Tag Archives: Shepard Fairey

2023 Street Art Memories

2023 Street art, another year down.  Did you smile more often?  Certainly the Smokers crew aka SMO did.  A burst of activity in the Summer sun included the perfect composition of “Smokers” on a railway bridge as well as the crew acronym SMO appearing all over Shoreditch but the crowning piece was their huge Smile More Often wall with the names of all 12 crew members in smoking purple contained within the blockbuster letters, see the feature image at the top.

Smokers Crew

It there was such a thing as an award for the most up crew of the year it would go to Ghost Writers, no competition.  It seemed that there was someone representing Ghost Writers with something new almost every week.  Christmas week was no different.

graffiti and street art in Shoreditch by Ghost Writers members Minto, Tizer and Trafik and also Pablo Fiasco stencil

Minto, Trafik and Tizer repping Ghost Writers plus Pablo Fiasco

graffiti and street art in Shoreditch by Ghost Writers members Minto, Tizer and Trafik

Minto and Trafik collab, Yorgos, Tizer and Trafik

Banksy’s gift for newsworthiness did not desert him in 2023.    There was the retrospective exhibition in Glasgow, lifting the veil somewhat on the process but not the person and trumping all those shit un-authorised shows of ripped of reproductions and pure fantasy re-creations.  There was the court case which the litigant over hyped as about to lead to Banksy’s identity being revealed.  There was the artwork in Kent on the building that was demolished three days after he painted it.  Then, this being a non chronological list in which the best story is kept to last, there was the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” in Margate which led to possibly the most unfulfilling street art treasure hunt ever.  I arrived just as council contractors loaded the fridge onto a truck for disposal, how much did I rue missing by a minute the train from London that would have got me there an hour earlier.  Peter The Painter didn’t miss a thing, as anyone who Banksy’s Cut and Run show will have seen.  (Actually the most frustrating treasure hunt ever was a night spent wandering the streets of London in vain pursuit of an Adam Neate free art drop in 2008.)

Margate Council truck takes away the freezer from Banksy "Valentines Day Mascara"

Dangerous freezer captured in Margate

Banksy "Valentine's Day Mascara" Street art in Margate without the original freezer

I went London to Margate – the wall went Margate to London

There were at least four occasions this year when street art’s fleeting nature defeated my ponderous reactions. Twice I missed Banksy artworks, (the Valentine’s Day Mascara above) and the Stop War traffic sign installation which was stolen less than an hour after Banksy posted online about it.  The two other occasions were brilliant paintings by Airborne Mark, his masterpieces of virtuoso spraycan technique seem fated to be painting over immediately.  I count my blessings that there were a couple I managed to get to before they disappeared.  Everything about the origami gecko coming to life with every slant and facet of the paper catching the orange and green side lighting differently is just sensational.  All street artists’ creativity has at its core the certainty that the original piece is doomed to a very very short lifespan, yet the artists return again and again unpaid yet showing a dedication to the art which in any other endeavour would be regarded as bonkers.

spraypaint Street art mural by Airborne Mark in Shoreditch

Airborne Mark Gecko and stationery

spraypaint Street art mural by Airborne Mark in Shoreditch

Airborne Mark X Wing and stationery

Russel Shaw Higgs framed his characters beautifully within this lintel, only on the streets can such engagement with a perhaps once grand façade be realised.

street art paste ups in Shoreditch by Russell Shaw Higgs and Dr Cream

Russell Shaw Higgs, also feat Dr Cream

Yorgos first appeared in Shoreditch in 2022 but his prolific output this year has beguiled all.  He paints with influences from Picasso and traces of Matisse and his use of emulsion, which is quite rare in street art, produces a very flat and crisp aesthetic.   This pair of lovers (count the hands!) share their love with a heart that snuggly matches the bike lock frame sitting a couple of feet from the wall.

