Street Art

[booze and cake]

I spent more time mending my punctures than taking pictures on today's street art ride, so only bagged a few new ones. The following pic I took on 16th September...

....but today there was more

And this was a new one on Rivington St

Here's a few other new ones we saw on our ride today that I photographed on the recce last week

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

As an overview of street art in London 2017, @booze and cake , this is a superb resource. I keep thinking you're going to run out of murals, and you keep on surprising!

 

[booze and cake]

Thanks @deptfordmarmoset, I've been surprised at the number I've seen so far too. Some of these have already been painted over, so I'm glad I've photographed them before they were lost. I'd set myself a mileage target for July, Aug and Sept so I've been going cycle crazy recently, but will be calming down now so the volume will slacken off over winter.

Having said that I'm going to see my sister in Bristol in 2 weeks, and am taking my bike so I can scour the city for street art when I'm there, and am totally willing to be sponsored to go and do the same in Paris, New York, Sydney, Tokyo etc

 

[AndyRM]

Was at SJP yesterday watching the match and noticed Kevin Keegan on a box!

 

[booze and cake]

Here's a scene from Maurice Sendak's brilliant childrens book, 'Where the wild things are', located in Streatham Hill

And a huge Dreph one in Brixton market

 

[jiberjaber]

This is a fantastic thread - there's a few round here in Chelmsford, though not on the same scale as pictured here! Mostly the underpasses in the parks have been art'ed which is really nice to see plus the odd banksy-esque stencil as well.




Back in Yorkshire, it's a bit more simple!



Then from more foreign climates ...

 

[AndyRM]

That duck one is really clever! Thanks @jiberjaber.

 

[booze and cake]

Thanks a lot @jiberjaber, good selection there, and our first ones from France I think Continuing the bird theme, these two from Penge

And this is a blue jay by Aspire, I've already bagged a few of his/hers back on page 1.

And a pineapple in Walthamstow

 

[booze and cake]

Here's another example of work changing over time, remember the gorilla face from page 13, pic taken on 13th September, this one:

...well its been like that for nearly a month, and then, just like the X-ray hand from the last page, this week it became a bit more awesome.

And I found another Ketones6000 bee masterpiece on the little alley by Kinkao off Brick Lane

And less than 10m away is this, which is also new.

 

[booze and cake]

A drab overcast day in need of some colour. A small yard off Kentish Town Road provided just that. Firstly another Stinkfish

This one shows the work of two artists, the one on the right is by Sr X who has featured on here before, they did the Batman and Robin on page 14 amongst others. And yes, the woman is indeed hugging a grub/larvae, this piece is apparently called 'electric lava love'. The abstract work on the left that looks like a stained glass window I discovered today is by someone called DRT.

And on the wall on the opposite side of the yard is another Dan Kitchener, who night scenes I always marvel at.

 

[AndyRM]

There's a documentary about Basquiat on tonight, BBC2 @ 9pm.

 

[booze and cake]

@AndyRM thanks a lot for the heads up on that I saw your post 5 minutes before it started so caught it in the nick of time and really enjoyed it. What an amazing story and great to see that what started with his SAMO graffiti tags and phrases across New York (SAMO being abbreviated from the saying 'same old s**t') exploded into a worldwide phenomenon which has seen single paintings go for over $100m.

I was amazed to see Basquiat as the 'DJ spinnin' in Blondie's video Rapture too. I've seen it mentioned before that though it was not the first video or song to feature Hip-Hop, it was the first to top the charts in the USA, and in the lyrics Debbie Harry name checks Hip-Hop pioneers Fab Five Freddy, (who was in the Basquiat doc last night too) and Grandmaster Flash. In fact Basquiat is only in the video as a stand in because Grandmaster Flash did'nt show up. I just love chance happenings like that. See from 2 mins in the following link for his cameo,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g
I also loved the section with Fab Five Freddy explaining how he and Basquiat toured museums together and really admired Caravaggio, not only for his amazing paintings and use of light, but because he carried a sword around with him, and was thus proper gangsta. I also learned how Basquiat used crowns in his art, which I now see is what Banksy used as cars on his ferris wheel in his recent Barbican one from page 15,

I also see how the other recent Barbican Banksy where a Basquiat character is being manhandled by police had extra meaning after the doc.

