Tag Archives: Stik

One Off Street Art Tour By Popular Demand – More Art, Different Streets!

We have had several requests recently from guests who have done our public street art tour to be guided around the street art over on the Old Street side of Shoreditch High Street rather than the Brick Lane side.

Street Art on the Old Street Area of Shoreditch

Permissioned Graffiti colours from Eighties Conspiracy on Old Street

We have been running our private tours around the Old Street area for years, they are different to our public tours mainly because typically private guests such as office parties and school groups want a shorter tour.

Boris Johnson Borissor Coldheart Care Bare Artistic graffiti on the Old Street Area of Shoreditch by graffiti artist Tizer

Borissor Coldheart Care Bears by Tizer, Old Street 2020

Always eager to please, we are delighted to announce a public tour on Sunday 1^st August which will start from Old Street Roundabout rather than Spitalfields Market. The only overlap with our “traditional” public tour will be the very last part where we look at Eine and Banksy.

Paste ups close to Old Street

Book quick by clicking HERE, spaces are likely to run out.

Mesa work in Progress and Urocki, Holywell Lane 2020

This may become an occasional thing so if you can’t make 1st August 2021 just drop us an email and we can let you know when we arrange future dates.

Feature image: Stik and others on site of former Foundry arts space

All photos: Dave Stuart

Digging In The Archives Pt 10

When I first began to explore street art one my favourite artists was and indeed still is French stencillist Jef Aerosol. This Aerosol masterpiece was on Hanbury street and marked more or less a the time that this wall was just beginning to be used for permissioned murals.

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

Jef Aerosol 2010

Shoreditch street art was dominated by stencilism in the 00s and why not, Banksy was the stencil artist kicking down the doors of public disinterest and general hostility. K-Guy was and again still is a great personal favourite. This is his take on the dual significance of the national flag, a symbol of pride yet also racism.

K-Guy 2008

The next photo shows K-Guy’s artwork in context. In 2007 Shepard Fairey hit that spot with a long lasting paste-up (a spot he returned to in 2012). Sotheby’s and Bonhams started their urban art auctions in early 2008, others then hitched to that bandwagon. This was probably the first occurrence I came across of an arts related organisation destroying a piece of street art in pursuit of advertising. This shit still goes on and basically if you see street art being damaged in pursuit of the commercial interests of galleries, auctions and online sellers, then it’s a clear sign the fuckers do not get the culture, steer clear.

K-guy 2008 featuring Shepard Fairey – defaced, dissed and abused

Special Offer: Free Art! The stencil on cardboard below was a piece of free art by the prolific, varied and much missed street artist Mr Farenheit. Hopefully it went to a good home. This doorway in fact the whole building, now demolished, was always intensely distressed and beautifully decayed; muscular rust on the iron door had very little sympathy for any paper pasted onto its surface. “Special Offer” is a detail from an ACE paste up; the thick black bars emerging over Twiggy’s left shoulder are a Paul Insect relic; D7606 also did great paste up montages on this door and it’s a rare photograph where you can’t see one of his pieces at this spot.

Mr Farenheit, 2013

The pair of birds in the next photo by artist and graffiti writer Dr Zadok are done in the swirling style which characterizes both his graff letters and his art. Alleyn Gardens habitués will note the virgin brickwork on the then relatively new North London Line.

Dr Zadok 2013

The image below shows Dr Zadok’s hand finished bookcover in aid of Joe Epstein aka LDNgraffiti’s fundraiser for Great Ormond St Hospital. More details and information about how you can to support the fund raiser and maybe win one of these fantastic prizes in the #LDNGOSHLottery is HERE. Keep an eye out on LDNGraffiti’s Instagram for further announcements of more prizes.

LDN GOSH Charity Book with Dr Zadok Cover art

Swoon again, simply because she rocks. Close to Broadway Market, 2011.

Swoon, 2011

Borondo was an extraordinary painter who lived in London for a number of years in the early part of the 00s. His impressionist murals channelled the effect of strong colours but he first appeared doing single layer portraits created by splashing emulsion on the outside surface of glass windows then etching imagery into the paint with a fork. Two artworks survive, the “11 Apostles” on the Bull in a China Shop on Shoreditch High Street as appears in the featured image above is easy to find. This pair of figures from 2013 play with the window frames; the scraped paint has settled like frost on the window ledge.

Borondo, Brick Lane 2013

And now, something consigned to the archive in just the past fortnight !Things turned a brighter shade of orange across a locked down (ish) Picadilly Circus as the iconic illuminations displayed a charity digital artwork by Stik. Stik must be alongside Shep Fairey and Banksy in the ranks of street artists who most consistently use their art for deserving causes. This installation was in support of Young Westminster Foundation.

