art are?”, like I have any idea about art picking! The easier question […]
EINE Scary Monsters
It’s back! Eine’s SCARY on Rivington Street, familiar to many many Shoreditch Street Art tour guests as the penultimate piece of art on the tour has been restored to its original colour scheme. EINE SCARY 2021 Repaint Painted in 2007, back in the days when if a street artist wanted a wall they had to […]