Tag Archives: Benjamin Irritant

July 2021 Street Art Top Marks

July! That’s Summer supposedly, the start of Summer holidays and based on this year’s experience the time when every street art fan must consider carrying sun tan cream, an anorak and an umbrella! The weather was a bit bonkers but the art was sensational.

The feature image above is Frida Kahlo by Lost Hills looking like she is creating all that art on the streets of Brick Lane

It is always a great pleasure to chance upon a new street sculpture by 3x3x3 and it seems that on this year’s visit to London he may have left at least 6 new sculptures on the streets. At the time of writing I have 2 more to find.

July was ushered in with Benjamin Irritant ruffling a few feathers with the placement of his rabbits, by the time I arrived to take a photo of the wall below within 24 hours another artist had already gone over Benjamin! The ripples continue to spread out with tactical placements by other artists over Benjamin’s art still occurring just this past weekend.

street art pasteups by Benjamin Irritant and Sanctum Cyborgia

Benjmin Irritant and Sanctum Cyborgia and many more

On one tour in the middle of July the group had the pleasure of street artists Neon Savage and MeandBlue turning up and after a friendly chat they proceeded to put some fresh street art right in front of us.

multiple monoprint flowers in Shoreditch by street artist Meandblue

Multiple Flowers by Meandblue

Bruno The Dog by street artist Neon Savage

London’s wild parakeet population increased by one more during the month with this wooden character looking overhead thanks to Trips And Pieces, Voxx Romana and Arrex Skulls study from above.

wooden street art parakeet by Trips and Pieces near Brick Lane

Ring Necked Parakeet by Trips and Pieces

Some DaddyStreetFox art was spotted in a major artwork by Gilbert and George exhibited in their most recent exhibition at the White Cube Gallery. After a bit of sanitising of the bins in that area, a new fox has appeared to lay waste to the bin bags there.

DaddyStreetFox

It has been a few years since we saw art by New York street artist Stefani McDade on the streets of Shoreditch but she was spotted on the streets of Shoreditch pasting up in the company of DaddyStreetFox. This particular piece suggests Stefani has had a successful conclusion to her unicorn hunt, or is unicorn homicide what has led to them being so elusive? Apparan and Bruno, Neon Savage’s dayglo dog look on.

paste up unicorn murder by New York street artist Stefani McDade

Unicorn homicide by Stefani Mcdade

Currently riding high on my list of break through street artists is Fat Cap Sprays who has a busy month. This absolute quacker is currently running close to Village Underground, it was spotted for the first time by a guest on our recent novelty Old Street public street art tour.

Spraypainted Neon Daffy Duck street art by Fat Cap Sprays in Shoreditch

Spraypainted Neon Duck by Fat Cap Sprays

Street Art is temporary, it is short lived, the always sensational painter Ed Hicks painted this masterful void which survived in pristine condition for only a very short time. I chance upon another Ed Hicks painting in July so I took a snap on my phone, the next morning I returned to find it had been completely taken out, which as it was on a legal graff wall is standard.

Street Artist Ed Hicks spraypaints a void in Shoreditch

The Void by Ed Hicks

Graffiti writer Only has created a succession of astonishing graffiti pieces with medieval crusades themed painted in the letter fill. The latest one appeared just off Brick Lane incorporates a Roman theme, is it just me or is there a hint of MF DOOM about the gladiator?

Spraypainted graffiti on Brick Lane by Only HMZ with Roman scenes and gladiator

Rome things by Only HMZ

Dan Kitchener’s night-time street scenes are appreciated for their Blade Runneresque perpetual rain. The rainy window effect of this gorgeous piece on Brick Lane is superb. Obviously the best way to photograph this is when it is wet but the rain recently has been so biblical that the last thing on our mind was iphone snaps of street art!

spraypainted photorealistic raindrops on a window on Brick Lane by Dan Kitchener

Rainy Brick Lane Views by Dan Kitchener

Black Dove from Dublin was in London at the end of the month for a blink and you missed it solo show, we have seen Black Dove’s art in Shoreditch in the past though at the time of this visit I only found two new pieces, including this rather lovely sticker.

A paste up bird by Irish street artist Black Dove hovers over Brick Lane Couple by Stik in Shoreditch

Black Dove hovers over Stik’s iconic Brick Lane Couple

I hope you like this eclectic selection of street artists active on the streets of London in July, some practicing legally, some without permission, some freehand spraypainters, some paste up artists, all committed to taking advantage of the wonderful gallery out there on the streets.

Artists links in the post. All photos: Dave Stuart

Street Art vs Brexit

Yesterday evening the UK’s parliament voted to show that they had not changed their mind since December on a withdrawal agreement that hadn’t changed since December. Street artists have not been impressed with the political process over the past three months, nor indeed the past three years or so.