This link suggests what Banksy may mean by his recent works https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...sy-artworks-appear-on-wall-of-barbican-centre but thanks to the Basquiat documentary, I now know how Basquiat challenged police brutality through his art, following the death of fellow black artist Michael Stewart. More here if you're interested: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsand...t-challenged-police-brutality-through-his-art
I've recently been reading about a spat between Banksy and one of the O.G's of the London graffiti scene, King Robbo, a tale that was told in a Channel 4 documentary shown in 2011, called Graffiti Wars. I found a link and watched it for the first time this morning:
View: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32a43y
The link also features Ben Eine who did the recent Greenfell mural. The above link explains the origins of the spat, which centred on an iconic spot, opposite the path and accessible only canoe, boat or in King Robbo's case a lilo. King Robbo's original piece there was thought to be some of the oldest graffiti in London, and was located under the British Transport Police HQ in Camden, on the Regents Canal, which is ironic as King Robbo started as a prolific train tagger back in the 80's and was probably considered enemy number one at the time . This link shows the scene and some of the blows traded in this 'art battle'. http://twistedsifter.com/2012/01/banksy-vs-robbo-war-in-pictures/

Graffiti Wars does raise some interesting questions I've hinted at on here before. It showed a brief clip of the Council team responsible for cleaning up graffiti in Camden, where a member of the council acknowledged that street art 'added value' in that people came to visit and photograph it, but was far from clear as to what the difference between street art and graffiti was, and how this was judged. It did look as though it was one rule for Banksy, and one rule for everyone else. I also found it interesting that if the graffiti team came across a work they were'nt sure whether to remove it or not, they were instructed to take a picture of it, and send it to their manager to make the final decision. Call me a cynic but I doubt the post holder, who is basically judge and jury and executioner, has any art experience, and as this person is going to be different in all 32 London boroughs this whole procedure seems a bit arbitrary. The Council were even involved in touching up Banksy's and removing rude words, possibly added by 'Team Robbo' in their continued spat, so actively maintaining them which caused me to raise my eyebrows and further blur the lines.

I've seen Banksy's covered in perspex and 'preserved' in 3 separate London boroughs. Back in 2013 and 2014 Banksy's 'slave labour' piece in Turnpike Lane and his 'kissing coppers' in Brighton were cut off the wall and appeared shortly after in a Miami auction for mega bucks, causing outrage from locals and international attention: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/feb/19/banksy-mural-kissing-coppers-sells-us
I have never seen any other works by anyone else preserved in this way, including many amazing ones I consider much better than Banksy's. In an interesting twist to the tale, and an example of how arbitrary the whole process is, you may have heard of a graffiti tagger called Daniel Halpin, AKA Tox. In 2011 he was imprisoned after a history of repeatedly ignoring ASBO's and for tagging his simple 'Tox' tag all over London and Glasgow. During the case prosecutors said ""He is no Banksy. He doesn't have the artistic skills, so he has to get his tag up as much as possible." After his trial Ben Eine, criticised his work, saying: "His statement is Tox, Tox, Tox, Tox, over and over again." he said that the tags are "incredibly basic" and lacking "skill, flair or unique style". A sentence of 27 months was later passed, the judge commenting "There is nothing artistic about what you do". Shortly after the trial a new Tox related Banksy appeared in Jeffery St, Camden, see here: http://streetartlondon.co.uk/blog/2011/06/22/banksy-tox-jeffrys-street-camden-town/
And this was at some point later given the protective perspex treatment, as seen with this later photo: http://starkart.org/banksy-streetart-piece-for-tox/banksy-tox-jefferey-streetart-camden-town/. And now, whether as a result of changing art tastes, a new bureaucratic droid at the Council, or maybe they considered Banksy had now gone too far and seemed to be inviting scrutiny on Council policy, both the perspex and the artwork are now both gone and no trace remains.

