Tag Archives: mural

Epic New Mural In Shoreditch

A beautiful mural on the theme of “connectivity” which truly stands alongside the best in the world has been created in Shoreditch and it is stunning. The fun started in Spring this year and went on until August, 8 groups of artists working in pairs have painted a long montage of murals thematically linked on the idea of “connectivity”. The whole piece has been placed with permission on a building owned by a communications company and Graffoto has had the pleasure of discussing many aspects of this brilliant new mural with Lee Bofkin representing Global Street Art which managed the project.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Busk, Mr Switch, Ed Hicks, Dr Zadok, Best Ever, Ninth Seal

Busk and Oliver Switch, flanked by Ninth Seal and Best Ever to left, Ed Hicks and Dr Zadok to right

The first visible signs of dramatic change appeared in March 2018 when Hunto and Mr Thoms painted the end or perhaps the start of the building. The mural has “connectivity” as its theme. This can be seen in how the network of talkers, listeners and webcams painted by Thoms connects into the kissing cubist couple by Hunto and then the pipes in the network were left hanging on the fringes until Captain Kris and Tizer came along to paint the next section.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Hunto, Mr Thoms

Then we can see how Captain Kris and Tizer, in their section which depicts a connection between the real and the virtual, took the hanging connections and blended them into their artwork, in particular the yellow conduit at the bottom morphs into a triangular branch like enclosure which closes right at the point where the robot with the VR headset is connecting with the female dancer.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Captain Kris, Tizer

Captain Kris & Tizer

The dancers are dancing on a woodland floor which then flows seamlessly into the amazing woodland scene by Ed Hicks and Dr Zadok.  The connectivity depicted in the Hicks/Zadok woodland is provided by the fungal mycelium network, an organic information superhighway which actually really connects plants, trees and mushrooms across the forest floor.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists,Ed Hicks, Dr Zadok

 

Ed Hicks, Zadok – The Mycelium network

The corner panel where King John Court meets New Inn Yard supports a vanitas painting by Busk and Mr Switch. The connection aspect here is the ammonite shell at the top which has not changed over millennia and thus provides a connection across the ages.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Ed HIcks, Dr Zadok, Busk, Mr Switch, Best Ever, Ninth Seal

Busk and Mr Oliver Switch

This then flows into a collection of hands in a lattice structure, the hands depict meetings, greetings, introductions, friendships, Ninth Seal and Best Ever have captured a very human form of connectivity.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Best Ever, Ninth Seal

Mobile connectivity

Next to this is a beautiful tribute to old school modes of connection and communication by Nomad Clan, a pair of artists from Manchester. The lost art of letter writing sits alongside the pigeon post, now superseded by email.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Nomad Clan,

Nomad Clan Rewind

Those curious double headed arrow symbols in Nomad Clan’s art will be instantly familiar as “fast forward” and “rewind” to anyone who ever played or recorded on C60 and C90 cassettes. The fast forward arrow draws your eye to a collaboration between Mr Cenz whose multicoloured portraits are a familiar sight across London and Lovepusher, known for his amazing 3D letter writing. On the left Nomad Clan pay homage to retro connectivity, the female character to the right has the future of connectivity in the palm of her hand.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Nomad Clan, Lovepusher, Mr Cenz

Connectivity past, present and future

The whole project in its current form (not to suggest that this is anything other than the final manifestation) was brought to a conclusion by an abstract multi layered network created by AutOne and Neist whose complex handstyle we have loved for years.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, AutOne, Neist

AutOne, Neist

The organisation and logistics behind such a colossal mural is also hugely impressive and generally is something that Global Street Art is tremendously qualified to undertake. Just a few stats making the rounds: the mural is about 115m along its base and 13m tall making a surface area of almost 1500square metres; 250 litres of black emulsion (who buys black?) were applied as background and over 500 cans of spraypaint went into the painting.

Shoreditch, London, Colt, Mural, Connectivity, network, communication, street art, street artists, Lovepusher, Mr Cenz, night photography, light painting

Future Connectivity – Lovepusher, Mr Cenz

The end result of all these dynamics and the organisation and dare I say the connections is just about the most impressive, fresh, single piece themed collaborative mural Shoreditch has seen. All the artists involved deserve a magnificent pat on their respective backs and Lee and the Global Street Art team have every reason to feel very proud of this incredible achievement.

