Tag Archives: London

Paste-Up Street Art Festival in London 2021

The history of street art is a complex story whose content varies depending upon author, location, editorial preferences for a “creation” date and people’s differing actual lived experiences.  Its ripping away from graffiti was for many reasons dominated in the early phase by stencilism, the significant role of the paste-up technique is easily overlooked.  Perhaps the London International Paste-Up Festival has addressed that.

lots of paste-up street art pieces by artists who participated in the London International Paste-up Festival in Shoreditch

LIPF paste-ups

LIPF was held over the first weekend in November and featured art on paper by 100s of artists who responded to an open call by the organisers and here is a hat tip to Outside The Zone (Trix Mendez) and Art House Project London (Apparan).  I had the pleasure of kind of winding up proceedings by leading a street art tour around the spots.  This gave me the unexpected joy of meeting some street artists whose work I have loved for many years for the first time as well as renewing acquaintances with familiar artists and friends, I learnt more from the experience than anyone.

Street Art Tour group led by David Stuart, tour guide with Shoreditch Street Art Tours posing in front of London International Paste-up Festival spot

Artist rich group on the London International Paste-Up Festival free tour led by our guide Dave. Features artists Meandblue, DaddyStreetFox, Subdude, FaceTheStrange, SweetheartStreetArt, Mypenleaks, Wrdsmth, Deko,

One reason why paste-ups were so significant was newcomers to street art who were not coming from a graffiti background were not going to spend hours creating, perfecting and refining a spraypainted piece of art under risky illegal circumstance, their art would be prepared at home, in the studio or at school and then pasted up in seconds. The paste-up was the ultimate in risk avoidance yet participants still experienced that buzz, the thrill of being a little bit naughty in a relatively harmless way.

An uncurated street art wall with massive collection of street art paste-ps by artists from London and abroad

Wild paste-up wall in Shoreditch

More than other forms of street art paste-ups have an ability to acquire a history, to evolve. There is a joy in the aging of paper, the savagery of rips and tears, the marker pen additions from passers-by, the possibility that meaning is changed by clever juxtaposition of another piece of art. Some artists regard their art as having an independent life on the walls and indeed even photograph their paste-up to rejoice in those changes.

Paste-up Stree tart showing pop art coloured multiple British phone boxes with Kurt Cobain from Nirvana playing guitar inside

D7606 Kurt Cobain in the wild

Kurt Cobain plays in 3 pop art coloured phone boxes by street artist D7606 at London International Paste-up Festival

D7606 at LIPF

The LIPF art was pasted up in Shoreditch over the preceding couple of weekends by a coalition of willing and experienced locally street artists.  One of the kind of predictable and I argue welcome consequences of this early installation was other artists subsequently adding their creativity in and around the LIPF displays.

paste-up installation by street artist Shuby for London International paste-up Festival

Corrosive8 vs Eartha Kitt Catwoman by Shuby

Creativity is a word that means different things to different people, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.  Here we see WRDSTH explaining how his Winona Forever paste-up was “edited” by artist unknown and subsequently restored by him and he gave a wonderful articulation of his rationale for doing so.  For the benefit of readers and those who heard WRDSMTH’s anecdote first-hand, the second picture below shows the redacted artwork.

street artist WRDSMTH presents his paste-up art to a tour group led by Dave Stuart, Shoreditch Street Art Tours

WRDSMTH presents his art to #LIPF

Modified subverted paste-up street art by Wrdsmth, augmented by artist unknown

Subverted WRDSMTH paste-up

The festival locations facilitated several different presentation styles for the paste up.  Two spots highlighted individual artists, Yu_wallart and JD Montaigne in an installation format, reminiscent perhaps of something by Ludo or early Camille Walala when walls were less cluttered!  It would be rare these days to see single stand-alone paste ups like this but hey, organisers gotta make use of the spots they have available!

paste-up installation by street artist Yu-wallart for London International paste-up Festival

Yu_Wallart

Street artist J D Montaigne installation seen on the street art tour led by tour guide Dave Stuart

J D Montaigne installation

In four other spots the team had created massive banners of art pasted onto vinyl which was then tied to what in any other circumstance would be advertising frames.  The first one featured below serendipitously referenced the world’s most prolific paste-up artist.  Its placement and elevation high up the wall precisely matched a Lenin paste-up placed illegally by Shephard Fairey in 2007.

paste-up installation featuring many street artists for London International paste-up Festival

LIPF Paste-up banner, Bateman’s Row

Old photo of a Shepard Fairey paste up in Shoreditch in 2007 with a later Chris Stain paste-up from 2008

Shepard Fairy 2007, Chris Stain 2008 below

The two Old Street banners had to be taken down on Sunday evening but the others on Dereham Place and Bateman’s Row (above) could last a few more weeks.

