street art – Page 2 – Where is Phil now?

Last chance to see – a bit of Camden disappearing.

Sunday 25 January 2015 – Camden.

The second in a two part series of recent London street art, this time from Camden.

Last week I saw a tweet from Inspiring City, one of my favourite London street art bloggers, advising that the Hawley Market in Camden had just been closed down, at very short final notice to the stall holders. I guess they knew it was coming as the site had long been marked down as the location for a new school along with the inevitable flats that I am sure no-one from the area will be able to afford.

Over the past few months the permanent market stalls had been painted over by a variety of both local and overseas artists, with some really nice work being completed, so it was a bit of a shock and a shame to see them all going. As I mentioned in yesterdays post there are now large tracts of London slowly being bulldozed into oblivion for the sake of ‘progress’. Progress for whom I am not sure.

El and I wanted to go for a walk before a two year anniversary lunch in Islington, and decided to go to Kings Cross on the tube and walk to Islington via a big detour to Camden – almost in the opposite direction. We walked along the side of Regents Canal, I haven’t been along here for quite a while, but the whole canal system has to be a long and skinny favourite part of London. Even this section just behind Kings Cross station in central London looks like it could be located in a small rural town, apart from the BT Tower sneaking it’s way into the horizon.

The Hawley Market runs along the side of the canal and is now all fenced off. There are a lot more huts painted than there was the last time I visited, maybe Captain Kris is showing what he thinks if the closure.

It is also a shame to lose this from Gnasher as well.

‘Save the Bees’ from Louis Masai. Both Louis and Gnasher did some work a couple of summers ago on an underpass in Walthamstow Marshes and thankfully there is no plan, yet, to full the marshes with houses.

We walked around to the far side of the market on Hawley St, passed a soon to be unloved Hunto.

Down Selbourne Rd there was a new mural from Lost Souls Crew

And this cool wall from Dan Kitchener – I am hoping Dan will be painting in Walthamstow fairly soon, there has been a bit of painting going on lately organised by a local group Wood St Walls.

There was also a new piece from Mr Cenz.

Down the side of the railway arches there were a couple of pieces I haven’t seen before, one from Jimmy C.

And one from an artist who I am vaguely familiar with but cannot pin a name on right now, but I really liked this.

I was hoping to have a look at the houses along here, as a number have been painted prior to demolition. However, the road is now closed and the crews are moving in. I am not entirely sure if this section is part of the school/flats project or just an excuse to tie in with the school build and ram up some more flats. I guess the one tiny tiny benefit of the closure of these houses was that they became temporary legal canvases.

A door from D7606

A big Himbad

A bit of fun from Zadok

A Je Suis Charlie mural from Tom Blackford.

Dan Kitchener

And finally this very nice mural from Irony.

It was then time to head towards our lunch reservation at the posh fish and chip shop in Islington, almost an hours walk away. Like Shoreditch yesterday, a small part of town is disappearing, I am sure there are many who will say we need to the housing in London and it is only a small section, but I fear it will be a death by a thousand cuts and all of a sudden we will realise that all the bits that made London the cool city it is will be gone.

“No Hope. Turn Back.” A street art walk in Shoreditch.

Saturday 24 January 2015 – Shoreditch.

It was a glorious winter day with clear skies and a reasonable temperature, out of the wind it was quite nice, but there was a real bite of wind chill, especially in the shade. It was not a day worth wasting and with El meeting a friend for lunch I took the opportunity to re-visit some old haunts and go look at some street art. I have not been to Shoreditch since early November and I was intrigued to see if much had been going on since, I was fairly disappointed last time I was out. I had been reading stories of walls being knocked down and buildings closed and it was time to go and see it myself, plus it was a good excuse to do a walk through of Rough Trade and see if there was any essential vinyl to purchase. There is always essential vinyl to purchase as it happens, and today was no different!

My first stop was Rockwell House, I have been to a few parties and live painting events on the roof of Rockwell House over the past couple of years and it the studio home of Jim Vision and End of the Line – whose work I really enjoyed. Rockwell House has now been closed and will soon be demolished to clear space for a series of new offices being built across this end of the east end – the part where it brushes up against the city. We obviously need more space for bankers, lawyers, consultants and all those other vital cogs to the UK economy, no room for creatives in this modern world…

The cowboy painting by American artist El Mac has graced the side of Rockwell House since 2011 and is one of my favourite works of art in the area, it will be a shame to see it go – though I guess the transitional nature of street art is one of its greatest facets. The 13 Coins piece is quite new.

On the far side of the building there were quite a few painted walls, though unfortunately there was almost also a corresponding amount of cars to cover up the art. There were a couple of pieces exposed, one by Antony Lister – who I last saw hanging in a gallery with price tags way out of my league.