Street art mural by Yorgos of lovers whose love heart fits into the heart shaped bicycle frame

Yorgos

Yorgos

Most of Jonesy’s creativity on the Shoreditch streets this year was in the form of original drawings and paintings, check out all the oily creatures in the detail below as well as several new bronze castings atop street sign poles.

street art illustration concerned with pollution and environment by Jonesy

Jonesy Jan 2023

bronze casting sitting on top of a street sign of a see no evil monkey with hands covering its eyes

Jonesy See No Evil, March 2023

bronze casting sitting on top of a street sign of a demon with a petrol pump

Jonesy Bronze July 2023

If I have to pick a single art piece that made my jaw hit the ground it was this beauty from Minto.  Minto is a writer more associated with graffiti lettering but when I realised the alignment of the inverted face with the architecture in the background formed a stunning tribute to rapper (and occasional graffiti writer) MF Doom it was clearly a piece of ephemeral genius.

Minto

MF Doom by Minto

Cept is a bit of a renaissance man who goes through phases alternating between gallery installations and outdoor endeavours, it was great to see thet pendulum swung back to street art and graffiti this year.

comic illustration style street art by Cept supervillain with written text confession

Cept

Dan Kitchener had a brilliant year, not just because he painted abroad a lot or in terms of the scale of his murals, he also created some beautiful specimens of urban landscapes and character art in Shoreditch.  The most interesting was the mural which veered towards abstract impressionism in a painting with a point of view sitting in a car looking out through a rainy windscreen at one of his rainy night time neon lit street scenes.  The small photo cannot do justice to the impressionist beauty in the full size mural.  I could be wrong but I think Dan painted this spot three times this year, other artists occupying this wall were Inagaki (twice) and Only E1

spraycan impressionist street scene viewed through a wet window with drip or rivulets of raindrops and car lights reflecting off wet road surface by street artist Dan Kitchener

Dan Kitchener Feb 2023

Nearly every time you turn up to photograph this wall there are huge mountains of bin bags awaiting collection which makes my failure to get the photo of this image with a stack of bin bags in front of it quite unforgivable.

realistic spraycan painting relates to the piles of commercial rubbish seen regularly on Commercial Street

Inagaki, formerly known as Enigma, Feb 2022

Esauteric continued to amaze with his energetic disregard for conventional crisp spraypainting techniques, the very experimental colour combination and of course the manner of painting on walls with irregular surfaces, corners and buttresses that mean you really have to be able to walk around the wall to experience what the art has to offer from different angles.

wall mural colourful energetic face Shoreditch Brick Lane

Esau-teric. one angle only

wall mural colourful energetic face Shoreditch Brick Lane style of Futura2000

Esau-teric. Look closely, there is a 12 inch deep buttress in this picture

ODDO is an enduring Shoreditch favourite and his prolific production of wilder and wilder characters veers towards the curious, dark and scary.   “Bamboo mole” was a recurring theme.  I made one selection of snaps that captured the contribution ODDO made to my enjoyment of street art in 2023 then on the morning of New Years Eve, two more new ODDO artworks popped up on my walk through Shoreditch and one muscled right into this selection.  In a parallel universe I would be wearing clothes designed by ODDO.

crazy clothes crazy colours on harnd drawn street art paste up by ODDO in Shoreditch

ODDO, New Years Eve

crazy clothes crazy colours on harnd drawn street art paste up by ODDO in Shoreditch

ODDO, Feb 2023

crazy clothes crazy colours on harnd drawn street art paste up by ODDO in Shoreditch

ODDO, Oct 2023

Nonose has been doing quirky, lurid potatoes spiked with cocktail sticks since forever and for a little while this year a flotilla of crash-landed sputniks could be found on the tops of bus shelters and street furniture in Shoreditch and Hackney.

a dayglo potato with cocktail sticks by street artist nonose on top of a bus stop shelter

Nonose, Jan 2023

a dayglo potato with cocktail sticks by street artist nonose on top of a bus stop shelter

Nonose, Jan 2023

a dayglo potato with cocktail sticks by street artist nonose on top of a bus stop shelter

Nonose, Jan 2023

For a former graffiti writer Shaim certainly has no fear of negative space!  His hand drawn originals and paste up copies have managed to make horn rimmed glasses sexy again.  The trio of ladies are not copies at all, each is different and for the really curious, the green splats on the wall date back to a Nick Walker show in 2008.

