Tag Archives: street artist

London, Shoreditch, Street art, Street artist, Freddie Mercury, Queen, Trash sculpture, Alex Arnell, Sell Out

Trash Sculpture Wants To Break Free

This morning one of our favourite trash sculpture street artists Sell Out created a hugely amusing street art sculpture paying homage to rock legend Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen.   In a classic rock video Freddie and fellow Queen band members appear in drag living in domestic drudgery with Freddie swanning around scandalously dressed in a tight pink top, short leather mini skirt and suspenders proclaiming “I want to break free” as she vacuums and dusts around their congested living room.

London, Shoreditch, Street art, Street artist, Freddie Mercury, Queen

Freddie Mercury: Screen Grab from official Queen video

Sell Out has recreated Freddie at his provocative cross dressing best complete with upright hoover.  A swarm of his trademark cut out paper butterflies swarm around Freddie’s head.

London, Shoreditch, Street art, Street artist, Freddie Mercury, Queen, Trash sculpture, Alex Arnell, Sell Out

I Want To Break Free

This video scandalized America’s bible belt, radio stations deleted Queen from their playlists, MTV banned the video and it put Queen’s US commercial career on ice. Europe LOVED it.

 

The song appeared on Queen’s album The Works which Wikipedia says was released on 27 February 1984, 22 years ago almost to the day. Damn tune was going through my head for the rest of this morning’s tour.

This isn’t Sell Out’s only rock star tribute, a few weeks ago while the world made a shrine of a pointilist portrait in Brixton by Jimmy C, David Bowie appeared immortalised in trash by Sell Out in Shoreditch.

Photo: Alex Arnell

Photo: Alex Arnell

Links: Alex Arnell (Sell Out) Facebook: Alex’s photo shows the trash sculpture without the …errr..trash

ALex has featured many times on previous Shoreditch Street Art Tours blog updates, click here

Photos: Dave Stuart aka NoLionsInEngland except where noted

 

 

Small Perfectly Formed Street Art

A biblical downpour, ice cold hailstones and a hurricane 15 minutes before the start of this afternoon’s tour may have turned me on my bike into a mobile icicle but it didn’t deter a hardy group of tour guests.

We found a tiny piece of art on a wall, a mother, her child with some beautiful hand stitched embroidery acting as a shawl, the whole thing about 6 inches from top to bottom. It was beautiful, it is poignant and the artist is anonymous.

Shoreditch, Street Art, Street artist, unknown, paste up, hand stitched, embroidery, colourful, threads, mother, child

The placement of this work is intriguing, the juxtaposition against a pair of faded Betty Page images, part of a D7606 “post box” piece bring together two power images of the roles of women.

This next specimen, clearly from the same artist, photographed earlier this week a few hundred yards further up Brick Lane had already succumbed to light fingered art collectors!

Shoreditch, Street Art, Street artist, unknown, paste up, hand stitched, embroidery, colourful, threads, mother, child

Street art – it’s temporary and it’s not just about the large murals, the permissioned artwork and the international household name street artists.

A little “ps”, here is the D7606 mailbox photographed in its early days in June 2014, and yes, it is just a paste up, that’s not a real postbox.

Shoreditch, Street Art, Street artist, unknown, paste up,colourful, threads, mother, child, D7606, Betty page, Pop art

D7606, Jun 2014, feat Betty Page

All photos: Dave Stuart aka NoLionsInEngland

Clet Abraham, Brick Lane, Shoreditch,Traffic sign, sticker, intervention, subversion, humour, Street Art Tour, street artist,

Caution Clet Abraham Overhead

A new haul of Clet Abraham traffic sign stickers has appeared overnight on Brick Lane. Clet Abraham is always a favourite on the street art tour with a number of his stickers dating from 2013 surviving.   Clet Abraham’s stickers have appeared on previous visits in many parts of London including Shoreditch (of course), Soho, Putney and even that well known street art hotspot Belgravia.

Clet Abraham, Brick Lane, Shoreditch,Traffic sign, sticker, intervention, subversion, humour, Street Art Tour, street artist,

Clet Abraham, Brick Lane, Shoreditch,Traffic sign, sticker, intervention, subversion, humour, Street Art Tour, street artist,

This set of 8 stickers were all spotted close to the location of Moniker Art Fair, the urban art satellite fair taking place this weekend as part of London’s art week. I have seen only one of this set before in London, it’s always a delight to find a new clutch from this talented street artist.

