Tag Archives: Donk

illegal 0screenprint paste ups by Nylon with graffiti by Drax and Flash on decayed building front

October Street Art in Shoreditch

October ushered in a tipping point in our weather and our clothing choices changed through the gears through the month.  Autumnal colours compete with fresh new artwork on the walls and one exciting development in October was the return of visiting artists from overseas.

Enigma is a Japanese artist who was based in London for a while pre pandemic, went back to Japan and has now returned to London on a permanent basis.  I count seven murals painted since his return in August, five of which he painted this past month.

street art mural by Enigma of weeping man with head on arm

Enigma

It was fascinating to see Italian artist Alex  respond within the week to Enigma’s maudlin male with one of his own, did you spot the tear from the right eye in each?

weeping man by Alessandro Ioviera in Shoreditch

Alessandro Ioviera

It was brilliant to see graffiti legend Nylon splashing some colour on Shoreditch walls, these 3 faced pots just blew my mind.

tribal primative vases by Nylon with hint of cubism

Primative cubist objects by Nylon

Nylon was accompanied by his friend ACE, as evidenced by this screenprint which has what I believe to be a tribal primitive embellishment by Nylon.  See also the featured image at the top which includes earlier tags from graff kings Drax and Flash.

street art paste up screenprint by A.ce augmented by Nylon

Ace and Nylon

A long awaited trend we spotted this month was the return, at long last, of visiting international street artists because they truly sprinkle a dash of talent and genius on the Shoreditch streets. Stinkfish is from Columbia and has been visiting Shoreditch leaving spraypainted and pasteup art in his wake.

coloutful mural of a face in profile by street artist Stinkfish in Shoreditch

Stinkfish Mural

pasteup by Stinkfish in Shoreditch

Stinkfish pasteup

Combo CK was a new name to us and his non permissioned pasteups made a great impact for their size and beauty, his homage to “Girl With Pearl Earring” was a standout.

street art by French artist Combo in Shoreditch homage to Girl With Pearl Earring

Combo CK

Dan Kitchener yielded one long held Shoreditch spot to Stinkfish but cranked up the impressionism another notch with a new “through the rainy window” style mural at another spot.

impressionist mural of a rainy Tokyo street scene at night by street artist Dan Kitchener

Dan Kitchener

We had the pleasure of coming across the versatile Woskerski writing a graffiti piece, he found time to paint a couple of lovely pieces of art including this hound fully prepared for the change in weather.

A blurred train whizzes over a street art painting of an Afghan Hound by street artist Woskerski

Woskerski

Wrdsmth has been visiting London since 2014 to place his wry and uplifting typewritten messages on the streets of London.  He recently gave in to the irresistible charms of London and relocated en famille here and has been taking Shoreditch spots by storm.  Here he has added his clever wordplay alongside a DONK from a few months back

two illegal pasteups on a Shoreditch backstreet by Donk and Wrdsmth

Donk and Wrdsmth

Wrdsmth and Donk have both part of the posse preparing the London International Pasteup Festival, several locations were prepared in October so while technically they are within the scope of this post I am saving the best of the bunch until the November highlights as the Festival takes place next weekend 4th – 7th November.  Lets have another great month and hopefully we will see you back on the street art tour soon.

All photos: Dave Stuart

 


Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard

Shoreditch Paste Up Frenzy!

Shoreditch is full of little corners where street art survives and accumulates in layers, like a busy kitchen pinboard.  Last week one such canvas near Columbia road was transformed by, in no particular order, Donk, Skeleton Cardboard, Rider and Tommy Fiendish into the beautiful paste up collage you see in the feature image above.

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard

L-R Rider, Donk

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard

Skeleton Cardboard

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard

L-R Rider, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard

Whether neglect or tolerance is the reason why the property owner has allowed street art to accumulate, mutate and flourish on this canvas is a matter for another day but it is interesting to look at just a few examples of how the patina of this door’s surface has evolved down the years.

A year Ago in November 2019 the door looked like this:

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard, DaddyStreetFox vs Anne-laure Maison, Donk, Arrex Skulls, Subdude, Fosh, Citty Kitty, Shuby, Noriaki, Silvio Alino

Feat Anne-laure Maison, Donk, Arrex Skulls, Subdude, Fosh, Citty Kitty, Shuby, Noriaki, Silvio Alino, D7606

Just a week ago a fair portion of the art present in 2019 was showing a steely determination to cling on in spite of tempest and subsequent creatives.

