Author Archives: Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Spot The Difference! Competition Time

The third London International Pasteup Festival team tactically arranged the new art submitted for the festival around existing art. Some of that existing art was well weathered from LIPF2, the second London International Pasteup Festival.

Read all abaht LIPF3 HERE, then enter the competition.

Prize: A voucher for the Shoreditch Street Art Tour for up to 4 humans

Composite image of the front of the former Seven Stars pub on Brick Lane comparing the appearance on two dates about a year apart

Seven Stars, Brick Lane LIPF 2023 vs LIPF 2022

All you have to do is compare the London International Pasteup Festival 2023 v. 2022 images above and count how many different paste ups survived the 11 month and 6 days between LIPF2 and LIPF3. While you’re at it, write down the names of as many of the artists whose worked survived from LIPF2 to LIPF 3 as you can. Then:

sign up to the Shoreditch Street Art Tours newsletter on the tour website
go to our Instagram, comment on this picture and shout out at least one friend
email your count and your list of those enduring artists you identify to our email

SAME SIZE PRINT:

Competition closes midnight 24^th December 2023

Please do not ask for a higher resolution version of this image a rude reply definitely offends

multiples including colour variants of the same piece of art only count as 1

The winner will be the person who meets conditions 1, 2 and 3 above and gets closest to the number of surviving pieces of art the judges count.

In the event of a tie on estimates of the number of surviving pieces, the entry correctly identifying the most artists of enduring art pieces will be the winner.

If that does not produce a clear winner the winner will be determined by a draw.

The judges’ decision is final

Voucher valid for one public Shoreditch Street Art Tour for up to four adults or mix of adults and juniors

Voucher will expire on 31 December 2024 or date of booked tour, whichever is earlier

Winner may change a booking subject to more than 48 hours notice.

no cash alternative.

no entries by tour guides or the LIPF organisation (including paste up team) will be counted

Street Art In Paris

“A decaying paste up in Butte aux Caille proved worthy of almost an entire essay in itself. The subject is a young girl, looking confidently at the viewer, relaxed yet perhaps not totally welcoming our intrusion into her world. The concentration on her face seems to ask “Is this a person I can trust or not?”

The artist is Italian stencilist Federico Luvol, many thanks to Thom Thom for supplying the ID. The young girl is actually a Syrian refugee at school in Italy and the message concerns the appalling treatment dished out to refugees who have fled war, horror and ethnic cleansing in their homeland only to face a different kind of abuse in supposed countries of refuge. The paste up art is a composite of stencilled image and cut paper negative lightly overlayed with splattered spraypaint. Over time the paper has decayed and in a couple of places, down the right arm and the back of the head, the paper has torn away leaving a blank wall silhouette defined by the paint overspray, this adds a third component to the collaged image. This is the kind of street art discovery that revives tired limbs, jaded eyes and gives me the motivation to kick on and find more.”

Extract from “Paris Street Art – Part Deux” on sister blog Graffoto

photo: Dave Stuart

Space Invader Flashing and Flashed

Space Invader last strengthened his invasion of London in 2016 and from a peak of 150 the number of Invaders stationed in London has slowly diminished. Some have been kidnapped and a number of those have been held to ransom on Planet Ebay. Some went dark, contact lost as they simply disappeared. Some deteriorated and decayed with time. The lucky few however returned to their sentry posts restored, refreshed, reinvigorated and reactivated by Space Rescue International. They prefer “Reactivation.”

Space Invader LDN_133 mosaic street art vigilant at Elephant and Castle

Space Invader LDN_133 Reactivated – see also top image

News of recent reactivations prompted a bike ride this morning to wildernesses south of the river where a number have resumed their stealthy monitoring activities.

mosaic space invader street art near waterloo London

Space Invader LDN_84, grumpy so-and-so

LDN_84, perhaps not happy being south of the river

Space Invader LDN_134 mosaic street art through the bushes close up

Space Invader LDN_134 stealthily observes London

Space Invader LDN_133 scrutinises alien craft

Space Invader LDN_131 mosaic street art near Kennington

Space Invader LDN_131 eternally lurking

Space Invader LDN_131 going nowhere

The most far flung was way out in Brixton, its remote location prompted an invader health check with one of the supreme reconnaissance group on the leader board of Invader’s smartphone game “Flash Invader”. This guru advised that LDN_42 had actually been sighted and recently cleaned by another Master of the High Score screen, Mr Steam and as a result, the signal was strong.