Clet Abraham, Brick Lane, Shoreditch,Traffic sign, sticker, intervention, subversion, humour, Street Art Tour, street artist,

Clet Abraham has work on the Graffik Gallery stand at Moniker Art Fair, details of which were mentioned in a blog post a couple of days ago.

Clet Abraham, Brick Lane, Shoreditch,Traffic sign, sticker, intervention, subversion, humour, Street Art Tour, street artist,

Graffik Gallery have announced today what they curiously describe as an official party to take place at Graffik’s premises in Portobello Road on Saturday 17th October, 7pm – 11pm. No prizes for guessing where Clet Abraham might be this evening adding his humorous intervention to traffic signs.

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Clet Abraham flashbacks;

London 2103

By The River, Putney 2013

Graffik Gallery,

284 Portobello Road, London W10 5TE

Moniker Art Fair

Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1 6QL

hasty “walk by” photos: Dave Stuart aka NoLionsInEngland

 

Street Art Goes Over Our Heads

Street art should never go over our heads though great examples of street art are often literally looking down on us. Street art environmentalist and master craftsman Jonesy has been adding a few wonderful bronze castings on top of lampposts around Shoreditch.

Shoreditch, London, tour, walk, Street art, street artist, sculpture, sticker, bronze, casting, Jonesy

Jonesy bronze casting

Shoreditch, London, tour, walk, Street art, street artist, sculpture, sticker, bronze, casting, Jonesy, insect, Issac Cordal

Jonesy bronze casting

Shoreditch, London, tour, walk, Street art, street artist, sculpture, sticker, bronze, casting, Jonesy, insect, Issac Cordal

Jonesy bronze casting

The first one I spotted by complete chance a couple of weeks ago caused me to spend some time wander about with my eyes cast upwards looking for more, which revealed other artists working over our heads!

Shoreditch, London, tour, walk, Street art, street artist, sculpture, sticker, bronze, casting, Jonesy, insect, Issac Cordal

Isaac Cordal

Issac Cordal – no idea how long it has taken me to notice this one

Shoreditch, London, tour, walk, Street art, street artist, sculpture, sticker, bronze, casting, Jonesy, insect, Issac Cordal

Paul Insect

Paul Insect – also getting up quite high

Finally, an older Jonesy specimen looking wonderful at night:

London, Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Night photography, street art, artists, graffiti

Jonesy – looking more sinister and ferocious than ever

All photos: Dave Stuart aka NoLionsInEngland

Stik – Print Release For Homerton Hospital

More Stik news, Thursday 24 sees London’s very own Stik release a limited edition silk screen print as a fund raiser for the Homerton Hospital Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit (RNRU) Creative Media Room. The “Sleeping Baby” print comes in four different colour versions and there are 25 of each colour.

Stik NHS Print (photo via Stik website)

Stik NHS Print (photo via Stik website)

Sleeping Baby is an iconic Stik image which has appeared on the streets a number of times,  indeed a version can still be seen if the shutter is down at one location as we pass close by almost daily on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour.

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Stik has replicated the Sleeping Baby in a new mural recently painted in the grounds of Homerton Hospital.

Stik, Sleeping Baby, Homerton Hospital NHS, Elderly Care Unit, Limited Edition print, London, street artist,

Stik at Homerton Hospital, 2015

photo courtesy Homerton Hospital website

 

We often refer to Stik as “the nicest guy in street art” and he has frequently used his art to raise funds for charitable causes, most notably for charities dealing with causes and relief of homelessness. The Trust Stik is supporting with this print release offers long stay patients with acquired and traumatic brain injuries the chance to explore interactive art workshops as part of their rehabilitation and recovery. Funds will actively enable the Trust to develop and expand an arts workshop service for the ECU (Elderly Care Unit) specially formulated for people with dementia.

 

To get your mitts on a copy of this absolutely limited Stik print, you need to trot along to Homerton Hospital where the prints will be sold on a first come first served basis from 5 PM today – which means get there early if you want to be certain of getting the one you prefer.

 

More information about the print and the use of proceeds are available on  the Homerton Hospital website and Stiks website.

 

Location Details:

Education Centre Café

Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Homerton Row

London E9 6SR

 

Check the Homerton Hospital or Stik websites for transport details

Banksy, Dismaland , street art, street artist, Weston Super Mare, exhibition

Dismaland – Banksy is back!

British street artist Banksy has sprung a surprise on the unsuspecting public by opening an epic new show in the West Country coastal resort Weston Super Mare.  While setting out to parody disappointing fairground parks it succeeds in creating a hugely entertaining adventure with art and what Banksy describes as “entry-level anarchy” included.