Artist Not Known, March 2019

“Bye Bye” says an anonymous artist who spotted a gate in Shoreditch conveniently painted EU flag blue. This flag with one member missing piece echoes Banksy’s enormous EU flag with a tromp l’oeil worker chipping away a star brilliantly greeting UK leavers as they depart through Dover.

Banksy, Street art, mural, Dover, Brexit, EU Flag, painter, ladder, stencil

Banksy, Dover June 2017

It was noticeable and disappointing how little political street art appeared during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign. The most memorable from a very small entry list were these spoofs on the adverts for Banksy’s street art documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” lampooning Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.

Boris Johnson, Artist Not Known, June 2016

Nigel Farage, Artist Not Known, June 2016

Since then we have seen a ramping up of the Brexit street art as the unthinkable went from implausible to likely to now pretty much unavoidable.

Brexit Through The Chip Shop – CodeFC, June 2017

Scrap Brexit – Uberfubs, 2018

In the aftermath of the referendum result the immediate targets for street art scorn and derision were David Cameron, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, the architects and chief pom-pom wavers for the Leave cause.

Spineless Nigel Farage, UKIP party by MCLN, August 2016

Boris Johnson buffoon, fuckwit, bellend, racist, snob by Boo Who Up North

3 Brexiteers – Derek Davis (gone), Boris Johnson (missing inaction), Jacob Rees Mogg by Subdude, April 2018

Boris Johnson is DUMBO by K-Guy

The political paralysis and consequential insertion of heads into the sand really gained a head of steam in December.

Scrap Brexit – Uberfubs, Dec 2018

Theresa May faced a vote of no confidence by her own party after cancelling the first so-called “meaningful vote” in December

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Street Art Tour, Political Art, Joe Bloggs, Jonesy, Theresa May, Brexit,

Maygo by Joe Bloggs, Dec 2018

I was recently obliged to take a few weeks away from the walls and pavements of Shoreditch and on resuming street meanderings last weekend I was bowled over by the amount of Brexit street art that appeared in that short absence.

The duo Quiet British Accent belatedly brought George V into the debate.

Quiet British Accent – Bugger Brexit, last weekend

Theyen Rich aka Corrosive 8 deploys the sound political debating stratgey of making your opponent look simultaneously stupid and obscene, the Prime Minster’s watersports would certainly rate triple X. He also borrows the buses to nowhere from anarcho-punk artist Jamie Reid and adds a Carrie Reichardt slogan.

>Mistress Theresa’s Golden Shower – Corrosive 8, last weekend

Corrosive 8 with nod to Jamie Reid & Carrie Reichardt, last weekend

Benjamin Irritant’s rabbit asks a very pointed rhetorical question, is it great again yet?

Benjamin Irritant, last weekend

The Misfortuneteller has developed a witty street cartoon style in the past couple of years, this largest piece to date borrows its style from a closing down sale, its simplicity belying the fact that it is emphasizing the gap between the Brexiteer’s promises of “the easiest trade deals ever negotiated” against the visibly increasing isolation the country faces with borders and barriers hardening, no deals and inward investment evaporating.

Britain Closing – The Misfortuneteller, March 20219

Subdude, producer of a lot of Brexit related art over the past few years, has deviated from his usual distinctive style of political humour on flat colour blocks to deliver a hand drawn condemnation of petty sectarian spats, photos and cartoons on newspaper pages make it clear who is the target of the jibe. Apparently Subdude has put six out on the streets but so far I have only found three, one of which overlays a political cartoon illustrating Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn both facing a common dilemma, Brexit actually threatening to irreparably split both of the UK’s main political parties. Ironically, in order to placate their parties both are having to turn away from the fact that neither actually supports the position they politically obliged to adopt, we live in weird times.

Subdude, March 2019

Cigarette packet health warnings have been used as the basis for political street art for over 10 years, in fact almost since the regulations came in in 2003, think K-Guy in the mid 2000s. Wanker’s Of The World, whose mission is to identify and award that sobriquet to suitable candidates in the public eye are responsible for enormous cigarette packets mocking the main proponents of the Brexiteers. There are apparently 6, we located 5 in the past week. Ironically, the adoption of those cigarette packet warnings is actually an EU law which mandates the format, size and range of messages in all EU countries.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair “European Research Group”. Brexit Can Be Fatal, last week

Theresa May, Brexit Causes Family Arguments (who’s putting out the bins?)

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Brick Lane, street artists, graffiti, tours, Miss KK, Sell Out, Northern Southner, Agos_Art, Catmousey9, Subdude, political art, EU art, Brexit art,

Boris Johnson, Brexit harms your children

Michael Gove, Quit Brexit Now

IN the interests of fairnessm here is a comprehensive review of all the pro Brexit street art seen since 2016:

Who knows what the monkeys in the chamber are going to do next, certainly they don’t!