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard, DaddyStreetFox vs Anne-laure Maison, Donk, Arrex Skulls, Subdude, Fosh, Citty Kitty, Shuby, Noriaki, Silvio Alino, Bento Ghoul, Voxx Romana, Pyramid Oracle

Nov 2020: Feat DaddyStreetFox vs Anne-laure Maison, Donk, Subdude, Fosh, Citty Kitty, Shuby, Noriaki, Silvio Alino, Bento Ghoul, Voxx Romana, Pyramid Oracle, D7606

The Pyramid Oracle paste up still visible in parts in 2019 and 2020 has already lasted since 2015, thanks mainly to its height.

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard, Pyramid Oracle, Sweet Toof, Donk, Voxx Romana, Noriaki, Anna Laurini, Ema, D7606

2015: Pyramid Oracle, also feat Sweet Toof, Donk, Voxx Romana, Noriaki, Anna Laurini, Ema, D7606

HIN was busy around Shoreditch 2012 – 2014 and if you looked at the bottom of the door in 2013 you would see a HIN character with an Aida face created from her infamous “East End Still Sucks” response to the Hackney Olympics.  That originally started out as a “go vegan” augmentation by HIN of Aida’s screen printed tiger paste up as shown in the following shot, the HIN body was still visible last week!

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard, Sweet Toof, Aida, Kid Acne, Ema, Donk, Angry Face, HIN

2013: Sweet Toof, Aida, Kid Acne, Ema, Donk, Angry Face, HIN

Finally, back in 2012  this canvas was one of many to host the Sweet Toof/Paul Insect street group show.  This photo also features a framed print by New York street artist Gaia in a walk on part!

Streetart, Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours, LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, , Streetartist, paste up, Paste ups, portraits, canvas, Donk, Rider, zombiesquegee, Tommy Fiendish, Skeleton Cardboard, Sweet Toof, Paul Insect, Hin&Aida collab, Kid Acne, Ema

2012: Sweet Toof, Paul Insect, Aida, Hin & Aida collab, Kid Acne, Ema; print by Gaia

As always the beauty of the art process here is the absence of the selective and restrictive eye of a curator, an organiser.

A few years ago a permissioned wall on Hanbury Street triggered a similar “longitudinal” review of the changes time wrought on that particular canvas, click here.

Finally, if you have enjoyed this look back through a street art time machine why not put an end to that lockdown stir crazy feeling by joining the author on a tour of Shoreditch’s street art, click here

All photos: Dave Stuart


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Diggin In The Archives Pt 8

This week in spite of the latest official guidance to follow unofficial interpretations of the law, there have been no trips to Durham.  I have followed my instinct to remain at home to see what scum is floating on the surface of the street art photography archive.

Ludo first put his art on London streets in 2009 and right from the off his Nature’s Revenge project dealt with man vs nature, weaponry, deception and death.  Ludo’s work always had scale and awesome eye-catching placement.  This weaponised orchid dates from 2011.

Ludo, 2011

Street artist and gallerist Rae visited London in 2013 and left an impressive range of paste ups, stickers, painted surfaces and this wacky sculpture which lasted all of 24 hours.

Rae, 2013

Rae, 2013

The Battle Of Fashion St pitted Ronzo’s monster, looking very much exactly like a medical diagram of a virus against studio stablemate Conor Harrington’s faceless soldier.  Like most of Conor’s art this one lasted a long time.

The battle Of Fashion St, Ronzo and Conor Harrington, 2011

Graff snapping mate for many years Joe Epstein aka LDN Graffiti, author of street art book “London Graffiti and Street Art” has teamed up with 9 great street artists to raise funds for Great Ormond St Hospital.  Each artist has created a special version of the book by hand painting the cover, so that’s 9 unique versions of the book.

LDN Graffiti, Joe Epstein, London Graffiti and Street Art, GOSH, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Alo, Dr Zadok, MadC, Neist, Pure Evil, Run, Stik, The Toasters, Vibes, Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Great Ormand Street Hospital COVID-19 Lottery fundraiser

For more images, details and a link to how to support the fund raiser and maybe win one of these fantastic prizes in the LDN GOSH Charity Lottery, click here

One of the featured artists in the LDN GOSH fundraiser is Pure Evil, he doesn’t so much redecorate the book cover as subject it to extreme abuse and reconfiguration, it’s bonkers but brilliant.   In 2012 Pure Evil imagined the Hackney Olympics looting squad making off with some Olympics booty, as seen on this Redchurch Street shutter.

