Tag Archives: Graffiti

Detail of art by street artist Faile and Shepard Fairey in Saatchi Gallery exhibition "Beyond The Streets"

Beyond The Streets Exclusive Intervew

Beyond The Streets, a huge public exhibition dedicated to the history of graffiti, street art and related cultures related has arrived in London after previously showing in New York and LA.

The exhibition is epic in scale and wide ranging in content and features art and installations from many household names from the urban art realm.   Yesterday, the day before the official opening to the public, we manage to put together a taster video and we grabbed an exclusive moment with the curator Roger Gastman, if you have seen Banksy’s Exit Through The gift Shop he was the Zvengali saviour parachuted in by Banksy to wave his “make-shit-happen” wand over the chaos of Mr Brainwash’s LA debut show.

One burning question is why no Banksy The elephant is not in the room.  Yet.  We have a sneaky feeling that these guys could still have something up their sleeve.

Our full review will follow eventually, there’s no rush!

Public mingle in front of artist Toby Mott's display of anarchist posters at Beyond The Streets exhibition at Saatchi Gallery London

Beyond The Streets

“Beyond The Streets”

Feb 17th – May 9th

Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of Yorks HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY

 

 


Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch – The Dog’s Pollocks

It being that day today, Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, I decided to go out graff hunting and what a great decision that turned out to be.   “Helch Watch” has been running for several months following the addition of an incomplete piece of graff close to our hood in May.

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch, May 2022

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch, May 2022

My fave graff lookout, Lady Nolions, reported back a couple of weeks ago that Helch had returned to  transform and complete that piece and it was looking epic.  The fills range from fades to stripe via glitches and quilted patterns.  The symmetry in the composition is, as per for Helch, impeccable.

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch – Sep 2022

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch – Sep 2022

After suitably urban looking “context” shots, stepping in close for some close cropped shots revealed a stunning surprise.   Helch has gone full Jackson in a ground level oil spill trap and it’s more or less invisible until the moment you fall into it.  Helch does brilliant fills generally but this time a new level has been reached.

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch has low pollocks

Another new Helch was found in Shoreditch at the weekend and again the fill looked stunning.

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch Sep 2022

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helch – glitchy fill

Helch has kind of taken over one end of the road behind the old Truman Brewery, this time the combination of blues and whites in the fill suggest Helch seeks to give nature a run for its money in providing best cloud and sky colours.

Impressive colourful graffiti in London by Helch

Helta Skelta up to the clouds

Helch has created many more stunning text based artworks in Shoreditch over the past 12 months, consolidating a burgeoning reputation among fans of art as well as graffiti.

Helch instagram

All photos: Dave Stuart


Carnival 2022 dancer makes loveheart sign with fingers and Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Carnival of Graffiti 2022

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Carnival Route, Westbourne Grove

Carnival returned to Notting Hill this weekend after a COVID hiatus of 3 years, this meant the return of one of the best and most temporary HOFs (Hall of Fame) going – the Notting Hill Carnival shopfront hoardings.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

One person who played a major role in grabbing the head of graffiti and twisting it 180 degrees until became street art was Mode2.   The jaw dropping highlight of my exploration of the Carnival graffiti was unexpectedly coming across a new piece by Mode2.   Check the Mode2 writing, I have not seen that spidery angular swirl since he painted that old since demolished industrial laundry building in Islington in 2010.  While it is a shame the character on the corner is not intact, that’s life, to see Mode2 put up TCA in the Carnival girl’s tail feathers feels pretty special.  Writing alongside is another London graff legend Teach DDS, hence the DDS in the feathers.

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Also putting in a major shift was Shine.

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RIP pieces were a recurring theme, names of the fallen are still honoured within the community.

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The last photo in that set features Vade’s ubiquitous throw which was everywhere but there were also some Vade pieces.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Vade

Grenfell fire disaster was over 5 years ago but the horror has not been forgotten and the campaign for justice still fuels graffiti in the area.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Syer Justice 4 Grenfell

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Priest

Artik is a roller king, at Carnival there was a rare sighting of a spraypainted Artik piece.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Artik Real

Riotous colour really turned up in party mood in these gorgeous creations by Kiwie and Finito.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Kiwie Finito

Quite a lot of graf from prior years makes an appearance, those frugal shopkeepers hoard the hoardings but usually can’t be bothered to do the jigsaw puzzle, which makes for quite brilliant collaged mosaics.