Banner of pate-up street art by international collection of street artists in Old Street Shoreditch

Paste-Up Banners on Old Street Shoreditch

The Paste-up sppot on Derehman Place with lots of paste-up street art pieces by artists who participated in the London International Paste-up Festival in Shoreditch

LIPF Dereham Place paste-up spot

The location the artists referred to as “The Beast” became my favourite as it offered the closest approximation to the layering and direct application of art to the wall that we see in the wild.

the wall the London International Paste-up Festival crew called The Beast

The Beast wall

Collaboration is a wonderful aspect of most forms of street art and one beautiful collaboration that emerged in the festival was between Donk and Uberfubs.   Donk pasted-up his brilliant “Higher Ground” piece a week before before the main crew got to work with the other paste-ups, the second photo shows the dramatic impact on his monochromatic composition after Donk invited Uberfubs to augment it with her flouro creatures, Natasha Searston also got in on the act.

Collaborative street art paste-up piece from the London International Paste-up Festival with street artists Donk, Uberfubs and Natasha Searston

Donk, Uberfubs, Natasha Searston collab

Donk did his bit to shame the youngsters by getting his Dad’s art pasted up in the festival, a quartet of coppers with appropriate symbolic numbering which represents the acronym ACAB which means…..go figure!

Paste-up street art showing images of 4 policemen on copies of the Metro newspaper with a numerical representation of the acronym ACAB

ACAB by Donk’s Dad

Some collaborations arise through intentional placement, such as the kitty cat and rat living in perfect harmony with two foxes, others are actually created as single sheet collaborations

Animals getting on toeether in a group of paste-ups include a kitty cat, a rat and two foxes

City Kitty, a rat, Yaya and DaddyStreetFox

Perhaps the guiding hand of the installers has had a role in placing a body positivity collaboration between Flakes Store and Planet Selfie adjacent to a Playgirl cover and Sam Fox in a box.

paste-up installation by street artist FLakes_store and Planet Selfiefor London International paste-up Festival

Body positivity collab Flakes_store and Planet Selfie, Samantha Fox by D7606

The Live and Let Live/Street Art Against Hate project was initiated by the #NoHate family, an awesome group of street artists from Cologne. Artist were invited to support the anti-hate initiative by creating paste-ups adding their art within a circular “Live and Let Live/Street Art Against Hate” message.   A version from Streetart.globe gave me the prompt to explain Sunday’s tour group the Street Art Against Hate project and the opportunity to demonstrate the power of collective paste-up messaging with an anecdote about the time I came across their Brick Lane Wall of Love in the company of two parents who had lost a son in an American High School mass murder. Full 2018 story HERE. The impact of the message and the touching affect it had on Patricia and Manuel Oliver in 2018 truly demonstrated something about paste up street art.

Street Art Against Hate repping at LIPF

As I told the story, street artist Face The Strange handed me two of his versions of the paste-up message demonstrating perfectly that the project is actually still alive and doing good things.

Street Art Against Hate paste-ups demonstrated by Shoreditch Street Art Tour Guide Dave

Street Art Against Hate paste-ups by Face The Strange, photographer’s preferred credit “a street art observer”

One of the more inventive uses of paste-ups we have witnessed down the years has been Dr Cream’s creation of online stop frame animations using paste-up linoprints.

Paste-ups by street artist Dr Cream used to create a stop Frame animation

Daisy Riot animation frames by Dr Cream

He has done loads of these in Shoreditch over more than a decade and something we have never succeeded in doing is to locate all the elements of an animation to have a go at rendering our own, it is nice to think that this game or quest was Dr Cream’s gift to the streets.  Finally, courtesy his LIPF installation we have all the frames of a star jumping Daisy Riot animation and I was thrilled to get it to work, though my effort does appear to be a homage to the jumpy animation style of Roobarb and Custard (look it up!)

As the social media flurry around the Festival subsides, I mentioned in my little digital contribution that I had enjoyed leading the Sunday tour and had learned a lot from the guests and artists present.  As I pointed out the drama in the layering of Rider’s fluorescent prints against his darker monochromatic background, MeandBlue helpful informed us that the two prints flanking Rider’s display were by David Shand, an artist who was new to me.  David focussed on the residue of tears and colours generated by time acting adverts on the streets, a phenomenon paste-up are beautifully susceptible to.  David passed away last year but as I explored his art online this week I got the sense that the spirit and intent of the festival would have chimed with him, it was lovely to be introduced to his work through the art on the wall.

very flouro paste-up princes by street artist Rider with prints by deceased print artist David Shand on either side

Rider flanked by David Shand (RIP)

No matter what form a piece of street art takes it will always by elevated by good placement and use of the environment.  Wrdsmth scores highly for matching the “Hearts Shatter” text with the shattered glass, happily no wrists were slashed in the placement of the oversize stencil through the jagged shards.

mixed media stencil and paste-up installation by street artist Wrdsmth for London International paste-up Festival

Hearts Shatter, mixed media by Wrdsmth

The festival concept had a few minor and unavoidable aspects in which it deviates from the nature of paste-up street art in the wild.  Pasting all the art up at one point in time denies the “patina” of a good street art spot that comes from artworks going over eachother, from the tearing, the layering, the decay and aging at different rates from different moments in history.  Seeing the artists own particular eye and mind controlling placement and juxtaposition is often desirable.  On the other hand paste-up street art actually facilitates collaboration, sharing and representation by mailing paper or digital art to friends in other locations and letting them get on with it.

