Tag Archives: Stencil

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

Banksy Imitates Nature

Spring is sprung and Banksy welcomes the freshest season with some fresh street art.  Last Spring it  was Valentines Day Mascara in Southend, this year a hibernating tree bursts into life with a vigorous new canopy of green foliage thanks to a gardener armed with a garden sprayer.

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

Banksy Tree March 2024

It can be interpreted new life, new growth and rebirth is possible even in this most urban and densely populated of North London Locations, or maybe it suggests a resident is fed up that the tree has been so brutally pollarded by the council, pollarding being a routine annual exercise for public trees in these parts.  News of this new piece emerged on Sunday 17th of March so perhaps there is even a nod towards the St Paddy’s day celebrations.

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

scene of the crime

The character holding the garden sprayer is stencilled in a very recognisable Banksy light-dark two tone style.  Evidently in his desire to get as much greenery up as possible the gardener has covered himself in paint.   The green of the foliage is a slightly different hue to that used in the character and also different to the green used to give solidity to the sprayer rod, so three different shades of green altogether.

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

“I did that”

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

3 greens in detail

Much of the reportage suggests that Banksy has used a fire extinguisher to paint the foliage.  He has critiqued the cultural institution Festival Hall by spraying BORING with a fire extinguisher, flown an extinguisher paint powered Love Plane in Liverpool and in his intrusion into Cromer’s model village in 2022 he cutely simulated fire extinguisher graff at miniature scale so Banksy is not lacking experience with that tool.  However, a fire extinguisher generally produces a lot more splatter and a haze of colour around the impact areas.  The dripping and the controlled arcs of green, particularly where the paint reaches over the wall to the left, suggest Banksy may have used the type of hand pressurised sprayer he is seen deploying in his “You don’t mask you don’t get” 2020 post lockdown tube cleaning video, the paint effect is then consistent with the garden sprayer the character is depicted holding.  The density of the paint in some areas and the really heavy drips could also suggest paint throwing.  The stencil character also has signed of hand touch ups.  Probably a combination of different techniques was used.

Banksy stencil biplance loops the loop love heart shape on wall in Liverpool 2011

Banksy Love Plane, Liverpool, 2011

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

Banksy mini fire extinguisher graff on model village stable, Aug 2021

Artistmedea who we often meet at urban art shows where she live sketches the private view crowds was thrilled as she lives very close by. She told me that when she has been out sketching she often walks home late at night past the spot chosen by Banksy because it is actually well lit at night.

Artist sketches scene of New Banksy in North LOndon

Artist Medea live sketches

When Banksy did the Valentine Day Mascara in Southend last year I spoke to and photographed a traditional painter with his easel set up painting the “It’s a new Banksy” circus in oils.   Under then name Peter The Painter his art then appeared in the Cut and Run Banksy exhibition in Glasgow last Summer.  Artistmedea ruefully laughed at the comparison with her sketching, promising that Banksy hadn’t hired her.

New Banksy stencil of a man spraying tree on a street in North London

You should have seen the queue of photographers behind me

Time will be a fascinating component of this new Banksy artwork.  Not just the normal temporal aging that affects all street art and graffiti as much as it affects us, nor hopefully the awful sequestration and commodification of those pious “for posterity” art salvors but the pendulum of the seasons will bring forth shoots and leaves to shade and blend with Banksy’s green hues over the warm months before the winter shedding reveals the ageing piece on the wall again.

Banksy imitates nature, nature will imitate art.

LINKS:

Banksy website

Medea’s Instagram

All Photos: Dave Stuart


image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Street Artist Cartoonneros Surviving England On Ten Pounds

Argentinian stencil artist Cartoonneros is in town again, this is hard to miss if you are paying attention in Shoreditch.