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

My head spins

Graffiti on shop hoardings for Notting Hill Carnival 2022

my eyes hurt

Last Thursday I cycled past the Global Street Art  team painting an advert on a wall in Notting Hill, I hope their terms and condition on this one ensure they get paid regardless of any tags, cos there was no chance a Cillian Murphy advert would survive the weekend!

Cillian Murphy spraypainted advert in coat with bag seen at Carnival 2022

Cillian Murphy spraypainted advert acquires character

Carnival is about participation, music, dancing, food and partying in whatever combination you fancy, even early doors all that was well underway.

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Apologies to creators whose graffiti features in the photos but has not been attributed.  This is most likely ignorance on my part, perhaps some omission in there as well, send an email if you want crediting.

All photos: Dave Stuart


Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Cardiff Street Art and Graffiti

Any excuse to blow the London vapours from the lungs will do so my travels recently took me West to explore Cardiff street art and graffiti thanks to a cheap rail ticket promotion.  Cardiff is the capital of Wales and, as a specimen of street art informs me, the 6th most “at risk” city in the world from rising water levels.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Cardiff At Risk – artist unknown

I have previous with Cardiff, having been born there, schooled there and fled from there.  It was a shithole until I left, now look at it!   In the mid 00s when I joined Flickr with its global community of artists, writers and photographers I realised early on that Cardiff has some seriously good spraycan artists, so an art visit was well overdue.  This is not a guide to Cardiff’s street art and graffiti scene, I am certain there is more and there are different artists and other locations.  Think of it as me sharing a snapshot of some of the stuff I happened to find and enjoy on one particular day.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

My Dog Sighs & others

I headed into the area south of the train station, dark streets where we used to drink and play pool in the old Bristol Hotel, drawn in that direction not by an awareness of any art locations, just simple curiosity at a new exit from the train station which I don’t think existed when I was a kid.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

N3KOcardiff trans rights stickers

South of the station there was barely a single building I recognised but one thing they never change are the railway bridges so it was nice to find to rough and raw pieces on those familiar surfaces.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Past Jams

Rmer1, as in “Armour”, stood out in my online remote appreciation of Cardiff’s street art scene, my 150% certainty was that if I did find any Rmer artwork it would be one of his photorealistic portrait pieces.  I was dead pleased when one of the first tags I found was Rmer1.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Hoxe1 Rmer1 Cardiff

That tag was found on Womanby Street, a drag that screams “diehard 18 year old drinkers from the valleys” and most of the art seemed bar related.  There was some good stuff and when you have talent like Dr Zadok combining with Karm and Rmer the result such as this portrait of 2015 Welsh Music Prize 2015 winner Gwenno Saunders is inevitably impressive.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Zadok Karm Rmer

After a delicious humus and felafal sourdough in the indoor market a hired bike took me west the short distance to Sevenoaks Park in Grangetown where I found this enormous RIP tribute to deceased graffiti writer NERVE.  The fragmented blockbuster letter outlines served as a frame within which writers paid their respects in a coordinated colour scheme.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Nerve RIP wall Grangetow

I couldn’t believe my luck in coming across this crisp, clean, colour coordinated graff seemingly painted quite recently given its pristine freshness.  It was quite a surprise when a bit of research revealed it dates back to June 2021, there is absolutely zero chance, almost, of anything lasting that long unscathed up here in London.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Nerve RIP wall detail

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Nerve RIP wall

One writer who’s style caught my eye in that Nerve tribute and a couple of other spots was Elvs.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

ELVS Grangetown Cardiff

TIP: When exploring art in a new town, never take the same road twice.  A different route back to the centre led to the chance find of a long extent of graffed up hoardings on the embankment of the River Taff leading to an entrance to the Rugby stadium.  Rugby fans have to have something to piss against I suppose.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Millenium Stadium Taff Embankment Cardiff

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Newer, Cardiff

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

AMOK Cardiff

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Cesto Cardiff

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Sepr Cardiff

Apart from strange spiky posts covered in furious tags, the pieces on the boards were virtually unblemished with little to no dogging or lining out.  Close inspection of one piece did show evidence of some local beef, lining out had been repaired and the same taking out style deployed against the same writer was observed in several spots across the city.