Shuby, Uberfubs, Art.tits, Carl Stimpson

Something rather less obvious from the participation in the LIPF was the gender balance.  The art world is notorious for its discrimination on many basis especially gender.  A crude assessment based on identification of artists in a sample of 155 photographs suggested a ratio of male to female artists of 5:3.  It’s not great, it’s not perfect but it is likely to be better than the perceived state of play in the in gallery world.

Did the paste-up festival work? It got huge numbers of artists’ work visible on the streets, it introduced the art of many artists from overseas that we had not seen here before, it brought new artists to outdoor walls who have never displayed in public this way and it gave huge visibility to this under-sung street art genre.  It was a success.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All photos Dave Stuart except where noted

London, Shoreditch, Streetart, streetarttour, tourguide, LondonInternationalPasteupFestival, LIPF, pasteups


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

 


Banksy Spraycation Street Art Locations Guide

The Great Banksy Spraycation resulted in what we now know were originally 10 new street art pieces in East Anglia. Early last week I headed off in a fever of excitement to explore the locations, the resulting photos and insights can be seen HERE.

A couple of the artworks proved rather tricky to find, one we had the wrong street intersection and for another, the description “beach” didn’t quite narrow things down enough.  For your ease and convenience, here is my guide to the locations of these Banksys.  In some instances, the location would be more accurately described as “site of former Banksy”, at the time of writing 2 have already met the buff and can no longer be seen and one has been badly damaged, though possibly not beyond repair.

The order they are presented in here is intended to allow a Banksy hunter to hit a number that are within relatively easy reach of eachother quite quickly, the last thing you want is to spend too much time on the far off remote one and find you run out of time to spend enough time enjoying the remaining pieces.

We’re All In The Same Boat

Woman photographs Street Art stencil by Banksy in Lowestoft of children in a boat and message We're all in the same boat

We’re All In The Same Boat says Banksy

Nicholas Everitt Park, on a bridge. Look for the path closest to the town side of the park that intersects the stream up the middle of the park.

Map (opens in new tab)

Greedy Seagull

Banksy street art stencil in Lowestoft showing seagull snatching chips from a packet which is actually insulation in a skip

Chip snatching Seagull, Banksy 2021

Lowestoft, intersection of Denmark Road and Katwijk Road

Map (opens in new tab)

Under The Paving Stones!

A seagull and people look at Banksy street art in Lowestoft

Under The Paving Stones – Banksy!

Intersection of London Road North and Regent Road

Map (opens in new tab)

Cocktail Rat

Banksy stencil of a rat at a Lowestoft beach who is sipping a cocktail made from a pipe discharge with beach goers nearby

Banksy Rat sipping a cocktail at a Lowestoft Beach 2021

Lowestoft, Links Road.  Look for North Beach Car Park

Map (opens in new tab)

Arcade Grab Game

Banksy Arcade claw machine with added teddy bears by local artist

Banksy arcade game grabber claw, teddy bears added by local artist

Gorleston Beach, not far from the pier end of the beach, at the end of Lower Esplanade

Map (opens in new tab)

Go Big Or Go Home – The Merrivale Model Village Stable.

Banksy street art on a model home installed without permission at Merrivale Model Village

Go Big Or Go Home

Placed by Banksy at Merrivale Model Village, from time to time the Merrivale management remove the model from public view to protect it and the rest of their property.  They have now placed a padlocked plastic box over it, but it is not clear at the time of writing if it is on display throughout opening hours.   Check their Facebook page for possible viewing updates.

Merrivale Model Village, Marine Parade, Great Yarmouth NR30 3JG

Map (opens in new tab)

Bus Stop Dancers

Banksy stencil of two dancers and an accordian player placed on top of a bus shelter in Great Yarmouth

Bus interrupts Banksy Bus Stop Dancers

On the corner of Admiralty Road and Barracks Road, Great Yarmouth

Don’t get caught parking on the bus stop!

Map (opens in new tab)

Luxury Rentals Only

Banksy Stencil of a Landlord crab showing placard reading "Luxury Rentals Only" to homeless crabs at Cromer Beach

Luxury Rentals Only – Banksy

Cromer Beach Huts

Level with the very last of the colourful beach huts is a sea wall running into the sea, “Luxury Rentals Only” is on the side of the wall that faces away from Cromer.

We walked from Cromer Esplanade along the beach front.  Above the cliff are sea view private properties and there does not appear to be public access to the beach from Cliff Drive above the beach, report here if you find any!  From the centre of Cromer it is about a 20 minute walk, as we approached the end of the huts we had convinced ourselves it must have gone.  Despair not, you have to go past the sea wall and look back.

Map (opens in new tab)

Since we put this guide together, we have received improved directions from an intrepid explorer who used our guide:

“We visited the Cromer Banksy using the grid reference you provided on the website. The sat nav took us to a road called The Warren where we parked. If you go to the end (it’s a dead end) there is an alleyway to the left. Follow that and you come to a small green. There is a signpost for “National Trail” which leads to steps down to the beach. Turn right and the Banksy is just after the last beach hut. It’s probably a five minute walk.”  26 Aug 2021

The two new Banksy artworks that have already completely gone at the time of writing are:

Kids in Rubber Dinghy Peril

Banksy stencil of children in peril in a dinghy

Banksy Dinghy – photo Banksy.co.uk

Paddling pool, Gorleston Beach.  This was right opposite the Arcade Grab game artwork, its absence was noted in a photo included in our collection of insights published a few days ago.