Space Invader LDN_42, old school Brixton resident

It’s not about the stats or the ego of soaring up the high score chart but five invader’s inspected, 100 points scored and a huge 678 place rise smashing into the top 40,000 on the leader board made this a very productive hour! It took my flashed London Invaders into treble figures, 101 of 150 mosaics flashed, this is the kind of stats fetish that satisfies the inner nerd.

screengrab Space Invader Flash Invader game high scores

Lost in Space (but getting higher)

LINKS

Read more about the work of the Reactivation Team in our 2016 interview with this highly secretive group of space operatives here.

Space Invader

Reactivation Team

All photos copyright Dave Stuart

London International Pasteup Festival 2023

The 3^rd edition of the London International Pasteup Festival was a magnificent, colourful, creative and chaotic success. Following an open call art came from all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, USA, Jordan, Greece, Uruguay and Preston to name just a few places that aren’t London.

The art included every imaginable format capable of being pasted up with the LIPF special blend of wallpaper paste and PVA.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pasteup Street art on wall on Brick Lane for the London International Pasteup Festival 2023

Soandso PDX, with Vegan Flava (Swe) and others

ACAC All Cops Are Clowns stencil street art pasted up as paste of London International Pasteup Festival 2023

All Cops Are Clowns says Yo Pecador, spraypaint, single layer stencil on party tablecloth paper

In several spots the pasteup crew met with “Concern” from property owners, which kind of adds to the fun. At Fashion Street occupants praised the art, saying they were always delighted when the art on their walls changed.

Fashion Street London before the London International Pasteup Festival updated the street art

Fashion Street Before LIPF3 – including survivors Mowcka, Toastoro, RX Skulls, Quint, Neon Savage

Fashion Street London after the London International Pasteup Festival refreshed the street art

Fashion Street After LIPF3. So and So PDX, Zelda Bomba, Doodlher, Wrdsmth, UltramarineDream, Emzo, Sincanvas, Planet Selfie, Catscult, Paddywaggon, Oddo, Jola, Jace, D7606, Coloquix, Diva Dog LA, Number Six Prints, Amore, Art Tits

Check out a short clip of the pasteup team in action on a few of the walls here on the Shoreditch Street Art Tours Instagram

Eight locations benefitted from comprehensive LIPF3 makeovers and several of the LIPF2 locations received minor tarting up.

Fashion St London pasteup street art for the 3rd London International Pasteup Festival

Fashion St, the big picture

Blackall Street London pasteup street art for the 3rd London International Pasteup Festival

One part of Blackall Street: Yo Pecador, RX Skulls (2022), Vegan Flava, Easyone, Orrible (pre festival), The Ass Cream, Did by Rua, Slow Shrug, My Pen Leaks, Jane and Rik, Pixelpunk, Mnky, Doodlher, Paddywaggon, Blackligma

Puma Court detail: Katrine Beth Reigstad, Koko Bayer, Toastoro, Apparan, Goldloxe, Nudehead, PInk Boneyard, Neftnik, RX Skulls. Voxx Romana

Buxton St London pasteup street art for the 3rd London International Pasteup Festival

Buxton St: feat. Yo Pecador, Pmntowl, Jola, My Pen Leaks, Sincanvas, d7606, Visionox, Mort art, Subdude, Wrdsmth, tweet_streetart, tanzt_die_orange, Lidia Lidia, number six prints

Pasteup Street art on wall on Seven Stars yard, Brick Lane for the London International Pasteup Festival 2023

Seven Stars Yard fragment (see top image for full wall): Tweet_street art, TV Head ATX, Toastoro, Scrapyard Specs, Mkny, Jace, Did by Rua, D7606, Banga Street Art, Perishable Rush, blackligma; also David Guest, Brocolli Man, Raddington Falls

Grimsby St London pasteup street art for the 3rd London International Pasteup Festival