Stik Picadilly Circus June 2020

Stik is also one of the 9 street artists who have joined Joe Epstein to raise funds for @GreatOrmondSt Hospital. Each artist has created a special version of the book by hand painting the cover, so that’s 9 unique versions of the book.

See HERE for a blogpost with more images, details and link to how to support the fund raiser and maybe win one of these fantastic prizes in the #LDNGOSHLottery and keep an eye out as well for further announcements of more prizes.

LDN GOSH Charity Book with Stik Cover art

We didn’t clap for carers in the UK this week, the mood switched more to pressurising the government to fund the carers properly, and reward them not to mention try a little bit of planning for a change as a second wave is held likely. Seems like a good moment to shelve Diggin In The Archives, though it has been a happy accident of exploring my own archives and memories and so don’t rule out DITA’s resurrection sometime.

Check out the previous Diggin’ In The Archives weekly compendiums starting with week 1 and then hopefully navigate the index to find the rest: DITA 1

All photos: Dave Stuart

Street Artists Great Ormond Street Hospital Fundraiser

Joe Epstein of LDN Graffiti and producer of the street art book London Graffiti and Street Art has announced an exciting fund raiser to benefit the famous Great Ormond Street Hospital.

GOSH has launched their Covid-19 appeal to help fund both the hospital’s most urgent needs now and support its vital work once this crisis is over, more details on their appeal HERE

9 Art Blitzed Books – Unique Covers

Nine artists, all of them tour favourites, have each uniquely hand-painted and signed a copy of the book London Graffiti and Street Art.

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The artists are: Alo, Dr Zadok, MadC, Neist, Pure Evil, Run, Stik, The Toasters, and Vibes.

The Pure Evil book looks pure bonkers!

Donate £5 to enter the LDN GOSH Lottery to WIN one of these unique modified LDN books, 9 in total, published by Ebury Press. £20 gets four entries, and so on. 100% of donations will go to GOSH and help the fight against Covid-19!

Dig deep, donate and enter the #LDNGOSHLottery now!

The donation link is > https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/LDNGOSHLottery

The full project info is on the LDN website > https://ldngraffiti.co.uk/shop

Here are some photos by Dave Stuart of each these featured artists as seen on the tour (to avoid confusion, these photos do not appear in Joe’s book):

Street Art, Shoreditch, London, street art tour, tour guide, Banksy, Stik, Roa, Dismaland, Dr D, Vermibus, Alo, Clet Abraham,

A Bun In Their Hair, ALO, Shoreditch 2014

Street Art, Jim Vision,Shoreditch,Street Art Tour, East End, London,Kick Ass 2, Movie, live, painting

Dr Zadok as seen on Shoreditch Street Art Tour

MadC, 2013 and still going strong

Street Art, review, 2010, Graffoto.co.uk, street art tours, tour guide, murals

Connectivity Mural – Autone & Neist detail

London, Shoreditch,Street art,graffiti,walk,tour,walks, tours,jesuischarlie,artists, Pure Evil

Pure Evil jesuischarlie 2015

Street Art Locations, London Street Art, Street Art In London, Shoreditch, Camden, Hackney Wick, Where is London's art, Banksy

RUN and Burning Candy, Hackney Wick 2013

Street art, Shoreditch, London, Stik, Falko, Falko1, street artist, street art tour, guide, couple holding hands, brick lane, interracial harmony

Couple Holding Hands, Stik, 2010

Toasters, Kingsland Road, 2009

London, Shoreditch, street art, sculpture, dust cart, hand cart, Sell Out, street artist, walk, walks, tour, tours

Vibes, ALO and also feat Sell Out and Brush

Jace Homage to Stik’s Brick Lane Couple

Jace is a street artist who puts up charming and idiosyncratic sculptural faces on walls, usually not troubling wall owners with requests for permission. At the turn of the decade, three weeks ago, Jace revealed he had put up 253 faces in an impressive 47 cities in a staggering 21 countries. I can relate to this kind of OCD stats collection.

Streetart Shoreditch, ShoreditchStreetArtTours LondonStreetArt, LondonArtTours, LondonStreetArtTours, Jace, Streetartist, Sculptures, faces

253 Faces – photo by Jace

A new crop of Jace faces surfaced last weekend including a renewal of Jace’s ongoing homage to Stik’s iconic Brick Lane Couple.

Brick Lane Couple by Stik; Jace couple (at eye level),January 2020

This homage piece has by Graffoto’s reckoning been through 5 different manifestations since it first appeared in 2017. The first face on this spot was actually just a lonesome bachelor in February 2017, but he did have a wonderful fresh complexion.

Bachelor Small Face, Feb 2017

It was joined by its partner in around May 2017

Homage to Stik, May 2017

By October 2017 the resilient female had endured a few chips but and chosen a new partner.