Map (opens in new tab)

Ice cream Cone Statue

Kings Lynn Statue with Banksy cone – photo Banksy.co.uk

Junction of London Road and Guanock Place, Kings Lynn

The interesting news is that the council have the ice cream cone in their possession and have spoken to the press about the possibility that it might be reinstated.

Map (opens in new tab)

This was one of the most exciting days I have ever had pursuing my love of and obsession with street art.   I hope you find this guide useful, all in a day’s work for a specialist street art tour guide!

Links:

Banksy Street Art Staycation In East Anglia – our insights and lots of different photos

Banksy instagram “The Great British Spraycation”

Banksy Website

Merrivale Model Village Website

All photos: Dave Stuart except where stated


Banksy street art stencil in Lowestoft showing seagull snatching chips from a packet which is actually insulation in a skip

Banksy Street Art Staycation In East Anglia

East Anglia has in the past week or so became home to a spectacular trove of Banksy street art.  Banksy created a grand total of 10 new pieces of street art and to put this in context, there were only 5 outdoor Banksy artworks at his own Dismaland group show in 2015!

Street Art stencil by Banksy in Lowestoft of children in a boat and message We're all in the same boat

We’re All In The Same Boat by Banksy

With my son for company as navigator (who needs sat nav when you have a boy armed with a smartphone and supersized data allowance) I headed off last Tuesday to explore the Fens and surrounds hunting down the biggest collection of Banksy seen since New York, October 2013.


UPDATE – I have written a guide to the location of each of these Banksys, that has different photos to this appreciation of the art and you can view the guide by clicking HERE (after you have read this post!)


The Norfolk Broads is an idyllic network of creeks and lakes which on the day we visited was looking stunning with boats gently sailing here, there and everywhere in glorious sunshine and perfect breezes.  Nicholas Everitt Park sits at the inlet to Oulton Broad, a classic British daytrip destination full of playgrounds, bowling, tennis and ice cream vendors.  It does its best to turn away from the sour, grubby creek that runs down its spine but Banksy hasn’t.  “We’re all in the same boat”  has three children in a distressed Swallows and Amazons tableau, a skipper and second in command upfront scan the horizon while, at the back a third child bails their leaking tub.  The two children upfront have paper admiral’s hats suiting their privilege, the child dealing with the emergency in the bilges wears a worker’s beaney. Originally there was a decaying boat hull but that corrugated sheet of iron was hauled away as it was constricting the water course.

Street Art stencil by Banksy in Lowestoft of children in a boat and message We're all in the same boat

“We’re all in it together” our leaders promised, that was until Boris decided to throw out all the pandemic restrictions and impose on us a doctrine of “personal responsibility” despite a 3rd wave delta variant surge.  Banksy’s smartly dressed captain navigates blind to signs of imminent disaster while someone else, representing the NHS perhaps, heroically struggles to stop the ship sinking.  Coming the week after Boris decided that he didn’t have to isolate despite an office staffer who flew on a plane with him testing positive, Banksy mocks our political leaders’ inclination to shamelessly pick and choose which of the rules they can ignore.

Street Art stencil by Banksy in Lowestoft of children in a boat and message We're all in the same boat

In one of Lowestoft’s shopping drags, one of those that can’t decide if it is pedestrianised or not, a chubby child in a sunhat plays in the sand with a crowbar rather than a spade, the beach is the sand under paving slabs which the scowling but resourceful child has prized up.  The scene embodies the famous slogan from the French student riots of ’68 “Sous les paves, la plage!”, “Under the paving stones, the beach!”

A child points at Banksy street art in Lowestoft

Child delighted to find Banksy girl playing in sand

This piece places the council in a quandary we will watch with amusement… Banksy is a great tourist draw for an economy “building back” but holes in pavements are a nailed on dead cert public liability nightmare!  In appearance though not meaning, this piece recalls Banksy’s 2010 Tesco sandcastle at British seaside town Hastings.

Banksy stencil street art in Hastings girl playing with Tescos sandcastles

Tesco sandcastles, Banksy, 2010

Lowestoft has more, the largest of the bunch brilliantly reproduces that seaside promenade classic – the chip stealing seagull.  This is the best realised of the current collection.  The simulation of a bag of chips using cut up loft insulation and a rusty skip placed in situ without permission is next level, a real classic Banksy.

Banksy street art stencil in Lowestoft showing seagull snatching chips from a packet which is actually insulation in a skip

Chip snatching Seagull, Banksy 2021

We had the pleasure of chatting with a local who saw the work in progress.  He recalls shrouded scaffolding, a van and a bored looking young man keeping watch.  With nearly 2 decades experience of looking bored around street art, my boy could empathise with Banksy’s lookout.  Our local observer explained the building was owned by an absent owner in London who let it to council-guaranteed temporary residents and that it had been subject of complaints in the past few years about the accumulation of crap in the front hard-standing.  So locals were not in the least bit surprised at what looked like contractors carrying out maintenance though they were puzzled that the work required insulation.