Grimsby St, the big picture

Small portion of Grimsby St walls: Apparan, Creative-Electric, Subdude, Raf Urban, Diva Dog LA, Bento Ghoul, Streetvulven, Visionox, Jace, Wrdsmth, Tripsandpieces, Jace, Briliant_gr, Jola, Lidia Lidia, Homo Riot

Calvin St London pasteup street art for the 3rd London International Pasteup Festival

Calvin St: City Kitty, Greatboxers, Green Taxonomy, Nasty, Briliant_Gr, D7606, The Artful Fro, Mowcka, Lidia Lidia, Eduard Dinic, Toastoro, Fra Quendo, Pre LIPF: Darkevil Arts,Neon Savage, Boxitrixi, Donk, Corrosive8

It took a revolving gang of paste flingers led by the artists and principal organisers Apparan and Subdude 4 long days of action to paste up the art prior to the festival.

several Street artists adding art to a wall on Brick Lane for the London International Pasteup Festival 2023

sunny days pasting art at Grimsby Street

The festival included fundraising, a paste up workshop run by the legend Mowcka and a pop up art shop at the notorious and popular Monty’s on Brick Lane.

People making art for the London International Pasteup Festival Pasteup Workshop

LIPF3 Pasteup Workshop . Photo: Apparan

LIPF3 marked a further development in the organiser’s approach to arranging the walls. In 2021 LIPF1 (review here) involved placing the art on walls with permission and in several locations the art was pasted onto vinyl tarpaulins which were tied to permission walls. LIPF2 (review here) in 2022 saw the team focus on pasteup halls of fame with tacit approval or tolerance, except one location where an occupant took extreme umbrage with the pasters and a cake slice to the walls. The absence of permission and the placement on existing pasteups gave the display a more authentic feel, something closer to the true spirit of pasteup street art.

This time, LIPF3, the team extended the number of walls decorated and worked around and with existing pasteup art, retaining large amounts of art already on the wall so that a spectrum of paper art from different stages of the street art life span could be seen. This meant that rather than a uniform brand new appearance of art all the same age, there was rips, textures and elements of the natural aging process present.

Seven Stars Yard

The pasteup team take great pains to try to avoid the walls looking like formal gallery hang arrangements, Uberfubs contributed significantly to the overall aesthetic adding her colourful circles to break up the depressing tyranny of the long straight edge.

Colourful circles by Uberfubs connect and break up art by many street artists at The London International Pasteup Festival

Uberfubs between Doodhler, ODDO, Fra Quendo, Jola, D7606, Toastoro, Nasty, Tweet_streetart, Katsukai Collective, Subdude, DaddyStreetFox

The paste up crew didn’t just retain existing art, they even repaired some beautiful pieces that were on the verge of giving up the ghost. No charge 😉

The next video is a homage to the London International Pasteup festival featuring close to 70 shots of the art displayed on a number of the walls around Shoreditch.

London International Pasteup Festival was held on the weekend of 16th and 17th of September. The display survives but diminishes over time as new art goes over old.

The London International Pasteup Festival are congratulated on doing such a fabulous job at keeping this often overlooked and dismissed element of street art culture alive and relevant, as well as producing a wonderful update to a large number of walls around Shoreditch (and beyond through related projects)

As is the case with all street art except murals, participants in LIPF3 were not required to identify as artists, anyone could send in paper art and that could be you next time! Follow the London International Pasteup Festival for future news of further opportunities to join in the fun.

Click for LIPF3 Locations Map

London International Pasteup Festival Instagram

All Photos: Dave Stuart except workshop photos courtesy Apparan

Banksy Exhibition Cut and Run

The ground floor of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow was been taken over by a huge retrospective of some of Banksy’s greatest hits, more than 75 pieces in total. Unfortunately health reasons meant I could not make the exhibition until the last week but here for the benefit of all who haven’t had the chance to go, the exhibition closed 28^th August, here are some reflections on a characteristically sensational Banksy exhibition.

Gallery Of Modern Art, Glasgow

Banksy sprung the exhibition on the unsuspecting public with zero notice, a modus operandi he employed for his 2009 “Banksy v. Bristol Museum and gallery” show. His shows always achieve capacity attendance with long waiting lines so no advance notice is required and the marketing budget must be next to zero.

