Tour times subject to schedule, please check Bookings page
Meet: The Goat Statue, Brushfield St, London E1 6AA. Closest tube: Liverpool St, exit via Bishopsgate exit. Walk in the opposite direction from Heron Tower (the big one with the needle on top); Brushfield St is about 100 yards on the right hand side, the third road up from the station. It has a big church at the far end
Graffestival, a huge spraycan art festival at the Nomadic Community Gardens and surroundings areas just off Brick Lane is happening this weekend. Painting started today with a frantic burst of wall preparations, rollers, hoists, cans, renewing old acquaintances, sharing beers and gossip, chilling in the glorious sunshine, nodding to heavy beats and drinking red stripe. With thanks to the artists whose consent we obtained for photos and apologies to those that we didn’t get the chance to interrupt, here are walls, shadow, marks and work in progress. The festival continues tomorrow (Sunday 22nd).
At the end of May there is a Bank Holiday in the UK and a couple of weekends ago this provided a marvellous opportunity for a huge array of spraypainting talent to gather in Shoreditch for a frenzy of graffiti and art at the Meeting Of Styles Festival. Since that date a load of the artists who participated in the meeting Of Styles have been mentioned on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour.
Dan Kitchener Meeting Of Styles UK 2018
Meeting Of Styles is an international series of festivals which takes place in multiple locations around the world each year, this year 11 events are scheduled spread across the far east, South Africa and 6 cities in Europe. Since 2014 the London edition of MoS has found a home in the extraordinary Nomadic Community Gardens in Shoreditch.
Nomadic Community Gardens
Here are a few of the highlights of this amazing festival of art and music.
Nomad Clan Meeting Of Styles UK 2018
Xenz Meeting Of Styles UK 2018
On the Graffoto blog we have done a longer set of highlights which includes some of the history of the London meeting of Styles festival and a look at the development of the Nomadic Community gardens which has become a thriving vital community space in Shoreditch.
Street Artist, rapper and origami guru Airborne Mark returned to Brick Lane a couple of weeks ago to paint a new origami mask inspired mural, which was a pleasant surprise for the Shoreditch Street Art Tours group who stumbled across the artist at work.
Work In Progress April 2018
Airborne Mark was using a folder paper origami model as the reference for the painting and we have often seen Airborne Mark using his own origami models. Airborne Mark, who is always very pleasant and happy to have a little chat with the tour, told us that this wasn’t his piece of origami, it was sent to him from Sweden by master origami mask maker Flynn Jackson,.
Maquette – Flynn jackson
You can see what a stunning realistic painted interpretation of the actual model airborne Mark produced.
Airborne Mark vs Flynn Jackson
Airborne Mark has produced a really cool video of both receiving the model through the post and the work in progress painting at the wall. Blink and you’ll miss it but there is even a subliminal glimpse at about 5.05 of our tour group admiring Airborne Mark at work.
Here is a little selection of other occasions we have seen Airborne Mark painting from his own origami masks as well as a few shots of other Airborne Mark masterpieces put up over the years.
Airborne Mark (crouching in shot), Massai, Dan Kitchener, Jimmy C 2012
Airborne Mark Origami Riots 2014
Van Painting – Meeting Of Styles 2015
Work In Progress March 2017
Greek Mask work in progress 2017
A tiny smidge of background: Airborne Mark moved to the UK in 2005 and had a graffiti pedigree, he used to write the name Pilot before switching to the still aviation related street art moniker Airborne Mark, here are a couple of his older graffiti pieces in Hackney Wick and Leake street, both from early 2009.
The nights are drawing in so our unique Night Street Art Photography Tours being again. The first one was last night and what fun we had.
Of course there was a lot of new art created since last Winter to photograph.
Airborne Mark
And we photographed some old favourites which I haven’t photographed at night before, it certainly brings out a different aspect of the street art.
Jonesy – looking more sinister and ferocious than ever
Conor Harrington
The Night Street Art Photo Tours are organised as and when we can pull together a small group. You can of course arrange a private Night Street Art Photography Tour just for yourself. More details HERE (link opens in another window)
Meeting Of Styles returned to Shoreditch recently for the second Summer on the trot. Over a 2 day period spraycan graffiti writers and street artists from Brazil to Russia via Spain and UK threw a wild ribbon of colour around Shoreditch.