Banksy street art stencil in Lowestoft showing seagull snatching chips from a packet which is actually insulation in a skip

Chip snatching Seagull, Banksy 2021

The size of the painting and the installation of the rusty skip give this enterprise a degree of planning that few apart from Banksy have the skill to pull off without permission.  It will be interesting to see what happens to that skip when the chips have been stolen, as they inevitably will be.

Outside Lowestoft we found a chilled rat reclining on a beach chair, sheltered under a parasol while enjoying a cocktail whose mix includes the drip from an adjacent outfall pipe.  The rat is staring directly at the pipe in anticipation of the next top up.

It’s nice to see a Banksy rat again, in this case the black colour is predominantly freehand painted over a stencilled white layer which is unusual but Banksy has used the technique in the past, despite what a particular high profile Banksy street art acquirer/remover said.  See for example the Basquiat tribute piece at the Barbican centre in 2017, though that is one that the art chiseller failed to acquire.

Banksy stencil or a rat at a Lowestoft beach who is sipping a cocktail made from a pipe discharge

All The Fun Of The Seaside in Lowestoft

“Au revoir Lowestoft, it was lovely visiting you” and “Hello” to Gorleston Beach with its newly decorated beach shelter now sporting an arcade grab machine claw.  By the time of our visit, this piece had been opportunistically added to by local artist Raphiel Astoria, who signs their art Emo.  Among the additions are a number of stencilled bears, a statement proclaiming this to be a collaboration between Banksy and Emo and most provocatively, a stencilled Banksy tag.

Banksy stencil of an arcade game claw at Gorleston Beach with added teddy bers by local street artist EMO

Banksy arcade machine claw with teddy bears added by local artist

The photo released on Banksy’s website shows the arcade claw before any additional artwork so the suggestion of collaborative intent on Banksy’s part can be dismissed.  Robbo and Danny Minnick have made far superior interactions with Banksy street art in the past.

The additional bears look like the kind of bait prizes that never drop into the hopper of the arcade game.   According to local news sources, experts apparently think the enhancements mean the Banksy piece “Makes more sense now”.  What Emo has done dramatically changes our point of view, our relationship with the artwork.   Stencilling the bears on the wall means we are now looking from the outside at a selection of prizes, which of course includes any poseur sitting on the bench, inside an arcade game.  What Banksy painted actually gamified the whole world.  We were all, the whole world, inside the game and the claw was selecting “winners”, the allegorical touch was a nod to life as a game that confers privilege on a select few while the rest of us flounder unwanted.  From that perspective this was until the additions probably the most conceptually accomplished Banksy of the whole East Anglia collection.  It still makes a great Instagram photo opportunity though.

Tour guide Dave in front of Banksy stencil of an arcade game claw at Gorleston Beach with added teddy bears by local street artist EMO

Booby Prize (Dave spoils view of Banksy Arcade claw machine)

Merrivale Model Village is a self-effacing Great Yarmouth beach front gem completely drowned out by the garish competition.  Even the slush puppy concession outside is a bigger eye magnet.  Inside is a different story – it’s big, it’s delightful and it’s brilliantly British in a classic wholesome way.

View of Merrivale Model Village

Merrivale Model Village

A clandestine Banksy addition to the model collection is a defaced stable in classic gingerbread vernacular style placed in a quaint village in front of a medieval castle.  The vandalism inflicted on this fairytale scene is a Banksy fire extinguisher tag and a Banksy rat who has written “Go big or go home”, a very witty slogan to put up on the side of a miniature property.  The rat defacing the property has been caught literally red-handed, like the “If Graffiti changed anything” rat in London in 2011.

Banksy street art on a model home installed without permission at Merrivale Model Village

Banksy Fire Extinguisher

Banksy street art on a model home installed without permission at Merrivale Model Village

Go Big Or Go Home

The Banksy tag is a model scale version of the fire extinguisher tagging hugely approved of by hard-core graffiti writers, reproducing the fire extinguisher effect at model scale is very impressive. The Banksy tag here is not an artist signing their artwork, the tag IS the art, which is a completely different thing.

Banksy street art on a model home installed without permission at Merrivale Model Village

Banksy Fire Extinguisher tag

Things get a bit complex at this point, the model is only on display between 1pm and 3pm.  We had a lovely conversation with the son of the owner who told us that since word got out people were stepping onto the model village to get close up photos, so for the time the Banksy stable could only be displayed for limited supervised hours.  On Tuesday we did not know that!  However the owner kindly showed us behind the scenes and let us view the model close up, so what you see here is the empty space where Banksy left the model and a close up of the model photographed in another location.

Marrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth showing spot where Banksy placed his model

Site of graffiti blighted Banksy development

UPDATE 1 – it appears that the owners under advice have actually completely withdrawn the model from display.

UPDATE 2 – it seems that they may now display the model under perspex (plexiglass).  Perhaps it is best to contact them before travelling!