Cone placement

A few years ago Banksy’s former manager Steve Lazarides put on a show of Banksy prints at Sotheby’s in London and since then a huge industry of un-authorised mediocre travelling shows of Banksy’s art have sprung up. I mean – re-imagined 3D sculptures derived from a Banksy image on paper what kind of uninspired diminished art trinket is that? This has pissed Banksy off, as evidenced by his Q&As which were basically a warning not to go to those shows. Cut and Run is Banksy’s official retrospective based on his street art rather than his indoor commercial stuff and it wipes the wall with those rip off copycats.

Banksy Website Product Recall screengrab

Fake exhibitions – Banksy.co.uk website 2019 onwards

The majority of the art pieces comprise battle scarred stencils imaginatively staged to recreate familiar Banksy images going right back to his earliest stencil pieces. Converting stencils into viable exhibition worthy pieces of art has required some augmentation. Stencils of the black layer of images have had a light coat of white or grey to define the black and outline the rest of the image. Check the dual aura of white and black around the edge of the stencil image illustrating the cover of the show book, a good example.

Banksy "Cut and Run" book cover with early stencil of running policemen

Cut and Run Banksy book cover

There are also stencilled artworks as opposed to stencils turned into artworks and almost every installation or piece of art is accompanied by pithy text in the classic Banksy vein.

If you are find that this review is a bit light on photos of art from the exhibition you are right. Photography was not allowed in the exhibition. A motley crew of gallery attendants were on hand to take polaroid snaps using a weak built-in camera flash, consequently we have here a selection of dim photos, dull photos and some photos from the distant past. Cheers Banksy.

Banksy Cut and Run visitor pose for polaroid in Banksy phone booth with GCHQ spies listening

Spy Booth v innocent member of the public

The exhibition layout is essentially two meandering passages connected by a larger hall in the middle and at the end you exit through the gift shop (of course) which then spits you out in a passage of thousands of multi coloured audience generated tags. The show starts with a reconstruction of part of Banksy’s studio, seemingly a stencil cutting station. The final installation is a reconstruction of Banksy’s bedroom.

Banksy explanation of why he still does street art at Cut and Run exhibition Gallery Of Modern Art Glasgow August 2023

Why I Still Do This

Banksy bedroom mock up at Cut and Run exhibition Gallery Of Modern Art Glasgow August 2023

Wherever he lays his hat

Main Hall view at Banksy Cut and Run exhibition Gallery Of Modern Art Glasgow

Large Hall (repo’d crayon house to left) – viewed from bedroom window

If you expect vandal paraphernalia and anarchist regalia then the actual bedroom may surprise you with its conventionality. Lots of militaria, budget toiletries and the Prodigy’s Jilted Generation double LP displaying its inner sleeve kill-the-bill rave fantasy illustration by Les Edwards. As that album was released in 1994 this would suggest either Banksy is younger than we imagined, 1974 is often cited as a possible year of birth, or the bedroom is that of someone on the cusp of their 20s whose décor hadn’t kept step with their emergence into young adulthood.

Banksy Bedroom mock up detail at Cut and Run exhibition Gallery Of Modern Art Glasgow

Prodigy LP, Castle Morton Moment

The exhibition is way more than the widely reported stencil retrospective, a couple of pieces had not been seen before in public and both have interesting stories. One quirky installation comprises a collection of oil paintings by a painter named in the show as Pete Brown. In February this year Banksy created a piece known as Valentine Day Mascara in the seaside town Margate. There was an artist on hand painting the scene in oil on board and making a nice job of it. From that hand come 5 oil paintings displayed with Banksy’s explanation that he believes the art in the street is as much about the pageant that develops around it as it is the street art he created.