I believe this is by Jim Vision – I haven’t seen too many faces by him, really good too.

My next stop was the Leonard St Carpark, hoardings have been up here for a while so I knew there was some demolition planned, but it is a shame to see things disappearing. Nice hoarding by Boxhead though.

Round the corner from the carpark is Blackall St, which was a narrow one lane road that was covered in stickers, paste ups, graff and other painting. It has always been a favourite place to visit, but I was totally shocked to find that one side of the street was completely gone!

There are hoardings around the site, which have all been painted, but it is not the same… I guess we are lucky that the hoardings are painted as so many in this area are not.

A little bit of Blackall St style.

As I walked back towards Leonard St I caught a flash of a colour out of the corner of my eye so wandered off towards Scrutton st where I found this lovely new bird from Bailon.

And this possibly older shutter from Bailon, Dr Zadok and Sokar.

I wanted to see the Amara piece on the back of the Villlage Underground so headed back the way I came and found this quite cool piece by Jimmy C.

I was then shocked again to find the carpark at the back of the VU being dug up as well,, not that pedestrians were ever allowed in there to take photos, carpark security wouldn’t allow it. I sort of understood the situation , lots of cars and allowing people to wander around obviously comes with some security risks, but there were some good walls behind the security and I never got to see them properly. Still won’t I guess.

The Amara piece was pretty cool.

Back over on the Brick Lane side I came across this from Jim Vision, I think given to what has been happening to the inner East End lately, ‘no hope’ is an apt message.

The small car park off of Brick Lane is a regular spot for artists and viewers, though I have never seen this sign before – not that I come to the area much on a Saturday, I hope it doesn’t mean that this spot will be black listed as well.

The street art tour has become big business and I saw at least four large groups in the Brick Lane area in the short time I was there, these two large groups in Hanbury St effectively stopping anyone from seeing or photographing any of the street art. Luckily there was not a lot of change since the last time I was there.

Though I kinda licked this, but have no idea who it is by.

There was not a lot else to see so I popped into Rough Trade for a coffee and a record purchase or two, Hookworms – The Hum and Disappears – Era. On my way up towards Broadway Market where I had decided to go for lunch I found this fun piece from Graffiti Life, and that was the last new bit of art I saw all day.

Seeing so much change to the Shoreditch area was really disturbing, so much of the city is disappearing to allow new offices and apartments for wealthy investors to buy and not live. Soho is now under threat and the old ‘Tin Pan Alley’ – Denmark St has been given notice for demolition. Tomorrow El and I are going to Camden and there is a whole load more heartache there as well. All the good bits of London will be gone, probably before me.

Yep, Shoreditch again !

Tuesday 06 August 2013 – Shoreditch, London.

Another week, another street art walk in Shoreditch. With the ever changing nature of street art it is always worth checking out what is happening around the streets of Shoreditch. With the street art blogosphere full of stories of new works being painted over the weekend Darryl and I agreed to meet up at Liverpool St and take a lunch time stroll.

I was really keen to check out four new panels from Alex Senna that went up while I was away last week. However, I was already too late, with all four panels blanked out and a new commissioned advert was being painted in their place, damnit. I love street art for its temporariness, but hate it for the same reason!

Darryl and I walked around for a couple of hour, checking out a few of the new pieces as I discovered a few works I had not seen before.

This new work from Vinie and ReaOne is really cool, I really liked the hair made out of their names.

On Blackall St I found a rarely closed shutter with an old Dscreet owl and some Sweet Toof teeth.

And a new mashup from phonebox artist D7606 collaborating with Ben Murphy.

I was really looking forward to seeing this wonderful work from Otto Schade.

Brazillian artist Cranio is back in town and has been pretty prolific, fixing up some old pieces as well as adding a few new ones.

Shok-1 has done a couple of his ‘x-ray’ style pieces, this is definitely my favourite, I would really like to watch one if these being painted as I am intruiged as to how he does it.

As you will know I am a big fan of the work of Jana and JS and had not seen these small stickers before, I have seen larger copies of both of these around Shoreditch and the kneeling Jana is one of my favourite pieces of all.

The more I look around the alleys and doorways of Shoreditch the more work by French artist C215 I find, often these are small pieces tucked out of the way, but they are always worth stopping to look at.

It was a good couple of hours out, I was bummed to have not see the Alex Senna panels, but I have read about some more of is work being completed over the past week so maybe I will get a chance to find some next time.

this was cool !

I have uploaded a bunch more to my Flickr stream.

Street art – Southbank and Leake St

Monday 05 August 2013 – Waterloo.