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Kurt Cobain, Jean Michel Basquiat by Cartoonneros, also feat Tizer

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Frida Kahlo and Van Gogh portraits by Cartoonneros

A few days ago I had the honour of visiting a posh west end gallery (private, appointment only!) with Cartoonneros and after that visit, rather than go for a coffee as I had anticipated, our stencil hero said “stick with me, I got something to do in Piccadilly”.  So, trying not to cramp his style, I followed at a discreet distance and captured a few additions to the chaos and colour that surrounds Anteros and he/him/his errant arrow.  Enjoy the vid, sorry about the sound.

Most importantly, Cartoonneros has his third show at The Pure Evil Gallery with an opening event this Thursday.   No excuses.

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Kurt Cobain by Cartoonneros; also 2Rise

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Frida Kahlo and Van Gogh portraits by Cartoonneros

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Cartoonneros putting Putin in the bin

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Mona Lisa street stencil reproductions by Cartoonneros

image of Cartoonneros street art to illustrate how it relates to his art in his exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery in Jan 2023

Esto ne es un stencil (except when its in Piccadilly)

Cartoonneros: “Surviving England On Ten Pounds”

Thursday 26th Jan 2023, 6-9pm

Pure Evil Gallery

98 Leonard Street,

Shoreditch


City Kitty, RX Skulls, Toastoro, Voxx Romana and Wrdsmth visited Shoreditch with a group of street artists from Portland and New York and created original street art

Portland and NY Street Artists visit Shoreditch

This August a group of street artists from Portland, Oregon as well as their friends from other endz visited Shoreditch to bless the public realm with their creativity.   Various combinations of this group have been visiting Europe regularly over the years and the street art they create is never short of impressive.

City Kitty, RX Skulls, Toastoro, Voxx Romana and Wrdsmth

Gang mural (above and feature image) : City Kitty, RX Skulls, Toastoro, Voxx Romana and local friend Wrdsmth

RX Skulls and Voxx Romana have been at the centre of the previous manifestations of this team, on this occasion they were joined by City Kitty from New York, Toastoro from Portland and team photographer Cody Keto.

Toastoro and RX Skulls

Cat Bus Toaster by Toastoro, Chonk by RX Skulls (also feat Boxitrixi, ODDO, DaddyStreertFox)

Each artist has embraced differing themes and influences yet there is commonality in the techniques, placements and energy.   Paste ups, stencil, stickers and various installations are all deployed in the name of public decoration, sometimes in adventurous and novel ways.

Voxx Romana

My name is Voxx Romana, observe my stencil

Toastoro

Toastoro stencilled paste up

RX Skulls is one of the best known art sticker makers around and he came prepared with masses of stickers, as well as paste ups and stencils.

RX Skulls

RX Skulls paste up

RX Skulls

RX Skulls sticker

RX Skulls, Voxx Romana/Vane PDX collab, Toastoro (also feat D7606, Slow Shrug)

Visible in the very corner of the photo above is a small RX Skulls paste up on the corner of the window ledge, a relic from 2018 which can be seen in its early days in the photo below.   Also visible in the following photo is a sculpture by 3x3x3 and a paste up from C3, C3 is one of the UK artists RX skulls has collaborated with and if you look closely above you can see the carbonised remains of that C3 in the layers of historic grime.

RX Skulls vs C3 also feat 3x3x3, 2018

Which leads to the next photo in which another aspect of the art practice of this posse is apparent, their enthusiasm for an art collaboration.  A collection of conjoined skeleton RX Skulls characters called the Chonks are seen in partnership with art from his UK friends D7606 and C3.  The Chonkening reflects RX’s intention to cram in tons of movies this year, don’t we all have an accumulated cinema deficit following the pandemic?  Another conjoined couple are off on a tattoo spree with a tattoo gun.

RX Skulls & C3; RX Skulls & D7606

RX Skulls & C3; RX Skulls & D7606

RX Skulls

RX Skulls wall of fame

In a lovely gesture RX gave a number of stickers which were hugely appreciated by guests of the Shoreditch Street Art Tour.

RX Skulls stickers

By the way, sticker placement at seriously impressive height was achieved using a special applicator I have seen on the net but never seen in action before.