3 black and white female faces on a wall at Old Street Shoreditch by Stephen Haim Shaim

Shaim

Ed Hicks remains the master of painterly gothic street art, he had a productive 2023 and there wasn’t a single piece I saw that I didn’t love.  It’s a puzzle that his masterworks tend to have much shorter lives than equivalent efforts from his peers, the artwork on the Grey Eagle St wall lasted barely a week before giving way to Smile More Often.

double height door gothic light and dark mural on Brick Lane by Ed Hicks

Ed Hicks

street art mural of fiery explosion, Brick Lane, Ed Hicks

Ed Hicks, Nov 2023. 1 week only.

Shoreditch visitors

Shoreditch continues to magnetically attract brilliant visiting artists working from small paste ups to the largest murals.  Alex face painted literally a scorcher, controversially short lived as it was painted over by an advert on a wall which has never hosted an advert before.

burning faces mural by Alex Face from Thailand painted on a wall on Brick Lane

Alex Face, Thailand. Jul 20263

Drash visited London twice this year and her colourful detourned fashion mag pages got brasher and Drasher.

Colourful Street artist Drash La Krasse from La Rochelle next to her art in Shoreditch

Drash La Krasse

Colourful Street art by Drash La Krasse from La Rochelle on derelict window old Shoreditch tube station

Drash La Krasse, with additional LDashD sticker

Niafase, Key and Naths Ice visited from Mexico and got stuck right in painting with some talented artists at various spots around London with Niafase contributing some technically brilliant 3D lettering.

part of large mural with goldfish, portraiture and 3d graffiti lettering

Niafase with Curiouser and Curioser

collaborative wall mural with spraypainted street art and graffiti

Moonkey, Niafaze (Mex), Achezink, Naths_Ice (Mex)

3d graffiti lettering Stockwell hall of fame

MoonkeySP, Solo, Nifazse, Casem, Ezra Kemen, Vladarts, Void One

On My Travels

The years since we were all put in detention have been spent frantically travelling to make up for lost opportunities.  This year wonderful street art was discovered in Manchester, Paris, Southend, Lisbon, Port Talbot and Glasgow.

Manchester’s street art bristles with self confidence and inventiveness.  Hornby train set art?

Geese in a Manchester streert with sign saying on the 6th day God created Manchester

On the 6th day, God created Manchester – Trafford Parsons

Street art made from model railway and figure dressed like Kevin Rowland from Dexys Midnight Runners

“Dexy’s Midnight Roller”  with miniature Kevin Rowland, Jungle Angelo, Manchester

Paris blew me away, over 1000 photos of magical street art was a fraction of what I saw and the task of selecting a few to share proved too painful to contain within just one blog post.  So I wrote two.   Paris is blessed with magnificent murals but there is way more than 10 story murals to Paris’ street art.  B-Toy Andrea’s mural makes the cut just because I loved the way a bit of light painting and long exposure melded the decoration in the subject’s hair with the blossom on the trees.  Paris of course has the largest collection of Space Invaders but I fell in love with the really esoteric things like Tegmo’s glass sculptures and mosaic arrangements.

Tegmo, Paris

2 street names, 5 legged confusion. OJI, Paris

BToy Andrea, Paris

Southend is so easy to get to from London and the Southend City Jam seaside circus has now grown to one of the coolest, happiest and indeed largest gatherings of street artists, graffiti writers and fans in the world.   I wonder what happens to all those boards?

Pink haired woman in front of mural with matching bright pink details

Bublegum, Southend City Jam 2023

Street art from Southend City Jam 2023 Asur work in progress

Asur work in progress, Southend City Jam 2023

Street art from Southend City Jam 2023 Elno

ELNO, Southend City Jam 2023

Street art from Southend City Jam 2023

Epic1, C.A.S.E.M, Southend City Jam 2023

Lisbon has an amazing city wide distribution of street art and graffiti.  Star locals Vhils and Bordalo simply can’t be left out of any Lisbon highlights but even in a city noted for its tiled décor I was delighted with the surprise find of a massive tiled mural by Monsieur A whose parents are Portuguese.