This post is an extract from a post on sister blog Graffoto in which Lee Bofkin of Global Street Art explains in an interview the genesis for this project, how the artists were selected and the mechanics and process of actually creating the mural, hopefully you might think it worth popping over to Graffoto to read a little more and see more photos.

Links:

Global Street Art website 

Hunto instagram

Mr Thoms instagram

Captain Kris instagram

Tizer instagram

Ed Hick instagram

Dr Zadok instagram

Busk One instagram

Mr Oliver Switch instagram

Best Ever instagram

Ninth Seal TBA

Nomad Clan instagram

Mr Cenz instagram

Lovepusher instagram

AutOne instagram

Neist instagram

All photos: Dave Stuart

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

New Banksy Appears In Dover

Another year, another Banksy, at last!  The port of Dover, a major port with the shortest distance between UK and the European mainland, found itself the proud home of the latest outdoor street art masterpiece by Banksy.    A huge version of the EU flag with a worker chipping away at one of the 12 stars greets inland arrivals coming into the port on the main road from London.

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

Banksy

When it reveals itself to you from about ¾ mile away on the hill descending into Dover, its audacious scale and  visibility is quite breath taking.  This isn’t tucked away on a back street facing somewhere anonymous, you simply can’t miss it.   By the end of this year this could be one of the most viewed single works of art in the country, perhaps even the World.

Close up the attention to detail is awesome.  Check the drop shadows on the chipped off pieces of the stars, look also at the cracks, they are stunningly painted and close up you can see each crack represented by two contrasting lines very precisely drawn alongside each other.

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

Banksy

The subject of the work is clear, it’s about Britain leaving the EU but is the piece perhaps a bit ambiguous?  Is the worker  “Leave” supporter taking great delight in symbolically destroying the EU or are his actions showing us how devastating the course the UK is seemingly irretrievably embarked upon is, in other words pro-Remain.    Context is everything with Banksy and his views are pretty clear if you think back to art he put up in Calais in 2015, Steve Jobs as an immigrant; a child gazing through a telescope across the channel to England but a vulture (death) perches on the telescope; and his “We’re not all in the same boat”, a raft borrowed from “The Raft Of The Medusa” by Théodore Géricault.   The issue was the refugee crisis but the clear message was more compassion was needed meaning open boarders, Banksy is pretty clearly a Remainer.

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

Banksy

Timing is a bit of an issue since the decisive vote which lead to our latest Prime Minister changing her mind completely from “remain” to “a red, white and blue Brexit” was 10 months ago.  The issue is central to our current general election process but only to the extent that the PM seeks a mandate to do as much damage as she can without subsequent recourse to the population.  Banksy’s mural seems to be more timely if considered in the context of the French presidential election which reaches its climax this weekend as the eminently sensible French electorate chose a centrist pro EU president rather than a far right candidate hell bent on wreaking further disunity and harm to the EU.

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

Dover – Gateway to Europe

The placement of this piece is magical.  Dover is defined in its present and its history by this country’s relationship with the continent, whether that means trade, migration, vacation or war.  Almost no one passes through Dover without registering that this is a point of departure, arrival and communication and it is all about the short cross sea link to France. It is hard to imagine a place in the UK where a Brexit piece could resonate more with its surroundings.

This post is an abridged version of a post I wrote for Graffoto blog, head over there for more views on the way Banksy may have created this masterpiece and similarities to older Banksy street art.

London, Street art, Stik, shoreditch, gentrification, mural, permission,

Stik’s New Shoreditch Mural

Shoreditch based street art Stik was beavering away on a new mural in Old Street for 4 days up until last Sunday.  At times the elements were not in his favour but he gritted his teeth and ploughed on.  Several of our tour groups last week and over the weekend had the pleasure of chatting with Stik as he took short breaks from his painting to come and check on how his characters looked from street level.

 

Just a few days after finishing his landmark painting, a short film has come out following Stik in the build up to this mural in which he seeks to establish a community context for his painting.  It is a fascinating painting with a fascinating story.

Plus ça Change

Here is a blog post which captures the exciting fizz and change of Shoreditch’s street art but for a variety of reasons mainly related to having too much other exciting street art stuff to write about, it is only being sprung onto the unsuspecting world today.