Toastoro

Toastoro sticker

Voxx Romana came similarly prepared and perhaps most striking were his collaborations with Danny Ebru who provided the marbled paper background to Voxx Romana’s stencils, something Voxx brought with him on his previous visit.  The backgrounds are simply delicious.

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru collaboration

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru collaboration

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru collaboration

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru

Voxx Romana & Danny Ebru collaboration

Voxx got inventive with stencils wrapped around corners, borrowed background colours complement the stencilled definition of the face as if the whole thing was a single original collaborative art piece.

Voxx Romana

Voxx Romana 90 degree stencil

Another returning member was the collaboration machine City Kitty.  City Kitty focusses more on hand painted paste ups rather than print runs and consequently gets up fewer pieces than the other guys.   City Kitty does the street art podcast Scratching The Surface which is so damn good, several recent episodes were interviews recorded on this European foray.   If you are interested in the sticker arm device mentioned above then listen to all of City Kitty’s podcasts, one of them is with the artist whose side hustle is selling those poles.

City Kitty

City Kitty

City Kitty

City Kitty

Toastoro, whose pseudonym is a fusion of the word “toast” and the name of Studio Ghibli animation character “Totoro”, has had art up in Shoreditch in the past courtesy of friends putting him up but this visit really marked his first overseas in-person “campaign”.  Toastoro introduced two art techniques rarely seen in London street art: LED illuminated street art (hold tight Lost Hills) and layered art which Toastoro calls vinyl topography, the textured layered effect is hard to relive or convey through “mere” photographs.

Toastoro

Literally lit Toastoro

Toastoro

Toastoro vinyl topography

Toastoro

Toastoro vinyl topography

The Studio Ghibli reference implicit in the compound name Toastoro influences his subject matter which included sightings of Totoro (obvs) with a body shaped rather like a slice of bread, susawatari dust bunnies and funniest of all, a souped up cat bus (“My Neighbour Totoro”) with added toaster functionality.

Toastoro

susuwatari pavement stencils by Toastoro

Toastoro

Cat Bus Toaster by Toastoro

Toastoro visited Shoreditch with a group of street artists from Portland and New York and created original street art

Toastoro sticker

Voxx, RX and Toastoro all felt pavement stencilling was in order, something Voxx Romana and RX Skulls have done in Shoreditch on previous visits.

RX Skulls & Voxx Romana

RX Skulls & Voxx Romana pavement stencils

RX Skulls

Pavement Stencil by RX Skulls

Toastoro

Toastoro pavement stencil

The boys from Portland also put out some #FreeArt.  RX Skulls became only the second street artist I can recall putting out bronze street art.

RX Skulls

RX Skulls

Accompanying the street artists was the amazing and super cool photographer Cody Keto.  While out one evening the group bumped into Stik, a chance encounter which gave Cody the opportunity to create some amazing light trail photographs at Stik’s famous Hoxton Couple statue.  Cody has kindly given permission for his stunning photos to appear here.

RX Skulls, Voxx Romana, Toastoro and Stik

Portland guys vs Stik with Stik guest appearance. Photo courtesy Cody Keto Photography

Cody Kato and Toastoro

Catching Brick Lane Action – (behind) Cody Keto and (closer)Toastoro

The love extended to this group of visiting artists is really a reflection of the way they reach out to and embrace the wider world.  This is most apparent in their collaborations, these guys are total collaboration engines and it is not surprising to see them collaborating by design, on opportunity and by chance.

City Kitty and Toastoro

City Kitty/Toastoro cats and bamboo shoot collab (also feat Pablo Fiasco, RSH & an older Mowcka)

City Kitty and Toastoro

City Kitty/Toastoro collab detail

City Kitty & RX Skulls

City Kitty & RX Skulls collaboration

City Kitty hooked up with Neon Savage, the pair having collaborated many times down the years since meeting in Croydon in 2017 a fact gleaned from their podcast conversation on the always excellent City Kitty podcast.