Junk street artist Bordalo studio in Lisbon

Bordalo studio, Lisbon

huge tile mural in Lisbon by street artist Monsieur Andre

Monsieur Andre Tiled mural, Lisbon

huge tile mural in Lisbon by street artist Monsieur Andre

Monsieur Andre Tiled mural, Lisbon

Mural portrait half and half collaboration in Madrid between Shephard Fairey and Vhils

half and half Shepard Fairey, Vhils collab, Lisbon

Glasgow had been invaded by the usual suspects visiting the Banksy exhibition so at that moment it was an effort to track down the local talent rather than same old Shoreditch habituees.

Stencil street art in style of Banksy of falling couple by The Rebel Bear

The Rebel Bear

clever stencil juxtaposition appears to show girl balancing on thin handrail in Glasgow

Rogue Oner, Glasgow

And so, with another New Years Eve photo A Chance Of Creatures kicks out the old and welcomes in the new, may you all have a healthy wiser better more peaceful 2024, fill it with joy and art.

New Years Eve street art 2023 2024 by A Chance Of Creatures In Shoreditch

A Chance Of Creatures – New Years Eve

All photographs: Dave Stuart


wall in shoreditch with street art origami frog painted by Airborne Mark

Shoreditch September Street Art Highlights

September turned out to be a perfect goldilocks month for street art in Shoreditch, not to hot and not too cold, not too wet and not too dry, just perfect!  Here is a selection of some favourites from the past month, some of which are already no more, have ceased to be, expired (etc).

Last weekend our Sunday tour had the pleasure of bumping into Airborne Mark doing one of his characteristic Origami paintings.  Here is a look at the origami model he was using as the reference, the final masterpiece can be seen in the featured image at the top.

Street Art by Airborne Mark showing the origami frog used for reference

Airborne Mark

Another artist we bumped into last weekend was the ever friendly D7606 who reclaimed a long running spot with this glorious Princess Grace Kelly in a London phone box “two Margeritas, one four cheeses, an Americano and 3 garlic breads please.”

Princess Grace Kelly spotted in a phone box in Shoreditch by street artist D7606

“so, two Margeritas, one four cheeses, an Americano and 3 garlic breads please.”

There is a tendency for photos to bubble to the surface on my computer in reverse chronological order, most recent first so perhaps it is appropriate that another graffiti writer we at the weekend was writing their name backwards using a very long handled roller brush.

Walls in Shoreditch with graffiti by Helch, ONLY, DIET and TOKS

HELCH, ONLY, DIET and TOKS

Yet another artist we bumped into sprang a real surprise on us, reveal a new form of his art.  Ben Wilson is better known as the Chewing Gum Man.   I told him that the group I was with hadn’t seen any of his chewing gum pictures to which he replied “ah ha, have you seen my new mosaics and he spent 10 minutes giving us a personal guided tour of new paintings done in single mosaic pieces.

painting on a piece of mosaic by street artist Ben Wilson in Shoreditch

Ben Wilson

These are even trickier to spot than his chewing gum pictures (other than on the Millennium Bridge where it is hard to stop stepping on them).

painting on a piece of mosaic by street artist Ben Wilson in Shoreditch

Ben Wilson

An artist we met in action earlier in the month was Daniel K Swann.  Passing by the following day I found that the positive message David wished to convey had been painted all across the road.

Fierce Lion on a wall painted byh Daniel K Swan with additional positive love messages written on the road

Fierce Lion by Daniel K Swan

One artist we met twice was the recently relocated Wrdsmth from LA.

mixed media stencil and paste up street art byh artist Wrdsmith in Shoreditch

We will forever know who we love – Wrdsmth

Lest you think my time is spent beating street artists off with a stick, one street artist who was around who we didn’t see was Shepard Fairey.  He was present at the opening night of his show of collaborations with D*Face and Kai and Sunny at StolenSpace Gallery but the queue to meet the legend outside the gallery was daunting.  I visited the show a couple of days later when it was much quieter, you can read the review HERE.   Shepard Fairey left his mark with a significant collection of new stickers many of which we hadn’t seen previously in London.