Shoreditch Street Art Tours recently had the pleasure of guiding several groups of students from Collège M. J. Chombart de Lauwe school in Brittany around the delights of East London’s street art. One of the pieces that really caught the eye of the first group was this beautiful impressionist rainy neon night scene painted by Dan Kitchener, also known as Dank.London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, Dan Kitchener, Dank

photo: Dan Kitchener

Just two hours later, a second group from the school passed the same spot and found Columbian street artist Stinkfish had painted a fresh background over Dank’s piece and was still at that time working on a new piece of art.Stinkfish Work In Progress 1

Stinkfish Work In Progress 1

At the end of that tour, our group walked back past Stinkfish on their way to the coach, and Stinkfish had made considerable progress.London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, Stinkfish, Columbia, Work in progress,

Stinkfish: work in progress

That evening as I cycled home I stopped off to see the finished Stinkfish piece and what a beauty it is.

London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, Stinkfish

Stinkfish – a banger

I noticed that Stinkfish wasn’t the only artist who had been busy that day, French artist David Selor had breezed past during the afternoon and created a brand new piece of work next to Stinkfish’s. Selor was in London for a few weeks last Summer and made a habit of creating charming animal characters with witty slogans, now his fox character is pulling drippy abstract compositions off the hoarding to reveal a black nothingness.London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, David Selor, France, Fox, T shirt, tee shirt

David Selor (Fr)

The next morning, a further group of students from Collège M. J. Chombart de Lauwe came to see the new Stinkfish and David Selor pieces and found yet another artist, London’s The Real Dill starting on a new composition over David Selor. London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, The Real Dill, work in progress

The Real Dill – early doors

The final group later that morning then saw the Stinkfish composition standing next to a freshly completed cartoon fantasy piece by The Real Dill, David Selor’s piece having lasted just over 12 hours!

London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, The Real Dill, work in progress

The Real Dill – Job Done

When French philosopher Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr coined the phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”, roughly translated as “The more things change, the more they say the same”, little did he anticipate that a mural permission broker would arrange to take that so literally!

The changes of course didn’t stop there, just a week later Artista painted one of her signature cartoon toast pieces over The real Dill’s piece and week after that, Stinkfish’s glorious piece was painted over by Irish street artist James Earley.

London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, Artista, cartoon, toast

Artista

London, Shoreditch, mural, street art, building site hoarding, Great Eastern St, James Earley

James Earley

 

Photo credits: Dan Kitchener – thanks for kind permission

all other photos: NoLionsInEngland

Bodies on Shoreditch Streets

Nothing quite beats the excitement of coming across unexpected new street art on the back streets of Shoreditch.  On my bicycle this afternoon I was delighted to find what appears to be work by Mila K from Sheffield.  Now, I have never seen Mila K’s art in Shoreditch before and only became familiar with this artist’s work on my first ever visit to Sheffield last Summer.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Mila K

Mila K

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Mila K

Mila K

Dotmasters got back to basics hitting Shoreditch and other London areas hard with his Rude Kids stencils last week.  I have been finding new examples nearly every day this week and today was no exception, we discovered this little beauty during the morning tour.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Dotmasters, stencil, stencillist, pochoir,

Dotmasters Rude Kids

On the Shoreditch Night Street Art Photography Tour tonight I went into a back yard which I had been in only earlier in the day and found a painting so new in fact the emulsion was still wet.  This macabre portraiture is by Corpse, Corpse’s work was first seen in Shoreditch last year  and it bore quite a resemblance to Antony Lister’s clown faced super heroes but this looks much more menacing.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Corpse, painting, night, "Night Street Art Photography"

A number of paired paste ups found during the morning tour was an early warning that Corpse is walking the streets of Shoreditch again.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Corpse, paste up,

Corpse paste ups

Multi layer stencillist is exploring political similarities with this juxtaposition of Obama and Kim Jung-On which must be evident to himself if no one else.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Endless, stencil, stencillist, pochoir, multi layer

Obama and Kim Jung On by Endless

This LIchtenstein-esque superhero is tagged Solo, the image itself has been seen on the streets previously by other artists.

street art,installation,painting,mural,Shoreditch, London, artist, Solo

Exciting exciting exciting, keep ’em coming!