City Kitty & Neon Savage

City Kitty & Neon Savage collab

RX Skulls & Polar Bear

RX Skulls & Polar Bear collaboration

One of the group told us that the highlight of the visits had been the welcome they received in Europe, visits were made to Manchester, Hackney Wick, Paris as well as Shoreditch and Southbank.  There were planned hook-ups as well as chance encounters with street artists and many artists and fans travelled to meet the team.

a group of street artists from Portland and New York and created original street art

Hanging at Montys for the “Bring and buy”

Toastoro

Toastoro at Southbank Undercroft

City Kitty

City Kitty at Southbank Undercroft

RX Skulls

RX Skulls at Southbank Undercroft

Mowcka has previously collaborated with City Kitty and travelled to hook up in Shoreditch.

Toastoro, City Kitty and Mowcka

Toastoro, City Kitty and visiting friend Mowcka

The combination of artists in this travelling circus changes on each visit but fear not, art by absent friends appears courtesy of those who do make the trip.

Vane PDX

Vane PDX (Voxx Romana obliged)

Vane PDX

Vane PDX transparent sticker

Vane’s sticker is printed on a transparent background, Voxx’s placement on Vane’s behalf intentionally responds to the red letterpress print by Jean Peut-Etre.  One of those “chance” collaborations perhaps.

DRSC0

DRSC0 – absent friend

visited Shoreditch with a group of street artists from Portland and New York and created original street art

Eye see Pam Goode – present in spirit

Also making appearances were friends from their local scenes that London did not have the pleasure of welcoming in person this time such as Cheer Up, Cuz Chris and Robots Will Kill

Cheer Up

Cheer Up

Notice the writing of Cheer Up’s name in the glitched font in the face – genius!

Cuz Chris

Cuz Chris

City Kitty & Chris RWK

City Kitty & Chris RWK sticker collaboration

RX Skulls, Chris RWK and Knor

Tracy Blackstock by Dreph admires stickers by RX Skulls and a Chris RWK/Knor collab

This visiting group of artists peppered Shoreditch and other parts of Europe with new street art embodying innovative, novel, collaborative, improvised fun wherever they went.  There were so many dimensions to the art and the activities they got up to and we thank them all for their contribution to the street art scene.

Links:

RX Skulls Instagram

“Art From Arrex. Stick It.”  RX Skulls 2014 stickers in Shoreditch

“Secrets Of The Sticker Shed – Sticker Making Workshop” (How to become RX Skulls)

Voxx Romana instagram

City Kitty instagram 

Toastoro instagram

Cody Keto Photography Website 

RX Skulls

RX Skulls stencil

RX Skulls visited Shoreditch with a group of street artists from Portland and New York and created original street art

RX Skulls stencils


Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

OSCH, Freddie and Michael

Otto Schade has revisited a wall in Shoreditch that he used to paint frequently until abandoning it to paste up street art for a short while.   Yesterday afternoon he returned to that spot and painted a new composition featuring Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson reacting to a rat that has appeared on stage.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

Michael and Freddie, Otto Schade, December 2019

The last time Shoreditch Street Art Tours blog updated on Otto’s street art was February 2015, a look back at what Otto has done on that one spot since then is overdue.  In February 2015 our last update ended with Otto creating this piece with the kids turning the tables on the kid’s entertainer:

London, Shoreditch,street art, street artist, Otto Schade, stencil, Chile, tour, tours, walk,walks

That piece endured pretty well though by March 2017 it had suffered a few indignities.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

Otto & Stik, March 2017

Otto swiftly addressed that mess with greedy or desperate hands grasping at money distributed by a scarecrow.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

“The Believers”, Otto Schade, March 2017

That didn’t last too long, replaced by “David vs Goliath” in June 2017

Street art, Shoreditch, London, stencil, paste up, spraypaint, Otto Schade

Otto Schade “David vs Goliath”