Sticker in Shoreditch by street artist Shepard Fairey

Wake UP says Shepard Fairey

Sticker in Shoreditch by street artist Shepard Fairey

Gun firing a flower by Shepard Fairey

ED Hicks popped up with several new works in September, leaving aside the – cough – adverts, my favourite was this stunning John Martin meets Dali fragmenting landscape with portal and apocalyptical skyline everything but the kitchen sink piece.

Apocalyptical painting by street artist Ed Hicks in Shoreditch

Ed Hicks

Apocalyptical painting by street artist Ed Hicks in Shoreditch

Ed Hicks

Now for a couple which have already featured on my or less daily street art updates, I loved these bunny hands by Enigma.

Bunny Hands street art by enigma in Shoreditch

Bunny Hands by Enigma

Placement is often a significant contribution to great street art so this moth by Marie Alice was really spot on.

paste up street art of a moth perfectly positioned by a gas lamp in brick Lane Shoreditch by street artist Marie Alice

Moth by Marie Alice

All photos: Dave Stuart in month of September 2021


Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

D*Face, Kai and Sunny and Shepard Fairey London art show “Unity”

Massive queues, a packed opening night at a gallery – is this 2008 all over again?  Actually no, it’s D*Face collaborating with two of StolenSpace’s long term friends Kai and Sunny, a double act counting as one friend, and Shepard Fairey.

Many may recall that D*Face’s gallery StolenSpace has hosted three major Shep Fairey solo shows in the past (Nineteeneightyfouria 2007; Sound and Vision 2012 and Facing The Giant, 2019).  What may be less well known is that Kai and Sunny, described by the gallery as having a “shared college experience” with D*Face, have been exhibiting at StolenSpace since New Year 2009, pursuing a style which back then was way too “design” for my tastes, not “street” enough.  See also 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020

View of Shepard Fairey's 2007 exhibition Nineteeneightyfouria at Old Truman brewery

NineteenEightyFouria by Shepard Fairey, London 2007

Kai and Sunny have also exhibited at Subliminal Projects in LA, founder….Shepard Fairey, so connections are tight.

Now that the free beer and artist in-person appearances of the opening night have passed there is time to peruse the art at leisure.  To appreciate who contributes what where, who combines with whom, it may be handy to really overgeneralise three massive careers in just three pairs of images.  D*Face does D*Dog characters with wings and corrupted pop art; Shepard Fairey does Andre The Giant and striking political illustrations, Kai and Sunny come from a gorgeous geometric op art and flower painting direction.

D*Dog sticker by D*Face on a love lock in Shoreditch

D*Face’s D*Dog love lock

Mural in Camden by street artist D*Face with Shepard Fairey sticker in foreground

D*Face mural from 2020 with Obey GIant and D*Dog stickers in foreground

Shepard Fairey Obey Giant sticker in shoreditch

Obey Giant Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey political paste ups on Brick Lane London in 2007 showing the strong propaganda illustration influence

Shepard Fairey, Brick Lane 2007

Kai and Sunny solo exhibition Shifting Times at Stolenspace Gallery in 2018

Kai and Sunny “Shifting Times”, StolenSpace 2018

With artistic collaborations there is usually one artist whose contribution dominates, who drives the idea and the collaborators “fill in”.   Great collaborators appreciate that sometimes they are the chief, other times they are the Indian.  I am indebted to City Kitty, or possibly Lunge Box (can’t tell them apart on their podcast) for this stolen and bastardised insight.   The online catalogue ducks the whole who collaborated on what intrigue by simply attributing one “lead artist” to each image.   Often what makes the art interesting, the “arty” or clever part of the art, is actually what’s added by the others.  With Unity Star No 3 below, the foreground is occupied by a D*Face winged Obey Giant but the piece is electrified by Kai and Sunny in the background

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Unity Star No 3

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Unity Star No 3 detail

A stand out feature is how Kai and Sunny absolutely illuminate a piece when their contribution appears to perhaps be the less significant.  I confessed earlier that a decade ago I really didn’t get their work, I am so pleased that recent shows and most notably this current one have opened my eyes to the flow in their art.