Banksy Bristol Museum Poster 2009

This is a condensed version of a blog post that originally appeared on Graffoto blog

LINKS:

Banksy website

CodeFC Instagram

Uberfubs Instagram

MCLN Instagram

Boo Who Up North Instagram

Subdude Instagram

K-Guy Instagram

Joe Bloggs Instagram

Quiet British Accent Instagram

Benjamin Irritant Instagram

The Misfortuneteller Instagram

Wankers Of The World website

All Photos: Dave Stuart

24 Hours – Street Art Changes

Almost every day Shoreditch Street Art Tours comes across new art on the streets and it is a privilege to be able to reveal constantly changing art through the tours and through our social media channels like Instagram and Facebook. Last weekend a huge quantity of new art was found on Sunday which we believe was created since the previous visit 24 hours earlier, this is a little insight into the extent to which the street art can change in just one day.

Paste up by Brighton based artists The Postman Art proved very popular when they first appeared in Shoreditch in November last year so it was lovely to find a number of new works from them on Sunday morning, The framing and the brickwork make the Ewan McGregor particularly photogenic.

Shoreditch, London, Streetart, paste ups, change, ephemeral, street art tour, tour guide, The Postman's Art

Trainspotting era Ewan McGregor – The Postman Art

Robert Smith – legend! The Postman Art

Amy Winehouse (small!) – The Postman Art

Jean Michel Basquiat -The Postman Art

It became apparent on Saturday that there was going to be a new body of work from The Postman Art in Shoreditch when we disturbed a bit of daytime action by this duo the day. Photo used with The Postman Art’s blessing – many thanks.

The Postman Art in action

Also new on the walls was work by Winniemmay, as a group we did spot the artist installing a few of these on Saturday, so it was nice to see the finished articles.

Shoreditch, London, Streetart, paste ups, change, ephemeral, street art tour, tour guide, WinnieMmay

I roll and fall – Winniemmay

Winniemmay put one of her paste ups over a large freehand painted portrait she did late last year but had accumulated a number of tags and stencils, she told us “everyone else has gone over me, why can’t I?”

Let’s get messy you & me – Winniemmay

We love Uberfub’s sequined skulls and there evidently have been more than one dance macabre over the past week. A couple of skulls born early last week (instagram) had disappeared by Saturday, been laid to rest perhaps. On Sunday the largest sequinned skull I have seen loomed over Brick Lane reminding us to “Scrap Brexit”.

Shoreditch, London, Streetart, paste ups, change, ephemeral, street art tour, tour guide, Uberfubs,

Scrap Brexit – Uberfubs

On Saturday morning we came across a new sculpture by the Italian duo UrbanSolid. It was as single brain emitting a wifi hotspot signal, very clever. It was also, as you can see below “signed”. Overnight that single brain hotspot had grown to a multi coloured quartet.

Shoreditch, London, Streetart, paste ups, change, ephemeral, street art tour, tour guide, UrbanSolid

UrbanSolid Saturday 1piece

UrbanSolid 4UP on Sunday

Benjamin Irritant highlighted his loathing of the “want it all, want it now” society we live in with this message in screaming capital letters nicely framed on a distressed door panel, again on Brick Lane. Several other new paste ups by Benjamin were spotted.

Shoreditch, London, Streetart, paste ups, change, ephemeral, street art tour, tour guide, Benjamin Irritant

CONSUME DESTROY TOMORROW TODAY – Benjamin Irritant

Finally, a few dental additions appeared in Shoreditch on Sunday.

Sweet Toof

On Sunday I spotted 28 new pieces of street art that I had not seen before despite having had a good look at all those walls just the day before. This was just a small sample of Shoreditch’s street art hinterland, there was almost certainly much more art put up on other walls in the area. This daily evolution and transformation of the street art is typical of Shoreditch, now it’s your turn to go out and enjoy it!

Links:

The Postman Art Instagram

Winniemmay Instagram

Uberfubs Instagram

UrbanSolid instagram

Benjamin Irritant Instagram

Sweet Toof Instagram

All photos Dave Stuart (Instagram)

Happy Christmas, Maybe

Here is how a few street artists have wished yuletide greetings to anyone who tears their eyes away from the bright lights and window displays to observe their seasonal street art.

I’m sure many of us emphasise with Benjamin Irritant’s swipe at excessive Christmas consumption’

Benjamin Irritant – Hysterical Mass Consumerism

Inkteractive has gone a little bit robust with the fond felicitations, lets hope the weather is a good as captured in the instamatic polaroid pic.

Inkteraktiv MERRY FCKN XMAS

Inkteraktiv MERRY FCKN XMAS AGAIN YOU FCKRS

The MisFortuneTeller has a new business line selling Christmas Unicorns as the healthy alternative to Turkey, bloody GM research!

The MisFortuneTeller – Have A Unicorn For Christmas

Some artist really entered into the Christmas spirit by placing free art out on the streets as lovely stocking fillers for the eagle eyed. On Christmas Eve a lovely Sean Worrall piece found a new home, this one seemed to be some kind of “re-issue” or a rare “number error” piece, the Sean Worrall equivalent of a Penny Black!