Tyme (Swe), Adno (Rus), Awone (Swe), DJa’Louz (Fr) and from the UK Jim Vision, Zadok and below them Kak, Ekto and Wisher.
Meeting Of Styles UK 15
Meeting of Styles is an international and not-for-profit federation of spraycan festivals, this year 22 MoS festivals around the world are responding to the “Mind Above Matter” theme, though not all were as focussed on the theme as Neoh below.
Neoh
The focal point for the festival was a dramatically transformed elbow of land trapped between a knot of railway tracks now under new ownership and currently renamed the Nomadic Community Gardens. A primarily Bangladeshi community have transformed the Fleet St Hill end of the gardens with raised beds of allotments while a temporary village of tents, vans and dens of upcycled wood and canvas housed kitchens, bars, decks and admin.
Nomadic Community Gardens
Wall locations were geographically more wide spread this year, the centre of weight shifted over to the Bethnal Green side of Brick Lane with some painting taking place even further east than the Nomadic Gardens Community Centre.
Stendec & Soma
Traditional bubble letters and wild style sit happily alongside 3D, abstract, the “post graffiti graffuturism” and calligraphy based graffiti writing. It is not all letter writing though, characters and creatures and even sculpture made an appearance.
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For a lot more photographs and a bit more analysis, check out the Graffoto post of which this is essentially an abstract of highlights.
Meeting Of Styles returns to Shoreditch and it needs your help!
Beatbox and Jazz!
Donate, support, and be a part of London’s largest graffiti and street art festival right by participating in Meeting of Styles’ Kickstarter fund raiser – amazing rewards HERE.
Lovepusher
We were wowed by the range of top domestic and international artists who participated in MoS 2014 and produced a load of brilliant art, find out just how much here
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all photos: NoLionsInEngland at Meeting Of Styles 2014, Shoreditch
Shoreditch Street Art Tours is delighted to announce that it has been awarded the prestigious and prized Tripadvisor 2015 Certificate of Excellence.
This award is testament to two things, the most important is our wonderful guests who have chosen to share their appreciation of the Shoreditch Street Art Tour activities with the public through Tripadvisor. The second, and we blush here, is down to the quality of the tour.
Tripadvisor Certificate Of Excellence
At this moment a quick glance at Tripadvisor shows that since its first review appeared in July 2013, Shoreditch Street Art Tours has received 601 reviews and a massive 587 – that’s 98% – of those are 5 out of 5 stars. The other 14 of course are all 4 stars.
The art always changes, the route may changes, the message often changes but the quality of the experience is unwaivering.
photo: Ron de Vos (guest)
We thank all the guests who have provided feedback through Tripadvisor and the other locations where independent reviews can be placed, here are just a few snippets from recent Tripadvisor reviews:
“I brought along my husband who didn’t have a previous interest in the subject and at the end he said, “This is the best tour I have ever been on in any city”. ” – Annie Y, 16 May 2015
“Don’t skip the Tate. But this is even better. ” – Gutflam5, 15 May 2015
“with Dave’s expertise, we were able to understand and decode the messages hidden in the work” – Maria V, 12 May 2015
A wall which was virgin brick as we passed at 11am yesterday this morning sported a gorgeous new piece of street art. Neoh is an unusual character with roots firmly planted in the coarser end of graffiti, the emphasis is more on being “up” than on elaborate style.
Neoh dubs
Neoh escalator tag
However, when Neoh puts his arty hat on, brilliant impressionist characters emerge including this energetic ballerina conjured into existence last night. The repetition of the cubist tinged faces has resulted in the motion of the ballerina being captured in her head as her whole body pirhouettes. we get simultaneous front and rear views. This is a girl fully committed to the sinuous motion of the ballet. We are willing to speculate that no mural permission broker was involved in this new one!
Neoh Flamenco dancer
We have been unstinting admirers not only of Neoh’s graff but the awesome movement and economy in his impressionist dancers.
Neoh Ballerina
Troupe of Ballerinas by Neoh, Hackney Wick, 2013
It is such a delight to unexpectedly find new pieces of art on the street and Neoh’s speed, attitude and single-minded determination to get up in a variety of different media is really what graffiti AND street art is all about.