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Ghost D*Moon Flower

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Unity Obey Flower

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Unity Obey Flower (detail)

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Obey Rise Up (above), Ghost D*Moon Wave (below)

The whole notion of the catalogue of a show of collaborations, as in “not a group show”, attributing artworks on the basis of lead artist only does rather confound the concept of collaboration.  The collaborator redux appears to have challenged the compiler of the online catalogue as “Apply Unity” appears in both the D*Face section and the Shepard Fairey section.

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Apply Unity

More show images:

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Sure Shot Spray Can

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

D*Dog Icon

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Hope On The Tide

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Riot Everywhere

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

The D*Face Treatment

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Burning Brighter

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Burning Brighter Detail

The catalogue compiler has a curious concept of “lead artist”, “Magnified Unity” features Shephard Fairey’s Andre The Giant image but the main artistic device is the Lichtensein-esque benday dots and magnifying glass and which is a D*Faceification previously seen in his “Magnified Dog” painting in 2013.

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

Magnified Unity

So, dudes all get on, artistic friendships have been put to the creative test and the artworks are genuinely harmonious interactions between the styles of the collaborators regardless of the lead artist nonsense.  Back to the City Kitty/Lunge Box aphorism, justifiably large egos have been set aside to produce coherent beautiful art which is certainly worth popping in to enjoy.

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

D*Faced OG Sticker

Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London Collaborative art by Street artists D*Face and Shepard Fairey and painting duo Kai and Sunny at the "Unity" exhibition at StolenSpace, Whitechapel, London

StolenSpace Gallery
17 Osborn St, London E1 6TD
10 Sep – 3 October 2021

Links:

StolenSpace Gallery website

D*Face website

Shepard Fairey website

Kai and Sunny website

All photos: Dave Stuart


Shepard Fairey, Anti gun, #nohate, #LiveandLetLive, #StreetArt AgaintHate #WeDemand, #ChangeTheRef, streetart, streetartist, Shoreditch Street Art Tours

Shepard Fairey “Stop The Violence” Parkland Commemorative Print

Shepard Fairey releases a new screenprint, “Parkland Voices”, available from his website today.

Shepard Fairey “Stop The Violence”, photo Courtesy Obey Giant

Back in 2018 the “Street Art Against Hate” project was initiated by a group of artists from Cologne and several years on artists are still supporting that message and that project with new #nohate street art.  When the project led  to the impressive and moving Wall Of Love in Shoreditch in November 2018, Shoreditch Street Art Tours shared the experience of viewing that mural with Patricia and Manuel Oliver whose son Joaquin Oliver was a victim of the Parkland School killings, the same tragedy commemorated and supported by Shephard Fairey.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Streetart, Mural, paste up, gun control. anti hate, no hate, nohate, Live And Let Live, Streetart Against Hate

To Live and Let Live, Street Art Against Hate

Shepard Fairey’s rousing anti gun statement says

“I created art to support Voices of Parkland and Brady United, because I want to do my part in the fight against gun violence. “

Graffoto wrote about the moving moments of sharing the positivity embodied in the Wall Of Love with grieving parents from Parkland, Patricia and Manuel channeled the power of their emotions through art to do great things raising awareness of the need for change, here is a wonderful mural they facilitated in Winwood, Miami, interestingly the striking message is clearly very influenced by and in debt to Shepard Fairey’s Obey Giant graphic design.

London, Shoreditch, Street Art, Streetart, Mural, paste up, gun control. anti hate, no hate, nohate, Live And Let Live, Streetart Against Hate, Change The Ref, Joaquin Oliver

WE DEMAND…. Mural by Manuel Oliver, Winwood, Miami. Photo supplied by Manuel Oliver

Print Details (information from Shepard Fairey website):

Parkland Voices. 24 x 18 inches. Screen print on Cream Speckle Tone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 550. $60. Proceeds go to Brady United. Available on March 10th @ 10 AM PDT at https://store.obeygiant.com/collections/prints.