Jace October 2017

This partner was tragically and mysteriously taken, our heroine moved on to another new partner in April 2018, this couple were noticeably closer than her previous relationships and now she preferred brown eyes to blue.

Jace April 2018

After a long affair and following the pattern, the gentleman somewhat unchivalrously disappeared leaving the poor lady all alone. Her next partner in July 2019 wasn’t exactly what you would call a looker but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jace, July 2019

Then, unexpectedly, the couple disappeared, maybe they eloped together. Last weekend a new couple were drawn to this most romantic corner, in fact one would attribute an almost post coital glow to this cheeky pair.

Looking pretty damn pleased with themselves, January 2020

So why do these disappear? As it doesn’t seem to be the council nor is it likely to be the wall owners removing them, the most likely explanation is going to be souvenir hunters. Sticky fingered street art spotters who think the art would be much better in their private collection rather than enjoyed by its intended public audience. It’s not all bad news with Jace’s faces, a wonderful story appeared on Jace’s Instagram last weekend about the fate of some small faces in Belfast, Northern Ireland… best told by Jace himself:

Part 1: “In December 2016 I discreetly installed one of my very first ever faces to this wonderful courtyard at Duke of York / Dark Horse Belfast – a creative and humorous space celebrating the people and culture of my city and country. Each year I returned to Cathedral Quarter more and more fantastic murals and installations (by artist @ciarangallagherart amongst others) would appear, and I too would leave another surprise gift in the form of a cheeky face. Some of the faces paid homage to the city, like my H&W giants: Samson & Goliath !”

Jace Belfast Part 1, Photo by Jace

“At the very beginning of this year (2020) I made a quick visit back to the courtyard before leaving Belfast, and it appeared to me that all of the faces that had been installed over the years had been removed 😦😞☹️ I felt a tinge of sadness (though this is the nature of urban art) because I love this specific place so much, and was about to leave the courtyard when at a final glance down towards the gates something awesome caught my eye…”

Belfast Part 2, Photo by Jace

Part 2: “all those faces installed from 2016 and dotted about the place have been relocated and displayed collectively. Truly awesome! Seeing this just as I was about to leave Belfast I felt immensely proud and overwhelmingly happy, because I enjoy being in this place a lot. And so, of course I had to put one more new face to the bottom of the column…”

When it comes to his small faces, Jace doesn’t do half measures, all told we found 8 small faces from the most recent Jace Shoreditch adventure and for the record, here are the other six beauties.

Jace, Uberfubs, Dr Cream – all in fashion Jan 2020

Theresa May, Jan 2020

Jace Face in London, January 2020

Purple Daze, Jan 2020

Jace, January 2020

The Shoreditch Street Art Tours blog first wrote about Jace’s homage to Stik’s couple in October 2017

Then small faces in great places were featured again December 2017.

Let’s hope the Stik homage faces last even longer this time.

All photos Dave Stuart except Jace where credited.

A Decade of Genius Street Art

As we start a new decade a review of a tiny amount of the amazing street art witnessed in the past decade seemed appropriate.

A Bun In Their Hair, ALO, Shoreditch 2014

Here is a slide show of a number of the images that made the final review of the “wild Wonderous and Inventive” art, which is a rather vague way of saying “stuff that wasn’t mentioned in our mural, sculptural or political street art reviews.

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The only way to bring to a close this dredging up of our favourite specimens of wild outdoor art is to look back at what Banksy has been up to. Although Banksy produced far less street art in the past decade than in the noughties, on almost all respects other than quantity he continues to be the most important, brilliant and relevant artist in whatever field he chooses.

Banksy Dismaland, 2015

Banksy’s Better In Than Out in New York saw a month long treasure hunt – “hide and seek” combo which cast Banksy as Bonnie And Clyde against the NY mayor, police and press and the world watched with glee but we already knew Banksy would never be caught.

Better Out Than IN, Banksy, New York, photo LunaPark

He also had a major art triumph staging a group shop with a conscience at Dismaland though we already knew Banksy did extraordinary exhibition/experience fusion.

Dismaland, Banksy, Weston Super Mare, 2015

He created a huge mural in Dover in 2017 but we already knew Brexit was a stupid idea.

Banksy, Dover 2017

My favourite Banksy of the decade however was his Les Miserables in Knightsbridge, London’s embassy land.

Tear gassed Cosette, Banksy, Knightsbridge London, 2016

It has the Banksy signature elements, it had the cleverness in repurposing the iconic image of Cosette, it had the impact in terms of global exposure, right opposite the French embassy it combined perfect placement with the “wow, how did he get away with that.” factor.