Frank Newsome (Jr), son of the owner, told us was that it took them several days to spot the intrusion, an alert guest asked them if the Banksy defaced model was genuine and it took them a while to figure out what the guest meant.  Their minds went back to an incident a few days earlier where a female guest had been particularly fascinated in the model making process and ended up backstage on a personal tour while simultaneously a drone intruded into the airspace surrounding the model village so they scrambled their air defences and knocked the drone out of the sky with a net.  Management believes these activities were a deliberate distraction for the staff to facilitate the surreptitious placement of the new construction.  Banksy’s Instagram account includes drone footage of the model village installation so the story truly deserves to become part of the Banksy legend and the model village folklore.

Banksy’s additions are an amusing comment on the ubiquitous intrusion of the modern form of graffiti into this idyllic setting, nowhere is safe.  This is a companion to the Banksy humour seen in modified oil paintings such as “Tox Cottage”.

Banksy painting showing graffiti on a cottage in an old painting

Tox Cottage – photo Banksy.co.uk

Close by the model village a stencilled dancing duo on top of a bus shelter trip the light fantastic accompanied by an accordion player.  All the characters look like familiar Banksy cast but the most impressive aspect of this somewhat routine Banksy is its placement, it is a clever interaction with the street furniture and you have to admire Banksy for executing this on top of a council bus stop without being caught.

Banksy stencil of two dancers and an accordian player placed on top of a bus shelter in Great Yarmouth

Banksy Bus Stop Dancers, Great Yarmouth 2021

Two aspects of the Banksy artwork that has appeared in Cromer that might deter those of a less completist nature are that it is a bugger to find and the schlepp from the others to this one piece is an hour through the flattest English landscape imaginable.  Don’t be put off though as this is certainly the most detailed and colourful of the set.  A hermit crab with three empty shells is refusing access to three naked and needy hermit crabs, a social commentary piece touching on privilege, property ladder manipulation and social exclusion.

Banksy Stencil of a Landlord crab showing placard reading "Luxury Rentals Only" to homeless crabs at Cromer Beach

Luxury Rentals Only – Banksy

Banksy Stencil of a Landlord crab showing placard reading "Luxury Rentals Only" to homeless crabs at Cromer Beach

Luxury Rentals Only – Banksy

The arrangement and the placard device contain stylistic similarities with the 2014 “Migrants Not Welcome” piece in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.

Banksy Stencil in Clacton on Sea of native birds waving placards telling exotic visiting birds to go home

Migrants Not Welcome – Banksy stencil

So all told this is a very impressive and above all enjoyable collection of street art.  The blending of political cynicism with humour is pure Banksy and above all, the execution bears Banksy hallmarks particularly the use of the scaffolding reported for the chip snatching seagull.  The distraction strategy reported for the Merrivale Model Village installation may be new but it feels consistent with the degree of planning that characterises Banksy’s illegal street art.

Banksy street art stencil in Lowestoft showing seagull snatching chips from a packet which is actually insulation in a skip

Seagull attacks badly parked mini cooper 2021

Interestingly two of the pieces in particular involved vandalism and dumping on public land, each of which could result in council jobsworths waving invoices for repairs to the pavement and removal of an abandoned skip in Lowestoft.

Banksy’s big reveal on instagram included two pieces which no one knew existed, they had not been spotted.  The first one is a small one colour stencil image of kids by a paddling pool in peril from an inflatable dinghy.  By chance I happened to photograph the pool where that stencil was placed, it had already been buffed by Tuesday and it seems probable it had gone the weekend before.

Banksy stencil of children in peril in a dinghy

Banksy Dinghy – photo Banksy.co.uk

Great Yarmouth Beach Scene with Banksy missing from the paddling pool

Paddling pool but no Banksy

The council has stated that its contractors removed that one quickly because of an unfortunate resonance with the tragic death nearby of a young child a few years ago, they stated they thought that the stencil may have been an unfortunate coincidence rather than tastelessly intentional.

The other new Banksy was in Kings Lynn.

Statue with ice cream cone and tongue in Kings Lynn – photo Banksy.co.uk

It is possible to fit in the 8 remaining (If you include the Merrivale Model Village) East Anglia Banksys in a day, it’s exhausting but hugely enjoyable.  It was a real pleasure that the pieces were not totally mobbed by crowds as is always the case for a new Banksy in London and also, other than the unfortunate augmentation of the arcade grab piece and the loss of the boat hull on another it was great to find them in pristine condition.

Links:

Banksy instagram “The Great British Spraycation”

Banksy Website

Merrivale Model Village Website

Our guide to the location of each of these East Anglian Banksys HERE

All photos: Dave Stuart except where stated


Frido Kahlo by street artist Lost Hills looks like she is painting street art in Shoreditch

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

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.

paste up street art fox by DaddyStreetFox next to some bins outside Hawksmoor's Christ Church Spitalfields

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


Historic 2007 Scary street art mural by street artist Eine repainted

EINE Street Art Scary Monsters

It’s back! The Eine street art mural SCARY on Rivington Street, familiar to many many Shoreditch Street Art Tour guests as the penultimate piece of art on the tour has been restored to its original colour scheme, check the featured image above.