A longer ride took me through Cardiff’s impressive civic centre towards the Roath area where spectacular murals and cobbled alleyway pieces can be found.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Lowther Keys Dan Green Cardiff

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Helen Bur, Colour Doomed collab Cardiff 2014

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

City Road ish, Cardiff

Familiar artists abound though the art piece that excited me most was a My Dog Sighs painting in support of Ukraine in which the photorealistic eyeball reflection expresses the explosive horror or a Russian missile attack.  My Dog Sigh’s painting went viral on social media in the early weeks of the current conflict.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

My Dog Sighs Ukraine

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

My Dog Sighs

With spring light holding up well a random loop up the side of Roath Park then back west hemmed in by the Western Avenue revealed individual isolated art works are to be found by the vigilant eye.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Alex Pawson

This mural by SPK dating from 2015, survives on a wall which has all the hallmarks of a building extension jerry built on top of an existing garden wall, Boris was a pariah among the righteous even before becoming PM (but you knew that).  It’s the legs of the badger down the badger sett painted where once would have been a garden gate is a use of wall topography that amuses and impresses.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Boris Johnson fox hunt supporter – SPK

It’s the legs of the badger down the badger sett painted where once would have been a garden gate is a use of wall topography that amuses and impresses.

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Boris Johnson fox hunt supporter – SPK

They say one of the first signs of gentrification is street art moving in; I remember this cut-through to the train station opening some 35 or so years ago, seems Cardiff’s street art lags the gentrification :-))

Cardiff street art and graffiti visited by Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Helen Bur / Wasp Elder Collab

This trip to Cardiff was part art, part graffiti and part nostalgia.   Despite no prior research into locations a random exploration of Cardiff yielded a satisfying quantity of art and for that randomness was actually all the more interesting.  We shall return.

 

All photos Dave Stuart


Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Best Of Shoreditch Street Art Tours Kiss Of Death

Should this Shoreditch Street Art Tours post start with an apology to the spraycan virtuoso Jim Vision? Perhaps.

Last night we held a short notice online virtual ramble through some of the art that provided great food for thought on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour in 2021.  With the benefit of being able to show slides from the past, we were able to look at the waxing and waning of Jim Vision’s Jerome St mural which concluded with the photograph shown at the top of this post mural taken 2 days earlier on 29th December.  This is the story of that mural and it ends with the dramatic update based on what we found today!

The history starts in 2020 with a curved wall pretty heavily battered with graffiti of varying styles and levels of accomplishment.  The artistic highlight on the wall was probably back in 2014 with a beautiful paste-up from the French street artist Ludo.

Street Art in Shoreditch by French street artist Ludo

Ludo, 2014

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Wild! Featuring Noze, Lap406 Oct 2019

Forward to 2020 and Jim Vision secures consent to paint the wall with permission and has claimed the spot as his since, painting a couple of portraits as part of his admirable “Colourful Women” series.  In the artist’s words this was “celebrating all women of colour with their vibrancy and strength, at the same time addressing an imbalance in the representation of women of colour on walls.  This first dates from early Summer 2020.

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision, June 2020

The next portrait on this wall came complimented by a pod of killer whales.  In this next early December 2020 photo we see the mural in great condition with 8 killer whales swimming through, to the right is a cluster of illuminations and the background is an abstract veil of almost luminous vertical streaks.