That was taken out in August 2018 by someone holding a grudge against Otto, so Otto painted “Flies around shit” about giving vast military power to mindless idiots who might use it with reckless abandon.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

“Flies Around Shit”, August 2017

The next update in March 2018 reflected on the impact of technology in turning citizens into passive voyeurs.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

“Jack The Ripper 2040”, March 2018

Then in October 2018 Otto somehow anticipated the impact drones would have on London airports in December 2018 when they caused the closure of Gatwick for 3 days resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

“AI”, October 2018

This lasted pretty much until May 2019 when a large throwie (tag) went over it followed by multiple paste ups,  in this image most notably Laup Nosnibor.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

May 2019, feat Laup Nobnibor et al

All traces of Otto’s art had disappeared as evidenced fortuitously in this photo I took yesterday to capture the art adjacent to that spot

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

Wild street art,assorted artists and quality

It was a little puzzle that after such prolonged use of he same spot with some many changes that Otto appeared to allow it to drift for over half a year but now normal service has been resumed.

Otto Schade, Stik, Street Art, Princelet St, Shoreditch, Shoreditch Street Art tours, stencil,

Michael and Freddie, Otto Schade, December 2019

LINKS:

Otto Schade Instagram

All photos: Dave Stuart

Previous Otto post: “Otto Schade Busy In Shoreditch

 


Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Old Banksys Reappear In Shoreditch

Two old specimens of Banksy street art hidden for many years in Shoreditch have been brought back into public view and Shoreditch Street Art Tours was the only “outsider” present to witness the unveiling.   Two images, a huge rat and a TV being chucked rock star style out of a window have lain out of sight under protective wooden sheeting for 12 years though they are perhaps among the more “storied” of Banksy’s street artworks.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Banksy Rat and TV, May 2019

The stencils were created in 2004 when a festival was organised in the car park behind the Foundry bar.  They were visible until late 2007 when they were covered up under a protective wooden cover.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Sweet Toof, Cyclops, Burning Candy on the wooden protection, 2008

In 2010 Hackney Council made the preservation of the TV and the rat a condition of the planning consent for the demolition of the existing building and its replacement by an 18 storey (now 23 storey!) hotel.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

The TV out the window stencil, a brilliant rock and roll cliché, looked like it was made for that wall, it’s an image that has to be on the side of a windowless building that looks like it ought to have windows.  The image wouldn’t work on say a garden wall or a bridge support.  Inside the Foundry all kinds of crazy things went on and prominent in the bar was a array of flickering TVs, a TV flying out the window from the Foundry seemed entirely plausible.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

The rat has always been a bit unsatisfactory, It has never been clear what this rat is about, it is often described as a rat with a knife and fork but if you look that is actually a jigsaw blade not a knife and the fork is more like a harpoon or a pitchfork, we don’t know what the rat is doing, why it fits at this location nor what the red ring around the eye is about and the technique is a bit sloppy.  However Banksy’s street art isn’t diminished by poor execution, they were never meant to be superb specimens of perfectly executed art and indeed evidence of haste is perhaps part of the essence of the way Banksy has to create his street art.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

“Eat The Rich”? Banksy

More significantly, Banksy hated the rat!  When asked to comment on the closure of the Foundry in a 2010 BBC news broadcast, Banksy sent one of his classic emails saying

 “No one ever went there for the beer-it was always a bit warm and flat. I would appeal to the developers not to keep my graffiti. It’s a bit like demolishing the Tate and preserving the ice cream van out the front.” Banksy, Newsnight email 4 Feb 2010”

There you have it, the artist Banksy does not wish the art to be saved and so the council’s 2010 decision to require its preservation is morally dubious to say the least.  Note the explicit confirmation that the artwork is a genuine Banksy.