Painted in 2007, back in the days when if a street artist wanted a wall they had to damn well sort it out themselves, SCARY is London’s oldest street art mural (terms and conditions apply).

Historic 2007 Scary street art mural by street artist Eine seen at night in 2012

EINE SCARY Nights 2012

This SCARY was a partner to the VANDALISM mural on the corresponding wall on the next street, making the ironic statement “SCARY VANDALISM” in the year when EINE really came of age as a sought after street artist with his first solo show.  Notice in 2007, no Citizen M, no elevated East London Line and no boutique next door to Village Underground!

Historic 2007 Vandalism street art mural by street artist Eine

EINE VANDALISM 2007

In 2019, Eine updated the mural as a charity art piece dedicated to Movember to raise funds in support of men’s mental health.  The background was painted yellow and 60 stylised handlebar moustaches were added.  60 because the message on the wall was “Globally, 60 men die by suicide every hour” and moustaches because men raise sponsorship money for Movember by stopping shaving throughout November.  Eine back up the awareness raising by releasing 100 copies of a signed limited edition screenprint sold for £100 each, proceeds going to Movember.

Scary street art mural by street artist Eine in colour scheme dedicated to charity Movember

EINE SCARY 2019 Movember colour scheme

The plan always was that it would eventually be returned to the original background and this week, Eine finally got around to restoring SCARY’s classic screaming redness.

All photos Dave Stuart

More photos of Eine street art in the gallery


Pink elephant parade street art by street artist Fat Cap Spraysreflected in car windscreen

June Busting Out Street Art All Over

June is Summer’s portal, ushering in hazy sunshine, drinks with friends and a bump in street art action.  That’s the theory; June in London this year was on the whole rather grey and overcast, here are some of the artworks that leavened the damp squib the month became.

paste up street art of rock star Debbie Harry from Blondie by Postmans Art

Debbie Harry – The Postman’s Art

Nathan Bowen has been on a recent flurry of art activity, one particular piece I wanted to include falls foul of the very strict rigid inflexible “June and June only” qualifying period set for this post but thankfully there are other equally lovely ones.

permissioned mural street by Nathan Bowen and Harry Blackmore

Nathan Bowen & Harry Blackmore

In this artwork created in Pedley St, the latest graffiti hotspot, Pablo Fiasco fuses the first African American character to appear in the Peanuts cartoon strip with imagery inspired by the Jimmy Cliff film “The Harder They Come”, a combination every bit as brilliant as Fiasco’s masterful stencil technique.

stencil street art by Pablo Fiasco featuring Peanuts character Franklin and scenes from The Harder They Fall Jimmy Cliff

Peanuts character Franklin by Pablo Fiasco

stencil street art by Pablo Fiasco featuring Peanuts character Franklin and scenes from The Harder They Fall Jimmy Cliff

Pablo Fiasco Jimmy Cliff detail

Grace Kelly popping into a British phone box would be an iconic moment if it ever happened, D7606 is quite happy to do the imagining for us.  Let’s hope “indigo the art dog” from New York knows how to behave.

pop art style paste up street art with Grace Kelly in a phone box by street artist D7606

Phone box multiples with Grace Kelly – D7606

Seeing Coloquix art in London is relatively unusual but it always reminds me of the wonderful time I had in Sheffield exploring art in derelict buildings after travelling up there for a gallery show by Aida, which was the first time I encountered Coloquix’s art.

paste up street art female figure bouncing on space hopper by street artist Coloquix

female with space hopper – Coloquix

Woskerski and David Speed have alternated in the use of this particular spot in the past month, this fried egg by Woskerski was sensational.

Photorealistic fried egg painted on a building site hoarding in Shoreditch by street artist Woskerski

Fried Egg – Woskerski

At a nearby location this skull by David Speed was beautifully framed in the structure of the bus shelter.

neon pink skull street art painted on an abandoned bank in Shoreditch by street artist David Speed

David Speed

At a more formal level and not normally the kind of art that Shoreditch Street Art Tours covers, Art Night has been significantly redesigned for 2021.  It used to be a one night event in London involving a crazy evening pounding around one off art events in galleries in institutions and it was terribly easy to actually spend the whole evening stuck in a queue for the most popular elements.   For 2021 the event is strung out over a month and has been decentralised with much activity outside London.  Supporting a theme small acts of personal and collective defiance and self determination we had this biting feminist advert from the Guerrilla Girls.

Art Night 2021 billboard art by Guerrilla Girls

Guerrilla Girls -Female Artists

As an aside, whenever I am under extreme pressure to name a favourite piece of street art I often fall back to a piece by James Cauty in 2008 which mirrored the street but with the devastating ego blow in which my personal significance was accurately measured out by my invisibility, it was at the same spot.

Favourtie piece of street art ever, billboard art in Shoreditch

TRA TON SI SIHT – Jimmy Cauty, 2008

This building site hoarding is at the site of the former art hang out known as the Foundry, the Shoreditch location where a new 27 story hotel is being constructed where once was one of the largest Banksy’s in London.  It mainly hosts graffiti, this sublime abstract artwork seems to have the hand, meaning can control, of a graffiti writer but looks to be abstract to the point of no letterform at all.

abstract graffiti colourfields in Shoreditch - artist not known

artist not known

That building site is now emerging above ground level, it is quite scary to reflect on the fact that it will be a 27 story building when complete.