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There are fairground rides, stalls, a fairy castle which is grim rather than Grimm, galleries, cafes and bars and of course you exit through the gift shop.

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Banksy himself has created 10 new works for the event and in the galleries and various other locations are sculptures, installations and paintings by another 60 or so artists.  The program also features performances, film, bands and DJs.

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Banksy’s last significant activity was the “Better Out Than In” 30 day residency on the streets of New York in 2013 and before that he had epic art events in the UK with Cans Festival in 2008 and Banksy v. Bristol Museum in 2009. This production manages to trump all those for a variety of reasons.

The creation of Dismaland was shrouded in mystery, there had been rumours for over a month that Bansky was up to something at the abandoned lido site but a pretend Grey Fox film production was used to mask the true intention behind the work taking place on the site.  The announcement came 3 days before the official opening, typical Banksy secrecy and short notice.

Banksy, Dismaland , street art, street artist, Weston Super Mare, exhibition

Bill Barminski – X-Ray search (cardboard plus performance guards)

To get deeper into the Dismaland experience and for insights into Banksy’s achievement, check Graffoto’s review (written by Dave, Shoreditch Street Art Tour’s guide).

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Admission costs £3 per person and is either by timed entry tickets booked online here or some are available on the day at the site but are likely to be then subject to queuing with a one-out-one-in system in operation.  At the moment the ticket website is down and expected to go live at noon on Tuesday 26th August.  Monday 25th is “walk up, cash only” admission.

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All photos: Dave Stuart  except featured image courtesy Banksy website www.dismaland.co.uk

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Skeleton Cardboard: Not In Use

It’s all about the art on the street, that’s Shoreditch Street Art Tours. However, last Saturday the tour chanced upon an un-publicised pop-up one day exhibition by someone who has featured often on the tours and on the Shoreditch Street Art Tours blog – Skeleton Cardboard. So we popped in!

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

 

Inside was a collection of Skeleton Cardboard’s increasingly crazy skeleton characters with their appropriation and mockery of health and safety warnings.

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

The thing that was really special was that this to view the exhibition you walked off the street directly into someone’s front room, a private dwelling. One of those gallery experiences where you don’t feel in the least bit intimidated or over-awed at being in front of a display of art. Rather like viewing street art on the street actually.

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

There are a few photos from Skeleton Cardboard’s show here, with thanks to his and our hosts from 71 Redchurch Street to whom credit is due for these photographs (except featured image at top: NoLionsInEngland). A more detailed review can be seen on the Graffoto blog here.

Ducks and Superheroes Street Art from Sell Out

The London street artist Sell Out was very busy in Shoreditch on Saturday morning and the Shoreditch Street Art Tour found a variety of his work at various locations.

This fountain on Brick Lane has been used as a scene for a number of Sell Out installations, this time a Sell Out Duck floated around while butterflies skirted around its head.  There was something about this duck’s stare…..not the kind of duck that hangs around nurseries, kids baths or fairy tale illustrations!

London, Shoreditch, street art, street artist, Sell Out, superheroes, sculpture, Spiderman, Batman, butterflies, tour, tours, walk, walks

Duck

Then we found Spiderman scaling this sheer brick wall, the lattice detail was stenciled by Mexican duo Lapiztola but in the close up of Sell Out’s Spiderman, it takes on the appearance of a web.

London, Shoreditch, street art, street artist, Sell Out, superheroes, sculpture, Spiderman, Batman, butterflies, tour, tours, walk, walks

Spiderman

We also found Batman who seemed to be helping the citizens of Shoreditch by handing out Sell Out’s butterflies.

London, Shoreditch, street art, street artist, Sell Out, superheroes, sculpture, Spiderman, Batman, butterflies, tour, tours, walk, walks

Batman

Finally, a huge flock of hand painted butterflies stuck on with blu-tack invited people to find the butterfly with their name as a souvenir of the Shoreditch street art, the effect was a bit like those tourist shops where you buy personalised gifts with individual names but of course with Sell Out’s particular spin on artists using street art to promote their art sales, he actually wants people to find their name and keep the butterfly. There were several dedicated to Dave 😉

London, Shoreditch, street art, street artist, Sell Out, superheroes, sculpture, Spiderman, Batman, butterflies, tour, tours, walk, walks

name butterflies

Sell Out website

All photos: NoLionsInEngland