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision, 2nd Dec 2020

Just a few days later the negative spaces in the margins have been targeted with graffiti, including sundry tags and a nice piece by Lap in the background:

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision, lap406 , 22nd Dec 2020

Things are relatively unchanged by July 2021, a throw has gone over the cluster of lights to the right, a couple of tags and Lap in the background appears to have been painted out.  Still the augmentations are occurring away from the main subject:

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision July 2021

By October there is fascinating development in the artistic interactions taking place on this wall, Jim Vision covers up new tags with the creative and playful expedient of adding Orcas where the tags were.  Now the pod has grown to 20 killer whales and something a bit albino, or perhaps a 21st whale with only its white parts turned to us:

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision Oct 2021

Halfway through December heavy tagging appears in quite aggressive spots at the centre of the portrait and a green tag close to the front of the face where the white whale was.  Ours is not to cast judgement!

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision, tags, 19th Dec 2021

Then, on 29th Dec, a new killer whale appears to be likely to see in the New Year, its placaement jumping through the earring brings to mind the cruelty involved in keeping these beautiful beasts in captivity in sea life parks.  This was the state of play at the conclusion of the timeseries presented in the  “The Best Of Shoreditch Street Art Tours 2021” virtual tour last night (New Years Eve):

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

Jim Vision, 29th Dec 2021

New Years Day, this morning, look what we found:

Street Art in Shoreditch by Spraycan artist Jim Vision

New Years Day 2021 Jim Vision with Slak & Cuso

Gonna take a lot more whales!

Jim Vision instagram

all photos: Dave Stuart


RIP tribute to MF DOOM graffiti in Shoreditch by Esau-Teric

MF Doom Tributes in Shoreditch

News of the sad passing of MF Doom emerged on New Years Eve inspiring many graffiti and street art tributes to the MC and rapper.

The featured image above is a characteristically complex piece by Esau-teric.

MF DOOM character in Shoreditch by Tizer

MF Doom Character by Trafik

 

MF DOOM character in Shoreditch by Tizer and 2Rise

MF DOOM RIP by Trafik feat Tizer and 2Rise

RIP tribute to MF DOOM graffiti in Shoreditch by Doomega

MF Doom RIP by Doomega

A collection of MF Tribute graffiti from around the world can be found on COMPLEX.COM including some nice trains painted in Amsterdam.

All photos were taken yesterday by Dave Stuart

Dave Stuart will appear as an Expert Judge on TV art show Next Big Thing coming on London Live in the Spring, details to follow.

 


London, Graffiti, Robbo, Banksy, wallpaperer, Regents Canal, feud,art,street art

New Information On Banksy Robbo Feud

One of the biggest feuds in art-world history, street artist Banksy v graffiti writer Robbo is revealed to have rumbled on much longer than fans and art historians previously thought.

In December 2009 street artist Banksy created 4 illegal pieces of stencil art on the sides of a canal in Camden, London.  One of the pieces, the Banksy Wallpaperer revived an ancient feud between the street artist Banksy and the then retired but still famous London graffiti writer known as Robbo.

By re-imagining a very old relic of Robbo graffiti dating from 1985 into a stencilled worker applying that graffiti as wallpaper, Banksy appeared to be suggesting that graffiti piece was perhaps just forgettable mass produced background rubbish.

Robbo and Banksy then engaged in a prolonged  tit-for-tat exchange of insults by re-working those four art pieces in Camden, starting with Robbo turning the wallpaper into “King Robbo” on Christmas Day 2010 as first reported on Graffoto.

Street Art, review, 2010, Graffoto.co.uk, street art tours, tour guide

Banksy v Robbo, 25th December 2009, photo Dave Stuart

Many articles record that Banksy insulted Robbo at a party in the late 90s, Robbo assaulted Banksy and Banksy had nurtured the grudge ever since until his attack on the Robbo relic at the turn of the decade.

In a virtual presentation last week on Banksy’s London street art, street art tour guide and long term writer, photographer and Banksy fan Dave Stuart played a re-discovered and never before reported snippet of an exclusive interview with Robbo in which he says that Banksy had been attacking Robbo graffiti years before the Camden 2009 takeover.