It is interesting to note that the TV image has a Banksy tag next to it and they are increasingly rare out in the wild.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Banksy tag

The immediate future for the rat and the TV is that metal frames are going to be constructed around them and after separating the wall from the rest of the building structure and dismantling the walls above the art by hand, a massive crane is going to be used to lift the two wall segments separately over the building where they will be stored covered up at the front of the building site.  The developers have not made their ultimate intention clear, their obligation is to provide free viewing access to the public of these two Banksys either within the hotel or somewhere else within the Borough.  The developer is known to have planned to include 6 other Banksys from the Foundry building within the so-called Art’otel development but none of the other 6 survive.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Banksy Grim Reaper, Foundry

For the meantime, make the most of the brief period visibility of those two Banksys in their original location before they lose whatever sense of context they may have had in their original location and ponder the puzzle of why the council decided to preserve this rat against the artist’s own wishes yet remain oblivious to some real masterpieces that appeared on the Foundry building before and since.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Buffed 2011 – feat Elmo ATG, & Gold Peg and Sweet Toof collab

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Elmo, Masker, Milo Tchais, Run, Zezao, Gerard Gademann; May 2011

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Jo Peel animation, 2013

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Fintan Magee (detail) 2014, also feat Eine, Pez, ALO, Borondo

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Waleska Nomura. 2015

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

Phlegm, 2015

Note the knowing nod to Banksy’s TV in the phlegm above, very nice.

Banksy, rat, stencil, tv, Foundry, Shoreditch, London, art otel, art hotel, street art, street art tour

EINE “Last Days Of Shoreditch” 2016

This article is a summary of a longer version published on Graffoto blog

30 May 2019 UPDATE: The exposed Banksys have been covered up again!

Dec 2023 UPDATE: Both Banksys can now be seen in their new locations on the hotel building

All photos: Dave Stuart


Cartoonneros In London

A few weeks ago a fresh collection of stencilled portraits by Argentinian street artist Cartoonneros of the lead singer of Radiohead appeared in Shoreditch.   The memorable thing about this collection was that in going over existing artwork by King Headswim, the underlying naïve expressionist portrait with its compelling blue eyes radiated through Cartnoonneros’ work in a way not visible to the naked eye.

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Thom Yorke by Cartoonneros over King Headswim

Around the corner were more multi coloured stencilled portraits, similarly executed over someone else’s existing artwork as opposed to a prepared background.  The three characters depicted are the artist Keith Haring, David Bowie and the Pink Floyd musician Syd Barrett.

Keith Haring, David Bowie, Syd Barrett by Cartoonneros

A day later I had the pleasure of bumping into Cartoonneros on the streets whipping up some more stencils, this time the images included Vincent Van Gogh and Kate Moss.

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Van Gogh by Cartoonneros

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Kate Moss by Cartoonneros

Cartoonneros explained that he usually employed three stencilled layers in his street art but that he would often spray different colours in different parts of the stencil, meaning that a single layer could be used to render multiple colours.  In this next photo you can actually see the three different stencil layers used for the Van Gogh portrait are in position and each card bears the spraypainted remnants of the various colours from previous uses of the stencil.

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Van Gogh 3 layer stencil

Cartoonneros is also a sticker artist, several of his quite small stickers have been found lurking nearby.

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Cartoonneros Sticker

Cartoonneros then nipped to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin but the lure of Shoreditch was too great and he returned last night to co-host “Wordplay” with Pure Evil, an evening of art and music.  The simple idea was all were welcome to spray stencilled words over a background pre- sprayed by Cartoonneros with a collection of multicoloured stencilled turtle and Keith Haring images.

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Love Keith Haring

Stencil, street art, street artist, Cartoonneros, Pure Evil, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London

Evil Passion at The Pure Evil Gallery

The evening involved an overseas street artist previously virtually unknown on these shores exhibiting in the Pure Evil Gallery and creating beautiful mayhem on the streets, quintessential Pure Evil.  A fuller description of the event is on the Graffoto blog.

LINKS:

Cartoonneros Instagram

Pure Evil Gallery website

King Headswim 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.


Banksy, Cheltenham, CGHQ, stencil, phone box

Banksy GCHQ Reduced to Rubble – Or Is It?

