Tag: London

2361. Leake Street tunnel, London (8)

I have seen one or two pieces by Roo in Bristol, and might even have seen some in London before, but this one is one of the most memorable so far. It features a rather self-satisfied rat sitting on a pot of paint, with a brush in hand, and I think we have to assume he painted the ROO in the background.

Roo, Leake Street, London, July 2019
Roo, Leake Street, London, July 2019

I am wondering if this piece was painted for the #Do1Cancer campaign, as many other pieces down there were hashtagged with the campaign. To me it looks like Roo has been very clever and turned the pot of Dulux paint into a ‘DU1’, if this is the case then I doff my cap, if not then I have seen something that was not intended. Either way this is a delightful piece from the London-based artist.

Advertisements

2360. Leake Street tunnel, London (7)

I have to say that this is a slightly baffling piece by Gustavo Nenao in Leake Street tunnel. It is a photorealistic portrait of Nelson Mandela wearing a not very photorealistic party hat with Happy Birthday written on it. While the subject matter is certainly curious, the execution is perfect, especially as the portrait is in black and whiite, with so many shades in it.

Gustavo Nenao, Leake Street, London, July 2019
Gustavo Nenao, Leake Street, London, July 2019

I am guessing it was done as a birthday tribute to the great man himself, but can’t be sure, and hey – I was in London which is way outside my normal stamping ground and I feel no pressure to know anything about anything on the street scene there. I come as a tourist, just like everyone else. A querky and excellent piece.

2359. Leake Street tunnel, London (6)

Every now and again I have to go to London for work, and a few days ago I ran a workshop in Lambeth. Although going to London can be a real drag, on this occasion I was only a fifteen minute walk from Waterloo Station and Leake Street, which made the whole trip worth it and some. So after the workshop was over, I pootled over to the tunnel and managed to get a few nice pics.

Ebee, Leake Street, London, July 2019
Ebee, Leake Street, London, July 2019

This is a beautiful piece by Ebee, whose name is spelled out on the building blocks, and the character is none other than the amazing Vanellope von Schweetz from the animation Wreck it Ralph 2. Unfortunately the piece is a bit tagged, which is the case with many of the superb murals in Leake Street tunnel, but it goes with the territory I guess. More Leake Street magic to come.

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

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.