In addition to putting up stickers and paste ups on a visit to London last October, Shepard Fairey created three stunning murals, two in the Shoreditch area and one in Hackney:

Shepard Fairey mural in Shoreditch

“Raise The Level” – Shepard Fairey, Oct 2019

Shepard Fairey mural in Shoreditch

Shadowplay – Shepard Fairey, Oct 2019

Shepard Fairey mural in London

“We Shape The Future Rose Shackle” – Shepard Fairey, Oct 2019

Photo Credits:

Shepard Fairey “Stop The Violence” courtesy Obey Giant

“WE DEMAND…. “ mural by Manuel Oliver, Winwood, Miami. Photo supplied by Manuel Oliver

All other photos: Dave Stuart

 


Shepard Fairey Facing The Giant

Shepard Fairey was in London in October celebrating 30 years of Andre The Giant Art with a two site exhibition hosted by StolenSpace.

Facing The Giant – Beats Residency space (October 2019)

Facing the Giant – StolenSpace (October 2019)

The exhibition was slated to close at the end of October but actually a great selection of art from the two site display has been consolidated and rehung at the StolenSpace Osbourn St site.

Facing the Giant – StolenSpace (November Rehang)

It looks just as spectacular and is well worth popping in to see if you missed it in October.

Facing the Giant – StolenSpace (November Rehang)

We raved about the exhibition on Graffoto, check it out HERE

Facing the Giant – StolenSpace (November Rehang)

LINKS:

Shepard Fairey Website (subscribe to his email)

StolenSpace Website

Graffoto “Shepard Fairey: Facing The Giant)”  Review


Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Shoreditch Street Art Tours, Stra, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, DFace, D*Dface, parody, copy, humour, Where’s Wally

Street Art Where’s Wally?

Shoreditch Street Art Tours returned from a short break in foreign climes to find a street art “Where’s Wally?” challenge on the streets of Shoreditch, courtesy of French street artist STRA.

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Shoreditch Street Art Tours, Stra, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, DFace, D*Dface, parody, copy, humour, Where’s Wally

 

This was a Wally hunt with a difference with three of the World’s top street artists being portrayed as the elusive Wally.  A word of warning, this blog post turned into an excuse to dig through lots of old images of some of my favourite street artists so prepare for some gratuitous street art history!

No mistaking the World’s top street artist being spoofed with this monkey Where’s Wally,

Stra, Banksy Where’s Wally

 

“Laugh Now” is a classic Banksy monkey image and from the photo of the silk screen print version below, photographed at Steve Lazarides’ “Banksy Unauthorised Retrospective” exhibition in 2014, you can see exactly which Banksy image Stra has drawn from.

Laugh Now, Banksy, “Banksy UnAuthorised” exhibition, 2014

 

The only genuine Banksy monkey I have photographed on the street is this monkey detonating a bunch of bananas photographed in 2006 but even Banksy has spoofed himself as a monkey as seen in 2010 in the film poster for his street art documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop”.

Banksy Monkey Detonator, 2006

Banksy, Exit Though The Gift Shop Poster, 2010

 

Shephard Fairey, popular around the world, most famously for his Obama “HOPE” poster, itself subject of more parody copy versions than you might imagine, is also a street art Where’s Wally.

Stra, Shepard Fairey Where’s Wally (also feat Spraychild)

 

This Where’s Wally is based on the Obey Giant image, one of the most reproduced images in modern art history (no evidence for that statement but it sounds impressive and perhaps might even be true!)

Shepard Fairey Obey Giant, 2012

Obey Giant, Shepard Fairey, 2012

Shep Fairey, D*Face, 2006

 

Alongside the Obey Giant paste ups on the back of the road sign by Shep Fairey in the photo above is a D*Face paste up, D*Face has also been Wallified!

STRA, D*Face Where’s Wally

D*Face is represented by his classic D*Dog character, seen in a couple of photos below

D*Face, 2011

D*Face, mid 2000s

There are more out there, good luck with your Where’s Wally hunt!

 

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Shoreditch Street Art Tours, Stra, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, DFace, D*Dface, parody, copy, humour, Where’s Wally

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, Shoreditch Street Art Tours, Stra, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, DFace, D*Dface, parody, copy, humour, Where’s Wally

All photos: Dave Stuart