A mist of news, rumour and myth swirls around Banksy and at times he doesn’t actually need to do anything to cause it.

 

Back in 2014 Banksy executed one of his best pieces, a trio of spies eavesdropping on the conversations of people using a phone box in Cheltenham (written about here).  Cheltenham is home of GCHQ or to give it its full official title and description, the UK Government Communications Headquarters which is “the centre for Her Majesty’s Government’s Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) activities”.

Banksy Spies - photo Martin Bull

Banksy Spies – photo Martin Bull

The subject, the placement and the execution were absolutely top notch as can be seen in the photograph above by Martin Bull (author of the highly recommended Banksy Locations and Tours Vols 1 and 2, among other books).

 

News broke yesterday that someone had removed the wall on which the Banksy spies had been painted, photographs show a rectangular cut out from the wall where one of the spooks had been and a pile of rubble on the ground.  There is a lot of uncertainty about what actually has happened to the Banksy and you perhaps should just read the BBC article here.

Banksy, Cheltenham, CGHQ, stencil, phone box

photo: from BBC report (link above)

A perhaps less noticed twist was that the Banksy incorporated the BT phone box into the piece, so anyone seeking to remove the piece and there are such people, see Mr Robin “Bankrobber” Barton mentioned in the BBC link, would need to strike a deal with both the owner of the property and BT.  Of course a phone box could be simply purchased though it would be unlikely to be the original phone box, so the piece would be not completely original.

 

Another little morsel of intrigue and curiosity is that it turns out the seemingly undistinguished end of terrace Victorian property on which the Spies piece was painted was a Grade II listed building.  Technically the owners would have been obliged and could have been compelled to remove the Banksy to restore the property to its previous condition.  However as can be seen in this BBC report a retrospective planning permission was given to incorporate the Banksy into the building’s listed status so that it could remain where it was.  That actually means that the owner of the building would have to preserve the Banksy, making the whole episode just a bit more murky.

 

This is the second time (to my knowledge) that a Banksy work has been protected in a planning application, I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry.


WRDSMTH and Megzany In London

A few weeks ago (I have been trying to find time to write this post for quite a while) London was visited by two artists from LA, Megzany and WRDSMTH.  WRDSMTH is no stranger to London, this by my recollection could be his 4th visit to London for the purpose of putting up some street art.  On his last visit just before the New Year he collaborated with a number of street artists from the UK.

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Working with mixed media stencil and pasted paper, WRDSMTH’s work has charm, occasional pathos and a subdued humour often tinged with romance.  His work is thus, very popular. On this occasion, WRDSMTH put up his largest typewriter piece on his visits to London.

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti, Wrdsmth, stencil, paste up, typewriter, wall

There was also the small matter of his words appearing on large paste ups on the back of London’s iconic red telephone boxes.

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti, Wrdsmth, stencil, paste up, phone box, wall

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti, Wrdsmth, stencil, paste up, phone box, wall

The same day these new WRDSMTH pieces were spotted, a large crisply sprayed biplane with a curious message appeared on a wall on Brick Lane.  A bit of searching online revealed the artist to be Megzany, also from Los Angeles.  Megzany certainly knows how to spray a clean single layer stencil and her stencil construction technique has a lot of similarities with WRDSMTH’s.

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, phone box, wall, Biplane

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up,  phone box, wall, bi plane

Apart from stencils, Megzany also pasted up images evoking sentiment about objectification exploitation of women and errr mermaids, placing them in vending machines.

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, mermaid,  phone box

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, mermaid,  phone box

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, phone box

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, phone box, wall, dancer

London, street art, Shoreditch, guided tour, graffiti,  Megzany, stencil, paste up, mermaid,  phone box

A fellow LA artist Kai Aspire has also been putting up loads of art over the past couple of months in London in entirely different forms, that may be the subject of another port sometime but it is great to see artists from a city so noted for its creativity coming all the way to London to brighten up a rather dull Summer.

All photos: Dave Stuart