The weekend just gone saw the Urban Culture Festival at the Southbank Centre, I had other plans so was unable to turn up on the Saturday and Sunday, though I did go for a quick peek on Friday afternoon, though nothing was happening then. Among other activities there was some street art going on so I arranged to meet fellow appreciator Darryl there today.

I got there a bit early and went to have a look at the skate park to see if there was anything happening, but it was dead. I did find a new painting though.

Darryl and I started off at the Southbank Centre and a big new work by Stik. Part of the programme at the weekend was Stik giving a street art class, so after he had finished his painting a bunch of people coloured in the figures. It was pretty cool !

There was some tape art by Ben Murphy.

Around the back of the centre there was work by a few artists, sadly there was a whole load of work going on there when we arrived and it was really hard to get shots on most of the work and impossible for the large Dr Zadok and Spore mural as it was completely fenced off, with a large truck in front to add to the blockage. We did get to full see this 3Dom piece.

But the mural by Captain Kris, Spzero76 and Si Mitchell was hard to photograph in its entirety with the Spzero76 section marred by a large open door.

Dan Kitchener.

Just like in the Dan Kitchener mural it started to rain as we headed over towards the Leake St tunnel by Waterloo station, thankfully it stopped as we got out onto the road side, though it hammered down later on and I was stuck at Southbank for 30 minutes as I waited for it stop enough to run for a bus.

Leake St tunnel was totally different to last time I was there, and the Lost Souls Crew of Captain Kris, Spzero76 and Si Mitchell had been busy there as well.

Dr Zadok and Spore had a mural at the end of the tunnel.

And I also liked these pieces by some artists unknown to me, I am assuming handles.

Core247

Kaes

R5T

It was good to catch up with Darryl and see some new work and we arranged to meet up again tomorrow to see a couple of new works up in Shoreditch – before they were gone…

A street art walk around Fish Island.

Sunday 04 August 2013 – Fish Island, Hackney Wick, London.

It was another fine day and El’s last day off before she heads back to work, so a walk followed by lunch and a glass of rose were definitely in order. It was also the day of the big London bike ride, with thousands expected to turn out at Olympic Park for the start of the ride. Naturally we decided to walk around the canal at Hackney Wick, right next door to the Olympic stadium was in order. Neither of us had been there before and the canal tow paths are always great to walk on, plus I knew there was a load of street art to look at!

We left home sort of early, definitely before lunch anyway and seemed to miss the crowds at Olympic Park. All credit to the designers of the area as it just absorbs loads and loads of people seemingly with out crowding. The Olympic stadium itself is still closed though.

The canals at Hackney Wick are behind the stadium and the new Energy Centre, but away from where the bike ride was starting and it was fairly quite there, a nice place for a stroll.

We walked around Fish Island (which is not really an island at all !) for a while, watching this canal boat work its way through the locks up towards the Regents Canal. There are a huge number of boats on the canals at the moment, and I frequently see them moving around, but rarely through going the locks.

Some of the locks do not look that welcoming though – I definitely would not swim here…

I liked Fish Island, it is still a little rough, but you can see it is going to be all hipster posh and middle class sooner rather than later and there are loads of new apartments being built nearby. I could see myself living in a warehouse conversion like this though…

It was a great stroll around a part of London new to both of us, followed by a very nice lunch and rose back at Stratford.

There was of course loads of street art to look at too.

This wonderful new piece by Ekta has been the cause of some controversy…

Along with this new mural

Run

Sweet Toof

Malarky

I really liked this by Josh Jeavons, I haven’t seen any of his stuff before.

Broken Fingaz

Some unknown artists

I liked this painting on two wooden panels behind bars

I guess this sums it all up for some people 🙂

The completed Alexis Diaz art work

Last week as I was wandering around Brick Lane I ran across Puerto Rican artist Alexis Diaz working on a beautiful new work on Hanbury St. He was painting this by hand using small brushes and had been going for the best part of a week before I saw him.

I finally went back today to have a look at the completed work. It is magnificent !

The detail is amazing.

It was a very humid morning and quite unpleasant for walking around – and trust me, I have walked in some serious humidity… London is just unpleasant in this weather. So it was only a short walk,but on the way I also spotted these other pieces I have not seen before.

Dan Kitchener.

A newly complted work by Alex Senna that was sadly partially blocked by a car.

And next to that a newish piece by Eoin.

It was a good but short time out.

Sydenham Street Art Walk

Thursday 18 July 2013 – Sydenham, London.

When I was looking at the new street art over in Shoreditch on Monday I ran into fellow street art aficionado Darryl taking pictures of Alexis Diaz working on a new piece. Neither of us had been down to Sydenham to see the results of a recent festival so decided to head down and check it out.

It was another bright and hot day, nice for being outside but not so great for mid-day photography !

