Tag Archives: Phlegm

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Diggin In The Archives 2

Another seven days of posting photos of street art dredged from the archives. In lockdown you have plenty of time with your thoughts and the wandering mind generates random recollections. Those which stand out lead to a photo being thrust into the limelight. So there was some kind of logical process behind the selection of images from week 3 in lockdown, even if the process is irrefutable evidence of lockdown fever.

In 2009 Jeff Soto painted some awesome street art in Shoreditch. Graffoto reviewed his StolenSpace show Inland Empire starting per Graffoto’s wont with a look at some street art. At time of the review 4 pieces of Jeff Soto street art in Shoreditch had been found, The street art in the featured photo above was the 5th, his “Thanks London”. Ultimately there were 6.

On the Posher fringes of the Notting Hill – Paddington border this was an unexpected mewsy location full of character. Paul Insect‘s spider was the size of a small child and provoked the awe of this big child.

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Paul Insect, Paddington, 2009

Vhils was pretty much the star of Cans Festival in 2008, he returned in 2009 and created some awesome art. This pair of portraits in Camden were amazing, the technique is basically removing the hoarding surface, like chiselling or drilling perhaps but quite how the patterned effect on the other portrait was achieved best remains an artistic mystery.

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Vhils, Camden, 2009

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Vhils, Camden, 2009

If interiors designers could replicate the distressed wood effect of 124 Hackney Road it would be in every wooden staircase in Islington – oh wait! Many many lovely pieces of art appeared on this façade at the beginning of the last decade, it is actually sad to see it looking so sterile these days. This collaboration between Ella et Pitr and Macay complimented that surface beautifully.

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Ella et Pitr & Macay, Shoreditch, 2010

For many years my mental equilibrium was both preserved and yet shattered by daily breaks from the grindstone for walks with photography companion and art show/drinking/blog buddy Sam Martin aka Howaboutno. Anything could happen and rarely did. One lunchbreak we spotted a pair of traffic wardens about a hundred yards distant, something made us suspect they weren’t run of the mill meter maids. Turned out it was Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton ticketing parked cars with spoof parking ticket/artworks. I still have mine. Bonkers but fun, these days its just charity chuggers and product samples.

Read about the ire they provoked on the streets on Graffoto.co.uk

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton, Oct 2009

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Parking Ticket

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

“Best of Times, Worst of Times”, ed 500

Is it an armada of invading toaster erupting from a portal or toasters being sucked into a black abyss? It was 2009. The genius of something so banal! You could not help but smile every time you saw street art Toasters sporting the colours of Wolverhampton Wanderers home kit pop up, except when it was in the away end cos that generally signalled home defeat for QPR.

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Toasters, Kingsland Road, 2009

Phlegm, one of my fav artists, has been doing a very entertaining series of daily sketches of life in lockdown in his own unique style. Yesterday’s was a characteristically Heath Robinson bike.

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

Phlegm, “Bike maintenance”, 2020

Here is a couple of photos which “interrogates the boundary” between hipster bikes and street art. “AMAZING” is by Eine from 2009. The dude on the elevated bike which looks like the prototype for Phlegm’s drawing must surely have had an interesting time doing emergency stops (2008). In the background is a fragment of Eine’s 2008 EXCITING.

I could have responded to the theme with photos of street art where my bike accidentally encroached on the shot, got loads of those😂

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

AMAZING unicyclist, Hackney Road, 2009

Street art, Shoreditch, Shoreditch street art tours, London, Tour Guide, Dave Stuart, street art photography

EXCITING two story bike, Old St, 2008

During the week I also wrote about brilliant artist Jamie Reid’s exhibition at the Horse Hospital in London covering the evidence of his influence on a lot of street art but mainly to highlight his 5 minute “artist walk through” his exhibition.  That is on my other street art blog HERE.

Diggin In The Archives part 1 is HERE.

This post is a compilation of my daily instagram posts from the past 7 days

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


London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

Street Art Lights Up

London has gone light crazy so it’s appropriate to show what a little light can do for street art. Here are some photos taken by guests on a recent Night Street Art Photography Tour showing how a little light makes a night photo sizzle.

Airy and Octavia, two guests on the tour captured some fantastic night street art photos where we employed light painting techniques. It is quite illuminating (sorry!) to look at how two different eyes produce quite varied interpretations of the same situation.

The spray painting genius of Shok1 really stands out in daytime with this X-Ray hand, a doctor on the street art tours once commented that the anatomical accuracy was remarkable.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting, Shok1

Shok1. photo: Dave Stuart

At night, add a bit of light and the piece is transformed, our featured image above is Shok1’s devil hands transformed by Alex Faulkener’s photography while below is what Octavia Romero Nuñez saw.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

Shok1. Photo: Octavia Romero Nuñez

In my look-back over the street art highlights of 2015 I described Mr Fan’s chrome balloon “STAR” as “One of the most exquisite pieces of spray painting “, throw a little light on the situation and the balloons almost burst off the wall.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

Mr Fan Photo: Octavia Romero Nuñez

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

Mr Fan. Photo: Alex Faulkener

And this is what STAR by Mr Fan/Fanakapan looks like in daylight

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

STAR by Mr Fan. Photo: Dave Stuart

Austrian artist HNRX put up a luscious pair of lips whose pearly dental perfection soon decayed. Illuminating the border makes the piece look like a neon sign.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

HNRX (modified) Photo: Octavia Romero Nuñez

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting

HNRX (modified) Photo: Alex Faulkener

HNRX’s lips look like this in daylight – pre and post modification by hand unknown:

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Night, Night Street Art Photography Tour, Light, Light painting. Lips. Teeth, HNRX

HNRX before and after. Photo Dave Stuart

If you are interested in taking fantastic photos such as these by Octavia and Alex, the Night Street Art Photography Tour runs until the evenings get too bright so around about the end of March and resume again when the go back in the Autumn, more details HERE.

Featured image: AlexFaulkener

Many thanks to Octavia and Alex for their permission to use their photographs.

Other photos: Dave Stuart/NoLionsInEngland