We did not however know about the French police tear gassing migrant families in the camps in Calais and this was Banksy’s crowning achievement, bringing that shameful episode to wider international attention.

Cosette v French embassy, Banksy, Knightsbridge London, 2016

This selection of photos a part of the selection reviewed and discussed on the Graffoto blog post 2010 – 2019 Wild Wonderous Inventive Street Art

All photos Dave Stuart except LunaPark where noted

It has been a huge pleasure to write 5 reviews of the street art of the past decade which we personally enjoyed. The Links to those reviews are at the bottom of the Graffoto review. A specific review of the street art of 2019 might appear shortly.

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:

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

Otto & Stik, March 2017

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

“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.

“Flies Around Shit”, August 2017

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

“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.

“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.

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

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.

Michael and Freddie, Otto Schade, December 2019

LINKS:

Otto Schade Instagram

All photos: Dave Stuart

Previous Otto post: “Otto Schade Busy In Shoreditch”

Small Faces In Great Places

A couple of months ago on another blog we wrote about the nation’s 17^th favourite piece of art, Stik’s couple on Princelet Street. Never static, there have been some developments, evolutions and surprises.

The first bit of news is that unsurprisingly (as Stik had told us when we interviewed him) the couple was restored to its pristine original condition when Stik painted over the elephant a couple of weeks ago.

Study that photo taken 2 weeks ago closely, on the right there is one small pottery face where several months ago there were two. The niqab wearing female next to Stik’s couple got lucky last Friday night and now has found a new partner!

The cautious and often well advised anonymity of street artists sometimes leads to prolonged searches for an artist’s identity and not always one that ends in success, as indeed was the case for me regarding the identity of the face maker. Last week when hunting for the source of a sticker we stumbled across the identity of the artist who makes the small faces, j.ace. Well done j.ace, we love your faces but putting up signed artworks three days after we found your identity – that’s very mischievous humour!

That sticker

More faces by j.ace

Link: j.ace instagram

all photos: Dave Stuart

Stik Sticks Around

One of the most popular works of street art on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour is the couple holding hands by artist Stik from London. In fact this particular piece of street art proved generally so popular that in a survey it was identified as the UK’s 17^th favourite piece of art. And we don’t just mean street art, we mean all art.

Visiting artist Falko from South Africa was in the country a few weeks back and Falko added a tiny elephant to Stik’s iconic piece, quite a bold move for someone whose art we don’t recall seeing on these shores before. In an interview with Graffoto Stik generously described Falko’s intervention as a forced enhancement. Stik knows how the game plays with street art, nothing is sacred (no pun intended) so he hasn’t flounced down to Princelet St in a fit of pique to make good the additions, though it will happen eventually.

Stik with Falko1

Falko’s addition provokes curious thoughts: is there a religious significance the elephant? Well an elephant would be considered Haram under Islamic principals so the elephant is not going to be eaten for sure, it must be some kind of pet elephant albeit a bloody small one. The simple leash Falko has added binds the elephant to the couple, without that it would just be a small elephant superimposed on a couple holding hands so the lead is very important. At the tip of the elephant’s trunk it looks like the elephant might be holding a marker pen, even pet elephants getting up on doors these days, though perhaps the elephant is colouring in the background to Stik’s work, in a way signalling to us that Falko actually did the restoration work this time around. Clever that.

Falko1 Elephant

On my other blog I have written a sister to this piece which includes a look back at the original creation of the couple holding hands by Stik and it also looks at a lot of the other temporary changes made to the art piece since it was painted back in 2010.

Links:

Stik Website

Falko1 Instagram

Graffoto post

All photos: Dave Stuart

It’s A Stik Up

Stik’s three Shoreditch characters have been hidden away more or less since the week they were created, trapped under a sludge of canvas corporate adverts but with a leap and a bound suddenly they are free just in time for Christmas. This is great news for the legions of Stik fans who are aware of this Stik but have not had the chance to see it.

London, Shoreditch, Street art, tours, Stik, 3some, threesome, trio, stick figures, legal, free, uncovered, released

Stik – likes a threesome

Stik has been freed for Christmas (perhaps) but don’t hang around, who knows how long it will remain uncovered before the next massive invasion of our eyeballs by a landscape hogging advert.

In September video was released on the Guardian website which features not only the painting of this mural but also the personal quest Stik embarked upon to establish what emotional traits this trio of Shoreditch characters should portray. This is a fascinating video which touches on many issues affecting Shoreditch including homelessness and gentrification. Please be aware there is an interview insert in which a quite distasteful anecdote is told. Although this video is hosted on the publicly accessible website of a hugely respectable quality newspaper, I must leave to you judge for yourselves the suitability of viewing the video on the Guardian website.

photos: Dave Stuart