Art Otel new building under construction in Shoreditch with graffiti on hoardings Awards, Fugs, Mase, Krops et al

Legal graffiti on building site hoardings – Awards, Fugs, Mase, Krops et al

all photos: Dave Stuart


Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Nature Is A Whore

“It was 30 years ago today” that Nirvana released Nevermind, with apologies for that inept abuse of the Beatles’ lyrical mastery and the actual facts (release date Sep 24th 1991).  One of the standout tracks on a standout album is “In Bloom”, Kurt Cobain’s lament on the impact of their growing success and within the song is the line “Nature Is A Whore”.  Nature Is A Whore is the tagline anointing some but not all of a collection of naïve and economical artworks appearing around London over the past few months.

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

The smile is often innocent, almost angelic and frequently the curiously four fingered character offers flowers or seems to relish the beauty in a fresh cut flower.  The crossed arms styling is curious as well, is this a dance move or a gangster style vogue?

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

You have got to chuckle when the buff inadvertently facilitates a tinted homage to the original.

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Painting large scale on a couple of currently un-utilised advert walls, the artist is proposing that they are not racist as they have a coloured TV, which at face value looks like a joke available in black and white versions but could easily be a very clever indication of a race blind preference for transvestites.  Rather curious that one version of this has the “British English” spelling of the word “coloured”, the other is wrong! (wink)

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Sometimes the artistic impulse springs from an anonymous mind whose satisfaction would appear to derive from beautification rather than ego gratification.  Thus far, I have no firm idea who these short lived minimalist masterpieces should be attributed to.

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Here is a sample of just a few, guests have report their own sightings of other specimens in other locations.

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Only Fools And Cars Go backwards

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

Send A Ugly Girl Flowers

Shoreditch street art characters with nature is a whore written next to them by unknown mystery street artist

All photos: Dave Stuart


street artist ALO street art female portraits in Shoreditch

The Darling Street Art Buds of May

Shoreditch Street Art Highlights From May 2012

William Shakespeare is rarely the first thing we think of in street art.  Shakespeare’s downer on the month of May was its tendency to be a bit windy so with the low temperatures and  rain experienced in May 2021 London certainly bore some of the weather characteristics maligned by the bard in the sonnet Shall I compare Thee to A Summers Day.

The weather didn’t deter street artists and with outdoor groups of more than 6 permitted from May 17th not to mention of course the reopening of some of our favourite watering holes there was a lot of street art activity around Shoreditch.  Here are some of the highlights we found on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour:

ALO had a prolific month and the highlight was this quintet of females painted without permission at the major intersection between Old Street, Commercial Street and Shoreditch High Street.  See also the featured image at the top of the post.

street artist ALO painting street art in Shoreditch

ALO work in progress

street artist ALO street art female portrait in Shoreditch

ALO, female portraits, May 2021

street artist ALO street art female portrait in Shoreditch

ALO, Moroccan Lady, May 2021

Pablo Fiasco painted some jaw dropping stencils in May, the complexity and skill of this father of street art defies belief almost.  This –on-the-wall guide to selecting caps for spraycans was genius, and the word “was” is used as the piece, as ephemeral as a mayfly, has been written over.

All Caps with MF Doom tribute – Pablo Fiasco

Stencil Street Art by Pablo Fiasco behind the Old Blue Last on the Shoreditch Hoxton Border in London

MF Doom tribute – Pablo Fiasco

One of the great excitements for a street art aficionado in London is to discover a new Jonesy bronze.  One of the tour groups early in May shared my joy as I spotted a brand new Jonesy I did not know existed – from the other side of the main road!

SStreet Art Bronze castsing on top of a pole by Jonesy in Shoreditch London

Jonesy bronze

Street Art Bronze casting on top of a pole by Jonesy in Shoreditch London

Jonesy bronze

Shoreditch’s main purveyor of broccoli, Adrian Boswell hit the streets hard with floret of broccoli presented as bite size angel, devil or 24 carot gold broccoli.

Broccoli street art by street artist Adrian Boswell in Shoreditch London

Adrian Boswell Angel, Devil & 24 Carot Gold Broccoli

3km of string was all it took Perspicere to make this beauty which appeared on the old Shoreditch Tube Station which is on Pedley St just off Brick Lane.  String street art is comparatively rare and London based artist Perspicere is the master of the genre, in fact quite possibly the only street practitioner – yarn bombing is something different.  Sadly this piece didn’t last too long as some thief went to a lot of trouble prizing it off the wall, that’s the temporary nature of street art.

Rare String Art Street Art by Perspicere in Shoreditch London

Perspicere

Finally for this May street art flashback, Ed Hicks produced a spraycan art masterpiece on Great Eastern St, inspired by the apocalyptical landscapes of 19th century painter John Martin.  This truly extraordinary painting lasted about 5 weeks.

Amazing Street Art mural by artist Ed Hicks in Shoreditch London

Ed Hicks

All photos: Dave Stuart