Pure Evil 2012

LDN Graffiti, Joe Epstein, London Graffiti and Street Art, GOSH, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Alo, Dr Zadok, MadC, Neist, Pure Evil, Run, Stik, The Toasters, Vibes, Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Pure Evil LDN GOSH Charity Book

In the happy days when I had a kind of job thing, I did one of my Street Art Photography Workshops in Hackney.  I only found out this week thanks to Inspiring City’s Art Related Noise podcast interview that this stencil piece is “Lee P” by Findac.  Lee P is otherwise known as street artist Eelus.  The second shot illustrates the photographers’ intention –  to show what Lee P was looking at.

Findac, 2013

Findac, 2013

More than a decade of pasting up street art has left no doubt that Donk has an awesome approach to impressive installations created from his own original photos. It would be very easy to dredge up one of Donk’s huge crowd pleaser paste up images like the Fashion St fence (with the tassels), the Willow Street horse facing POW (see featured image above) or the ghetto blaster on Sclater St but with no slight on any of those, sometimes his montages of smaller images show his versatility better.  From 2013 this is a selection of hand finished unique Humble Magnificent and B Brave Indian images featuring Donk jr as model.  Donk’s paste up’s typically decayed beautifully.

Donk 2013

Claudia Walde aka MadC is a graffiti writer and book author. She is also another of the artists to have created a unique painting on a book being auctioned to raised funds for Great Ormond St Hospital, details as above.

In culture with such a huge gender imbalance MadC is a rare example of an internationally regarded graffiti writer. In 2011 the Pure Evil Gallery hosted MadC’s first solo exhibition and graffiti writers came from all over to check out her top notch can skills and brilliant colour palette. Her 2013 abstract mural on Chance St in Shoreditch is well known and still running. Less known perhaps is this stunning 2011 graffiti on the old Micawber St launderette, look closely and you can pick out her name in there. It was huge though this is nowhere near the biggest piece of graffiti MadC ever did.

MadC, 2011

Mad C LDN Graffiti book cover

 

If you are interested in seeing previous DITAs, you can start with the first weekly compilation of the daily DITA uploads HERE.

Art credits and links are by each photo.  All photos: Dave Stuart


Great new street art on last day of 2014!

After concluding tour duties just after lunch on New Year’s Eve, we indulged ourselves in a little wander with our camera photographing a lot of art which had not been there just 24 hours earlier.

Donk was incredibly active, rounding off a profilic year of brilliant art by this London based artist who specialises in silk screen printed paste up street art.

London,Shoreditch,street art,graffiti, Donk, walk, tour

Donk

A bit of online sleuthing resulted in the mystery of the artist who placed ultra neon Ian Paisley paste ups being solved.

London,Shoreditch,street art,graffiti, Ian Paisley, TLO, walk, tour

Ian Paisley by TLO

We suspect also that another paste up done in the same form (collaged multiple printed A4 sheets) which also touches on Irish matters which appeared overnight as well could be by the same artist.

London,Shoreditch,street art,graffiti, TLO, walk, tour

“Revolutionary greetings from Ireland”

Finally, brushing paint off their hands and taking celebratory photos were BRK and SNOE from The Rolling People Crew and their friend Kev who had just painted a massive wall on Sclater St.

London,Shoreditch,street art,graffiti,The Rolling People, BRK, SNOE, Kev, walk, tour

BRK, Snoe, Kev

More photos and insights can be found on Graffoto

PS – TLO was spotted earlier in Autumn 2014 in Shoreditch and in West London:

London,Shoreditch,Street Art Tour,Ian Paisley,TLO,paste up,West London

TLO


Top Blog For Street Art and Graffiti in Shoreditch is……..

Judging by the “vote me” messages in my email inbox it must be the time of year when bloggers seek “blogger of the year” titles.  Shoreditch Street Art Tours is proud to announce it has been blessed with its first (publishable!) accolade this season, our blog tops ShoreditchInshort’s  5 best blogs they would recommend concerning Shoreditch.   Wooo hooooo, we are pleased and honoured, thank you very much Julie, author of that very discerning blog.