In the interview, asked if he had been attacking Banksy art before 2009 Robbo laughingly replies

“………. before the King Robbo? No, he’s dogged [gone over] me before that has happened, I can show you a picture, it’s in one of his books. “

Banksy stencil of a Smiley Copper in Shoreditch over Robbo, amended

Smiley Copper, Banksy, Shoreditch photo Dave Stuart

The picture Robbo refers to is the Smiley Copper in Wall and Piece (2005).  Robbo then confirms that the feud started in the Dragon Bar in Shoreditch in the 90s before going on to say

“And after that happened, there was a full name throw up [graffiti] of mine, “Robbo” and he decided to put the grim reaper or the smiley face over the top of it and at the time, I thought if that’s the best he can do … “

Examination of the Smiley Copper indeed shows the capital R of a piece of graffiti Robbo says was his has been squarely hit by the Smiley Copper which unusually has a huge Banksy tag across the centre of the artwork, leaving the intended recipient of the message in now doubt as to who has gone over him.  In the world of graffiti there is no point in making a timid little mark over someone else, if you intend to insult someone you go big and bold.

Banksy stencil of a Smiley Copper in Shoreditch over Robbo, amended

Banksy Smiley Copper (amended), photo Dave Stuart

The Smiley Copper is believe to date from 2003 which indicates Banksy was picking the scab on that wound long before 2009 as previously thought.

Sadly Robbo had a terrible accident in 2011 which left him in a coma until his passing in 2014, rest in peace King Robbo.

The virtual online presentation “Banksy – The London Chronicle” is to be repeated this coming weekend at 10pm GMT on Saturday 9th January and 12 noon GMT on Sunday 10th January, times deliberately selected for convenience of Banksy fans in Latin America and North America and those in Asia and the Far East.

All photos: Dave Stuart

Dave Stuart will appear as an Expert Judge on TV art show Next Big Thing coming on London Live in the Spring, details to follow


Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

A Decade On – King Robbo

Christmas Day 10 years ago the notorious Robbo vs Banksy spat went to another level.   Robbo, RIP, headed out very early Christmas morning, crossed the Regents Canal at Camden directly under British Transport Police HQ and painted the perfect riposte to Banksy’s Wallpaperer.

Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

25th December 2019 KING ROBBO!

Early that Christmas morning I noticed a photograph on Flickr of Robbo’s new iteration of this piece posted by Robbo’s WRH crew mate Doze.   The genius was immediately apparent from that photo.  I whizzed straight down to the canal, took some photos and “Banksy vs Robbo WRH, WD – Checkmate” was posted online before Christmas lunch was served.  It remains to this day the most read post on Graffoto.

Before Robbo’s Christmas morning adventure, the art on the wall consisted of a workman by Banksy wallpapering over some graffiti, which was actually over an ancient Robbo piece.

Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

Banksy Wallpaperer, 19th December 2019

For context, Banksy vs Robbo was an intense feud with ancient origins but for roughly a 6 month period it raged spectacularly at several locations along Regents Canal in Camden as each artist attacked the other’s art with a succession of insults.

It’s tongue in cheek, it’s all a laugh, it’s a giggle” Robbo told Graffoto about 10 months later when we met for a beery one on one unpublished interview in his local near Kings Cross.  Robbo also said in reference to the art Banksy was producing at the time “A couple of things I like, the graffiti wallpaper, that was a good piece, so was the global warming, that was a good piece.  I appreciate art, I’m an artist. I’m a graffiti artist that’s my main flag but I am an artist”

Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

Robbo exhibition opening night, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010

Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

Robbo exhibition opening night, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010

Robbo mentioned how he didn’t have much to do with social media so his mate put up the photo on Flickr, then early afternoon Robbo received a call to tell him the piece had already been picked up by a blog.   Robbo said some kind and appreciative things about the Graffoto coverage so on the 10th anniversary of that event it is a pleasure to remember that exciting piece of art.

Banksy, Robbo, feud, Banksy v Robbo, Street art, Graffiti, London, Shoreditch, Camden, Pure Evil Gallery, tour, tour guide

Robbo RIP, Tribute by  Adnate (Aus) in Shoreditch. Sep 2014

Graffoto Christmas Day 2009: “Banksy v. Robbo – Checkmate”

All photos: Dave Stuart