As Graffiti Wars shows, sadly King Robbo died just before he was about have a successful relaunch as paid artist. Following this death lots of fellow graffiti artists have paid tribute, and the use of the crown, as used by Basquiat, was used in various works paying homage to King Robbo. I did'nt know this at the time but looking back through my pics, this one in Croydon seems to be one such tribute.

And here's another one in Islington done in the classic Reebok Classic logo

Following King Robbo's death, Banksy returned to scene of the spat to pay tribute with this homage to the original King Robbo piece on that site:

Thanks to the reveal on Graffiti Wars of the location just under the British Transport Police HQ on Regents Canal, I thought I'd go and have a look at this famous spot today. I must admit I was pleased, and found it quite moving, that Banksy was not permitted to have the last word on this site. It seems to have been declared sacred 'King Robbo' ground, as someone has replaced the Banksy with King Robbo's original tag, as he demonstrated at the beginning of Graffiti Wars, nice touch.

And thanks again @AndyRM, your original mention of the Banksy Basquiat at the Barbican led to this particular graffiti/street art history lesson

 

[booze and cake]

....and on my way back from the above mission, I came across a couple more pieces a short distance along Regents Canal. Firstly the Constitution pub, a well known music venue as the exterior art clearly shows

And this:

...and in case you were wondering where the owner of the mobility scooter is, they had'nt done a Reggie Perrin, they were fishing just out of camera shot.

 

[booze and cake]

A couple of new ones on Hanbury St. I'm guessing from the magic mushrooms in the bottom right of the picture, and the obviously very weird garden gnome and ice cream mish-mash, this is some kind of weird trip scene

And the large wall at the end of Hanbury Street has this huge one which is pretty amazing.

 

[AndyRM]

@AndyRM thanks a lot for the heads up on that I saw your post 5 minutes before it started so caught it in the nick of time and really enjoyed it. What an amazing story and great to see that what started with his SAMO graffiti tags and phrases across New York (SAMO being abbreviated from the saying 'same old s**t') exploded into a worldwide phenomenon which has seen single paintings go for over $100m.

I was amazed to see Basquiat as the 'DJ spinnin' in Blondie's video Rapture too. I've seen it mentioned before that though it was not the first video or song to feature Hip-Hop, it was the first to top the charts in the USA, and in the lyrics Debbie Harry name checks Hip-Hop pioneers Fab Five Freddy, (who was in the Basquiat doc last night too) and Grandmaster Flash. In fact Basquiat is only in the video as a stand in because Grandmaster Flash did'nt show up. I just love chance happenings like that. See from 2 mins in the following link for his cameo,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g
I also loved the section with Fab Five Freddy explaining how he and Basquiat toured museums together and really admired Caravaggio, not only for his amazing paintings and use of light, but because he carried a sword around with him, and was thus proper gangsta. I also learned how Basquiat used crowns in his art, which I now see is what Banksy used as cars on his ferris wheel in his recent Barbican one from page 15, View attachment 377705
I also see how the other recent Barbican Banksy where a Basquiat character is being manhandled by police had extra meaning after the doc.
View attachment 377706
This link suggests what Banksy may mean by his recent works https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...sy-artworks-appear-on-wall-of-barbican-centre but thanks to the Basquiat documentary, I now know how Basquiat challenged police brutality through his art, following the death of fellow black artist Michael Stewart. More here if you're interested: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsand...t-challenged-police-brutality-through-his-art
I've recently been reading about a spat between Banksy and one of the O.G's of the London graffiti scene, King Robbo, a tale that was told in a Channel 4 documentary shown in 2011, called Graffiti Wars. I found a link and watched it for the first time this morning:
View: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32a43y
The link also features Ben Eine who did the recent Greenfell mural. The above link explains the origins of the spat, which centred on an iconic spot, opposite the path and accessible only canoe, boat or in King Robbo's case a lilo. King Robbo's original piece there was thought to be some of the oldest graffiti in London, and was located under the British Transport Police HQ in Camden, on the Regents Canal, which is ironic as King Robbo started as a prolific train tagger back in the 80's and was probably considered enemy number one at the time . This link shows the scene and some of the blows traded in this 'art battle'. http://twistedsifter.com/2012/01/banksy-vs-robbo-war-in-pictures/