Aven, St8ment, Anna Laurini, Street Art,tour,tours,blog,Shoreditch,London,graffiti

Face the facts! Avem, Mr.Farenheit, Anna Laurini

We like to illustrate our blog posts with relevant and beautiful photographs but a screengrab of our own blog on this occasion would be a bit, well, tcky and redundant.  So, as we love Shoreditch’s street art AND a new issue of Very Nearly Almost magazine is launching this week, we thought we would celebrate with some of the photos submitted by NoLionsInEngland to VNA which didn’t make the cut.  We won’t be betraying any confidences if we say that for each edition, VNA’s content gurus looks through about 20 or so images we select and generally publishes 4 or 5 in the magazine.  This leaves us with a number of photos which then generally don’t see the light of day but are too nice to be totally forgotten.  Enjoy these photos, more information about the launch of issue 29 of Very Nearly Almost to follow shortly.

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All photos: NoLionsInEngland


New Street Art Hits Shoreditch

Some of our favourite street artists are fresh up on the walls of Shoreditch.  I’m road testing a Nokia camphone and today’s tour guests kindly allowed me to indulge in taking a few photos alongside them, as there was so much new stuff to capture.

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk, 616, Donk

Firstly, we were delighted to find some new paste ups by DONK, the first one above was soaking wet and subsequent ones were drier and drier so we suspect we were walking in the opposite direction to him.  That first beauty also features a new paste up by 616 which appeared over the weekend.

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk, Donk

The one below is screen printed onto a deliciously light transparent paper

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk, Donk

Then we located a delicious new seasonal painting featuring a pop art Father Christmas and reindeer by FAN HC (Horror Crew).  Particularly interesting is that FAN has integrated the photorealistic fox by Odeith into his work, see the  Odeith fox in its original context below.

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk,Fan, Horror Crew

 

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk, Odeith

Odeith (Nikon DSLR)

While on the subject of 616, quite a bit of lovely fresh work has appeared in the past week, possibly our favourite and definitely winning prise for skankiest doorway location is this collaboration between 616 and Benjamin Murphy.  As I hadn’t charged up the Nokia Lumia, I had to revert to the old Blackberry at this point, compare and contrast folks!

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk, 616, Benjamin Murphy,

Art Is Trash is our runaway Find Of The Year for new street artists making a huge impact in Shoreditch and after many blank weeks it was a delight to stumble across a new piece in a secluded dark corner of Shoreditch.

Street Art, Shoreditch,London, tour, walk,Art Is Trash

Previous posts waxing lyrical about Art Is Trash’s stunning street art in Shoreditch can be seen here, here, here and here.

Photos: NolionsinEngland – technical note, other than the Art Is Trash and the 616/Benjamin Murphy collab taken with a Blackberry and the original Odeith taken with a Nikon D90, the images are high Res from a Nokia Lumia 1020, all photos have been taken straight off the phones then reduced in size for interweb using Easythumbnails on a neutral setting (no saturation or contrast changes).


Street Artists Donk Skeleton Cardboard Riposte to Shoreditch Street Art Buff

Someone, presumably an authority of some sort of a care in the community type of organisation buffed the sometimes controversial Sclater St wall a few weeks ago due to some obscenity or offence.   It was one of the poorest buffs ever seen, that old health and safety chestnet “no over head height working without hoists, harness, psychotherapy and feng shui” meaning the wall was left with an irregular grey tide mark at about 6 feet off the ground, above that was the flotsam and jetsam of partially obscured tags and wind blown wilting peels of decaying pasteups.

Shoireditch Street Art paste Up Donk London

Donk and Skeleton Cardboard paste ups respond to buff

One of the pieces gone over was DONK’s supersized “Star Boomboom Sound” ghetto blaster paste up which, admittedly, was dragging out its fin-de-siecle dried leaf crispiness.  So Donk has returned with a massive tryptic paste up installation in his characteristic purple hazed hue.  Emerging name Skeleton Cardboard is up along side him and the Post box paste added more recently is by D7606.

Curiously, the paste ups are placed on a large base of plywood, perhaps to give it a veneer (boom boom geddit?) of official approval.

Speaking of the life cycle of street art, comparing two of my photos of this new Donk piece taken just 4 days apart, albeit a period which did include “biblical downpour Saturday”, it is apparent that a huge amount of the purple-ness has run.  Purple rain?

DOnk Skeleton Cupboard Paste up shoreditch london

Gonna need more purple!

all photos: NoLionsInEngland