Tag: London

Thursday doors – 23 May 2019

Doors 72 – Doors from Camden Town from November 2017

I am now scraping the residues from a very deep and rather empty door barrel. I had a choice… not to post any doors today, or get something old out of the door quickly and efficiently…I went with the latter.

Here are three doors from a street art hunting trip to Camden Town, London back in November 2017:

Thursday Door, Camden Town, November 2017
Thursday Door, Camden Town, November 2017
Wheatpasted door, Face the Strange (top) and CodeFC (bottom), Camden Town, November 2017
Wheatpasted door, Face the Strange (top) and CodeFC (bottom), Camden Town, November 2017
A rather plain and neglected door, Camden Town, November 2017
A rather plain and neglected door, Camden Town, November 2017

So there you are. I’ll leave you to decide whether this post was worth it. I am (in case you hadn’t noticed) a bit of a creature of habit, so to do this was more comfortable than missing a week.

Maybe I’ll have time to do something a little more imaginative next week.

For more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the brains behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj

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2209. Allen Gardens, London (4)

This is the last in this little sequence of Shoreditch pieces from November 2018. I feel I have to post them because they are just too good not to share. Although I have loads of pictures of Thisone’s work in my archives I have never actually posted any of his work before and I hope this will be the first of many.

Thisone, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018
Thisone, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018

This work is larger than his typical pieces but contains some of his key themes, which are the use of black and white paints only, an animal of some kind and beads and jewelry. When I first saw this piece I thought it might be a swan, but on closer inspection the beak is taht of a gull of some kind – maybe an albatross? Whatever it is, the whole thing is very beautiful, and I am pleased to report was still on this wall when I last visited in April.

2208. Shoreditch, London (32)

An artist whose work I have long admired is London-based SkyHigh. His work is always immaculate with fabulous clean lines and complex designs. Most commonly he spells out his name using a contrasting style for each letter and somehow bringing the whole thing to life. His pieces almost feel like animations as the styles spill over from one to the next.

SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

This one using pink tones with black is in my view one of the best I have seen, each component skilfully laid down to create a magnificent whole. I particularly like it that roughly once a year SkyHigh makes a trip to Bristol, and one of his pieces has lasted for probably a year or more. Always top class.

2207. Shoreditch, London (31)

My visit to Shoreditch, London, back in November last year reminded me of a significant difference between the London and Bristol street art scenes. In London, there is a strong wheatpaste movement, and in some places there is barely a square inch of a wall that isn’t covered with a paste up. In Bristol on the other hand, wheatpastes are a rarity, and are normally provided by visitors to the city such as Face the Strange, D7606, Tian, Losthills and of course qWeRT. The last frequent Bristol-based wheatpaster was Kid Crayon, but he has moved on to spray-painting now. I think Kedals might be the only one doing it at the moment – room for some new entrants?

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

This is a little collection of wonderful googly-eyed paste ups by qWeRT which are dotted all over the place in Shoreditch.

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

qWeRT’s pieces are always rather cute (a word I rarely use) and endearing, like this one holding up a banner saying simply ‘need more love’.

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

I have always liked this form of street art and qWeRT’s work in particular.

2206. Allen Gardens, London (3)

Sometimes it is just too difficult to talk about how good a piece really is, because the words used are clumsy and don’t really do the artist justice. This is a case in point. It is a zombie piece (not to everyone’s taste) by JXC, an artist I have come across a couple of times at Upfest.

JXC, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018
JXC, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018

Everything about this is good – an arresting subject, incredible precision and artwork, great colour selection and a level of detail rarely seen on the street. As an observer, sometimes it is just so hard to comprehend how these guys do this with spray cans, I am left in awe. As you can see, I rather like this piece which I photographed in London back in November last year.

JXC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
JXC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016

2185. Hanbury Street, London (2)

I am often caught in two minds about the ‘high-end’ street art that is much more common in London than in Bristol, because it can appear to forget where its roots are sometimes. This is a fairly weak observation, because actually I pretty much love the entire street/graffiti art spectrum, but what I particularly love about Dale Grimshaw’s work is that for me it bridges the gap between the street and the posh stuff so very well.

Dale Grimshaw, Hanbury Street, London, April 2019
Dale Grimshaw, Hanbury Street, London, April 2019

This amazing piece is typical of Dale Grimshaw’s work and was painted a day or two before I took this picture, so I tyhink I got really lucky. Here’s what he had to say abou it on Instagram:

Latest wall piece in London. Imagery from PNG but highlighting the occupation & atrocities in West Papua by Indonesia.

A man with a message and exceptional talent.

2184. Brick Lane (4)

Sometimes you need to be eagle-eyed. Many of you will be familiar with the work of French artist C215 (Christian Guemy) and will have seen pieces by him in Paris or London, or indeed all over Europe. It is his cats in particular that he is really well known for and here is a rather old looking and very small C215 cat in Brick Lane.

C215, Brick Lane, London, April 2019
C215, Brick Lane, London, April 2019

This one was so very well ‘camouflaged’ by all the other busy scrawls on the door that if I had blinked I would have missed it. His work has such a deft touch that brings his pieces to life. I am amazed that in such a small two-tone piece, the character of the cat comes shining through. A brilliantly talented artist.