Outdoor en plein air painter Pete Brown paints Banksy Valentines Day Mascara at Margate 2023

“Valentine’s Day Mascara” scene feat Pete Brown, Margate, Valentine’s Day 2023

If Pete Brown had turned out to be an untraceable pseudonym that would have been bog standard Banksy subterfuge but Peter Brown aka “Pete The Street” is a proper proper artist with an impressive cv and a website that makes no reference to Banksy, a sure fire indicator of someone who has worked for Banksy! https://www.peterbrownneac.com/biography/

Margate paintings viewed through one-way window from Banksy bedroom

Another new work, or at least one being seen in “real life” for the first time, depicts a rat and a couple of spray cans which previously appeared on the film set in Bristol for the TV series The Outlaws. The press had a field day at the time with the “controversial” buff by Christopher Walken but this was no disturbed actor tantrum, its painting over was scripted and Banksy contributed the image in celebration of a programme made in his sometime home town. Curiously this painting is not reproduced in the book “Cut and Run” that goes with the show.

Arcade game grab

On the subject of books, Banksy has been writing books since early in his career, “Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall” was published in 2001 and the text notes accompanying the art in Cut and Run are as important as part of the art as the stencil and imagery. In some instances the imagery seems to be there just to support the delivery of a well written, witty, pithy and often self-deprecating story. The display of the storyboard, a painting and an animation cell from Banksy’s couch sequence opening to The Simpsons in 2010 is a perfect example, setting up to his brilliant “racist hat crime” punchline.

Banksy animation storyboard from Simpsons couch sequence 2011

SImpsons Storyboard, Banksy website, 2011

Banksy animation frame from Simpsons couch sequence 2011

Simpsons animator sweatshop

It seems obligatory to describe this show as Banksy’s first solo exhibition for 14 years. This is a bit puzzling as it required that we forget the 2019 “Gross Domestic Product” show in Croydon.

The stencil used to create “Basquiat Stop and Search”, one of a pair of tributes put up below London’s Barbican Centre on the eve of the opening of the 2017 Basquiat retrospective had a spectacular amount of additional painting to recreate the whole of the original image. The image on the street is possibly the most painterly illegal Banksy street art of them all and merited this colourful exhibition treatment.

Banksy painted tribute to Basquiat at Barbican 2017 called Basquiat stop and search

“Basquiat Stop and Search”, Barbican, 2017

Content wise this show contains a lot of Banksy humour, huge amounts of the trademark anti authoritarian humour, lots of great anecdotes told with typical Banksy impish wit and as you would expect, plenty of politics. Banksy the thrower of light onto political murk highlights so many issues and causes including Arab-Israeli tensions, the environment, anti-war protest, racism, child exploitation, the refugee crisis, Ukraine, consumerism, Brexit and gentrification.

No Ball Games

Banksy’s mystery is in no way diminished by this show, the exhibition is personality not persona, after the show no one is any none the wiser about Banksy’s identity and you already knew Banksy is the coolest artist in town

Exit Through The Gift Shop

In revealing a bit more of how the magician does his tricks Cut and Run has echoes of what Banksy achieved with the 2008 Cans Festival group show which had a public spray area where anyone and everyone turn up with a stencil and release their inner outdoor artist. This exhibition shows the comparative simplicity of Banksy’s craft, we see the tools, the stencils and the end results. The real genius however lies in the inspiration and the execution and both on the streets and in delivering this show Banksy has no peers.

Designated Graffiti Area

Banksy Cut and Run visitors pose for polaroid in front of Banksy meat truck

Lambs

For a comprehensive listing of the items exhibited in “Cut and Run” check out my other blog post here.

Banksy “Cut and Run”

Gallery Of Modern Art, Glasgow

18th June – 28th August 2023

All Photos: Dave Stuart except where otherwise credited

Street artist Brickflats Interview

“Foreigners own £55bm of London homes as buying spree set to climb” was the somewhat xenophobic headline in last night’s Evening Standard. The real issue is that demand continues to exceed supply, politicians setting newbuild target but fail to walk the walk and for every homeless person in the UK there are multiple empty residential properties. These circumstances spark the explosive property rental market which sees the lifeblood of the metropolis living in stupidly expensive boxes with long commutes to work and ridiculous proportions of disposal income sinking into accommodation costs. So what’s this to do with Brickflats?

Brickflats

In 2021 I stumbled literally on the art of Brickflats embedded in a Shoreditch pavement. It was original, unique and as I discovered it was expressing social concern regarding London’s housing situation. Brickflats talks in this interview about his background as a creative, the concept behind his wall interventions and a fascinating insight into his process and installation techniques.

