Tag Archives: subversion

Graffiti street art flyposters and people in the Braithwaite tunnel at Wheler St in Shoreditch London featuring artists Helch and Knapple

Some People Are On The Pitch…

Why does a street art tour guide snap adverts?  The answer is simply for love of the graphic response adverts provoke.  The way people subvert, augment and modify adverts is pretty much an artform in itself.  The printed advert becomes a host for forced artistic collaboration and capturing the “before and after” timeline yields fascinating mini histories of public intervention.

illegal flyposter advert in Shoreditch

don’t buy it, don’t buy it….

A week ago I photographed an illegal flyposter advertising a new album release, in itself it was a quite compelling photograph. When I returned from a week in Wales the advert was still there, to my surprise, though now it hosted several graffiti enhancements. The black tag with the jagged arrow underlining reads ARTIK LTB who is an hugely impressive creator of large scale rollerbrush graffiti all over London.  There is also a vertical tag which could be “Sey”; the large “throw” over the three characters in the advert appears to read PY and there is an arcing “Shmokey” tag in a white marker with quote marks and triple dotted underlining.

illegal flyposter advert subverted by a graffiti writer in Shoreditch

Artik, Shmokey and others vs advertising

The next morning the Shoreditch Street Art Tour passed through this tunnel and that advert had been replaced with a fresh crop of flyposters which I dutifully snapped at high speed as we passed by.    Although I am I swear completely and utterly immune to adverts, there is an advert for Ed Sheeran in that collection which is a curious coincidence as last Summer on a Shoreditch Street Art Tour we spotted Ed Sheeran serving burgers out of a silver airstream style street food truck just yards from that very spot.

illegal flyposter advert in Shoreditch June 2021

June 2021 Flyposters

Ed Sheeran serving fast food from a silver airstream truck in Shoreditch London spotted on Shoreditch Street Art Tour

Ed Sheeran padding his CV, 2020

To my delight, just 24 hours later on Sunday that collection of adverts had augmented with a gorgeous fat chrome and black dub by Noyse.

illegal flyposter advert subverted by a graffiti writer in Shoreditch

Noyze 1 Flyposters 0

So, why do people make marks on adverts?  In the case of street artists, being anti advertising has been a core sentiment since the movement’s origins, for many artists it justified illegal street art created in response to desecration of the visual public landscape by overwhelming advertising.

illegal flyposter advert subverted by street artist Decapcitator in Shoreditch

Decapacitator vs Uniqlo, 2008

Graffiti writers will point to the fact that the adverts are in locations designed to attract eyeballs, they also provide a nice clean surface for easy marking. In the case of the locations photographed here they also happen to be right next to key graffiti spots and many graffiti writers just happen to be in the area with the right equipment

graffiti by sony over spraypainted advert for Breitling in Shoreditch

spraypainted watch advert subverted by Sony (ironic? lol)

Just a brief note on the title of this essay which may seem a little obscure particularly if you are not British or a football fan.  There is an iconic fragment of BBC commentary from 1966 which registers as one of the nation’s most patriotic collective memories, see the short clip below; an advert is a “pitch”; people intervening on an advert are “on the pitch” and the football theme is relevant as the Euros are currently underway 1 year late.

Here is a small selection of some favourite earlier examples of advert subversion:

illegal flyposter advert subverted by street artist Anna Laurini in Shoreditch

Anna Laurini “Let’s Advertise”, 2016

illegal flyposter advert in Shoreditch in 2020

very arty advert

illegal flyposter advert subverted by street artist Nathan Bowen in Shoreditch

Bowenised

illegal flyposter advert for Lady Gaga subverted by street artist DFace in Shoreditch

D*Face vs Lady Gaga 2016

Does the advertising work?  There is still no way I could be persuaded to purchase an Ed Sheeran album 🙂

LINKS:

Artik instagram

Sony instagram

Nathan Bowen instagram

Anna Laurini instagram

D*Face instagram

all photos: Dave Stuart


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

 


London Designated Curfew Zone by Street Artist Dr D

London has a designated Curfew Zone thanks to one of our best street artists Dr d.

London, Shoreditch, street art,installation,"paste up", artist, "street artist", "Dr D","congestion zone", satire, subversion

Curfew Zone, Dr D

Sadly when discovered on a rush to catch the last tube the cold sleet that had been falling steadily had made the top corner of the paste up peel away but  a passing kind young lady who didn’t run off with my phone when my back was turned helped with taking a photograph.

Dr D is lampooning police Stop and Search Powers using the format of the official warning signs which ring London’s Congestion Charging Zone.

London, Shoreditch, street art,installation,"paste up", artist, "street artist", "Dr D","congestion zone", satire, subversion

Congestion Zone portal

For a full run down on the brilliance of Dr D’s subversive street art and examples of his previous gems, check Graffoto Blog.

all photos: NoLionsInEngland (with anonymous passerby help gratefully received where noted!)


Street art, street artist, stickers, London, Putney, street signs, subversion, Clet Abraham, walk,

Clet Abraham Street Art Stickers in Putney, London

An trip to Putney on the banks of the River Thames in West London highlighted how far and wide Italian street artist Clet Abraham has scattered his wonderful road sign subversions.

Street art, street artist, stickers, London, Putney, street signs, subversion, Clet Abraham, walk,

Putney crucifixion

We reported last year on the fruit of Clet Abraham’s visit to Shoreditch and the City district here.

Street art, street artist, stickers, London, Putney, street signs, subversion, Clet Abraham, walk,

Clet Abraham, Putney

Apart from sighting the rich crop deposited around Shoreditch last November, we have seen Clet Abrahams stickers on signs from The City to Oxford St and Soho to Sloane Square.

Street art, street artist, stickers, London, Putney, street signs, subversion, Clet Abraham, walk,

Cornucopia of signs

At last, another thing to smile at in Putney apart from Chelsea tractors caught by a rising tide on the river bank.

All photos: NoLionsInEngland


Fantastic Street Art Takeover of Fly Posters In Shoreditch

The curious interaction between fly posting and street art will be familiar to most visitors of the Shoreditch Street Art Tour and some will have seen the exciting street art of Art Is Trash.  On yesterday’s walk we found a collection of fly posters spectacularly modified by Art is Trash

The flesh toned fly poster adverts unashamedly exploit female nudity to sell something so Art IS Trash has added his trademark wild eyed characters and flesh stripped bones to turn the advertising into a wild tableau of the surreally cartoonish grotesque.

Shoreditch,London,appropriation, alternative,subversion, street, art,tour,walk,london

Subverted Fly Posters

When a street artist takes over a legal paid for hoarding we call that an appropriation, and when the artist modifies  the original image we call that a subversion.  When a street artist takes over an illegal fly poster, we use the expression “ha ha, revenge at last!”

tn_P1140587 copy

Here is what the fly posters look in their original state.

Shoreditch,London,appropriation, alternative,subversion, street, art,tour,walk,london

Original Fly Poster for..Bolshle?

You can find our previous reportage on Art is Trash’s street art on Vandalog here, and his recent gallery show was covered by me on Graffoto here.