We got to see the bulk of the street art work, but missed out on all the pieces painted on shop shutters – rudely the shops were all open for business, during the day. So inconsiderate! This shop also had stacked their wares over a couple of pieces as well.

What we did see was pretty cool and it was nice that it was all reasonably well contained in the high street.

The Alo door and JoyceTreasure piece were the only viewable bits from the second hand furniture store.

Luckily all the big works were very visible and we were very lucky that on a third walk past the entire Millo and Hunto joint piece was visible. The first two visits had a car parked under the no parking sign!

Louis Masai mural – “Save the lemurs”.

I love this large piece by Alice Pasquini.

Dr Zadok.

This fabulous and large mural by Bailon was very hard to photograph in its entirety as it was up an alleyway. I took a few images with a plan to stitch them together, it sort of worked. I do need to practise on my pano stitching, I just don’t have the time right now. Enough to give you an idea though.

It was a good couple of hours out and about, thanks Darryl!

Shoreditch street art updated.

Monday 15 July 2013 – Shoreditch, London.

Shhhhhhhh, don’t tell anyone, but it was another glorious glorious day here in London with nary a cloud in the sky all day – so it’s a good day to for a ride up to Shoreditch for a street art walk/ride then! I have not been to Shoreditch for at least a week so of course there is a load of new things to see and photograph, and having the bike meant getting further – and more coolly. By cool I am, of course, referring to temperature, not me being stylish – something I definitely was not today!

I had a great few hours out and about around Shoreditch, I got to see a few things I was looking for and finally found a massive wall by ROA that I have tried to find twice before. I also ran into fellow street art aficionado Darryl who I met once before while watching RUN paint the wall at the Village Underground.

One of the things I had been planning on doing for a while was visiting the exhibition by RUN and Dscreet at the Cock and Bull Gallery in the basement of The Tramshed in Rivington st. It was really worth the wait as there were some great pieces on show there, as well as a very cool backdrop of painted walls, I bought a booklet on the show and am tempted to buy an art work as well.

After a wee coffee break I rode up Bethnal Green Road in search of the large wall painted by ROA a few weeks ago, and this time I found it. Though only having a fixed fifty mm lens on the Canon I could only shoot some of the details as there were too many cars in the narrow alley way to get a wide shot. I will go back as it is such a cool cool painting.

From there I rode around the streets of Shoreditch and snapped a few photos, most are on Flickr, but below are a couple as a sampler.

In a park behind Brick Lane I found a theatre group doing an outdoor rehearsal so I watched them for a while which was cool.

I was really excited to find this Phlegm that I knew was around but had never seen before, again I was not able to capture it all due to today’s lens choice. Weight won over flexibility – plus it is always good to shoot with a fixed a lens every now and then – keeps me honest!

Alex Diaz has been painstakingly painting this wall by hand with a tiny brush for most of a week, stunning piece.

A Jana and JS I have been looking for, I really like their stuff.

And a Stik I haven’t seen before.

It was a great few hours out 🙂

Street art update

Wednesday 03 July 2013 – London

I took my new bike for a spin on Tuesday and was just riding down City Road when I spotted this Toaster up on a window. Last week I found this video from the creators of Toaster and it is an amusing watch as there are not a lot of Toasters left in London that I can see I was quite pleased to have seen it. Of course, there are probably thousands of them all over London, I just do not see them!

http://www.thetoaster.co.uk/

And this new piece from Phomer.

Today I met a friend who has never been to London before and we took a pretty major walk around town sort of ending with a brief walk around some of the main parts of Shoreditch, as always there were new things to see – or things to find that I had missed before….

Conor Harrington in Whitecross Market.

Dscreet outside the gallery at the Tramshed, I must try and arrive there when the gallery is open as there is an exhibition of Dscreet and Run work that I am quite keen to see – has anyone been yet ?

DALeast

Stik

AngryFace

T*wat

Alo

And another Jana and JS, still looking for more of their new work before it disappears.

Thanks to Inspiring City for identifying the next two for me.

Swoon

Alice Pasquini

Some unknowns.

It would be nice to see some more political stuff around too….

The art of Leake St tunnel.

Wednesday 26 June 2013, Leake St, Waterloo, London.

Leake St tunnel is a legal graffiti area near Waterloo Station and I was last there back in January and talked about it briefly in this post. One of my fellow street art bloggers, the always cool Inspiring City, went there at the weekend to have a look at a paint jam organised by London Vandal to raise money for cancer research. I would have gone if I had known about it !

I have not heard of most of the painters in action at the weekend so it was time to go and have a quick look see. Though I did not recognise much of the work, it was still pretty interesting and there were quite a few other people there taking photos as well.

Icon.