Film by Dave Stuart

Brickflats instagram (includes locations map)

My Dog Sighs vs The Big Issue Street Art Special

Street artist My Dogs Sighs from Portsmouth has been handed the monumental privilege of guest editing a special street art edition of the Big Issue magazine. The magazine goes on sale from Monday 10^th July – seek out your local vendor for a copy

My Dog Sighs founded the “Free Art Friday” movement with his painted cans and has a 20 years pedigree of street art ranging from paste ups to epic murals. For his curation of this street art edition of the Big Issue, My Dog Sighs features artists, projects and creatives that fit under the umbrella of his theme ‘Reclaiming the lost”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Jealous Gallery in Shoreditch has stepped to support and celebrate this special edition of the Big Issue hosting a 10 day exhibition of new paintings and a limited edition fundraising print by My Dog Sighs. All profits from the print are going to Big Issue along with a percentage of all sales at the art show. There is a private view this coming Thursday 13^th July 1900 – 2030 though sadly the limited number of spaces have all been snapped up. Plenty of time to pop in to the exhibition though.

My Dog Sighs in Studio ahead of “Reclaim The Lost”, photo courtesy Jealous Gallery

Other artists in the show and the magazine include Snik, Rone, Junker Jane and Rust Bucket Workshop. Anyone lucky enough to have made it to MDS’s “Inside” project in 2021 will immediately see how the art of the latter two resonates with My Dog Sighs object rich installations.

Global Street Art have just finished a phenomenal spray painted trompe L’oeil mural on the Village Underground wall, conveniently close to Jealous Gallery. Look very closely at this stunning mural!

Big Issue mural – photo Subdude

A little dickybird tells me there may also be some new My Dog Sighs street art somewhere in Shoreditch, sometime soon… stay tuned!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Big Issue mural – Photo Subdude

Shoreditch Street Art Tours is proud to support the My Dog Sighs Big Issue Street Art Special

All Photos Dave Stuart except Subdude and courtesy Jealous Gallery where stated

Beyond The Streets Revisited

“Repeat visits are recommended” we urged in our review of the “Beyond The Streets” Exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London. The show has been consistently busy even on weekdays but on Easter Sunday I found myself lasat in in the afternoon and wandering through a completely deserted gallery. This was very much a “quick pop in” visit after an afternoon matinee film finished earlier than had expected, I didn’t have my camera with me so I grabbed a bunch of phone pano shots.

Faile

The real magic of the exhibition is in the historic detail, most of that resides in the vitrines and the photo and poster displays. These pano shots of the empty gallery halls really give a better idea of the scale of the exhibition and nature of the contemporary art the graffiti OGs are now creating, I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Futura2000 & Malcolm McLaren

Duncan Weston

Felipe Pantone

Escif

Vhils

Mode2, Vhils

Craig Costello (Krink), Tin Conlon, Delta, Katsu

Tish Murtha, Steve Powers, Conor Harrington

Steve Powers

Paul INsect

Kaws, Todd James (Reas), Kenny Scharf, Eric Haze

Jenny Holzer

Crash

Chris Daze, Shoe

C. R. Steyck III, Maripol, Dash Snow, Brassai,

Cey Adams, Eric Haze, Beastie Boys, C. R. Steyck III,

Duncan Weston

Beyond The Streets Saatchi Gallery, Kings Road 17th Feb – 9th May 2023 All photos: Dave Stuart

Manchester Street Art

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Manchester to explore that city’s street art. Manchester has great architecture, a distinct exciting personality adn plenty of locations where stencils, stickers, paste ups and graffiti flourishes. There are also some impressive murals.

This next gallery is a sample of the roughly 800 photographs taken over a 2 day exploration.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Space Invader aficionados will doubtless be aware of the Manchester invasion that took place in 2004, 47 street mosaics were left lurking and without too much effort 31 of them were located and dutifully “flashed”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

These are just a small number of the photographic highlights, this is a SHOREDITCH blog after all!! The full write up can be found on the Graffoto blog.

All photos Dave Stuart