Graffiti Wars does raise some interesting questions I've hinted at on here before. It showed a brief clip of the Council team responsible for cleaning up graffiti in Camden, where a member of the council acknowledged that street art 'added value' in that people came to visit and photograph it, but was far from clear as to what the difference between street art and graffiti was, and how this was judged. It did look as though it was one rule for Banksy, and one rule for everyone else. I also found it interesting that if the graffiti team came across a work they were'nt sure whether to remove it or not, they were instructed to take a picture of it, and send it to their manager to make the final decision. Call me a cynic but I doubt the post holder, who is basically judge and jury and executioner, has any art experience, and as this person is going to be different in all 32 London boroughs this whole procedure seems a bit arbitrary. The Council were even involved in touching up Banksy's and removing rude words, possibly added by 'Team Robbo' in their continued spat, so actively maintaining them which caused me to raise my eyebrows and further blur the lines.

I've seen Banksy's covered in perspex and 'preserved' in 3 separate London boroughs. Back in 2013 and 2014 Banksy's 'slave labour' piece in Turnpike Lane and his 'kissing coppers' in Brighton were cut off the wall and appeared shortly after in a Miami auction for mega bucks, causing outrage from locals and international attention: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/feb/19/banksy-mural-kissing-coppers-sells-us
I have never seen any other works by anyone else preserved in this way, including many amazing ones I consider much better than Banksy's. In an interesting twist to the tale, and an example of how arbitrary the whole process is, you may have heard of a graffiti tagger called Daniel Halpin, AKA Tox. In 2011 he was imprisoned after a history of repeatedly ignoring ASBO's and for tagging his simple 'Tox' tag all over London and Glasgow. During the case prosecutors said ""He is no Banksy. He doesn't have the artistic skills, so he has to get his tag up as much as possible." After his trial Ben Eine, criticised his work, saying: "His statement is Tox, Tox, Tox, Tox, over and over again." he said that the tags are "incredibly basic" and lacking "skill, flair or unique style". A sentence of 27 months was later passed, the judge commenting "There is nothing artistic about what you do". Shortly after the trial a new Tox related Banksy appeared in Jeffery St, Camden, see here: http://streetartlondon.co.uk/blog/2011/06/22/banksy-tox-jeffrys-street-camden-town/
And this was at some point later given the protective perspex treatment, as seen with this later photo: http://starkart.org/banksy-streetart-piece-for-tox/banksy-tox-jefferey-streetart-camden-town/. And now, whether as a result of changing art tastes, a new bureaucratic droid at the Council, or maybe they considered Banksy had now gone too far and seemed to be inviting scrutiny on Council policy, both the perspex and the artwork are now both gone and no trace remains.

As Graffiti Wars shows, sadly King Robbo died just before he was about have a successful relaunch as paid artist. Following this death lots of fellow graffiti artists have paid tribute, and the use of the crown, as used by Basquiat, was used in various works paying homage to King Robbo. I did'nt know this at the time but looking back through my pics, this one in Croydon seems to be one such tribute. View attachment 377707
Following King Robbo's death, Banksy returned to scene of the spat to pay tribute with this homage to the original King Robbo piece on that site:
View attachment 377708
Thanks to the reveal on Graffiti Wars of the location just under the British Transport Police HQ on Regents Canal, I thought I'd go and have a look at this famous spot today. I must admit I was pleased, and found it quite moving, that Banksy was not permitted to have the last word on this site. It seems to have been declared sacred 'King Robbo' ground, as someone has replaced the Banksy with King Robbo's original tag, as he demonstrated at the beginning of Graffiti Wars, nice touch.
View attachment 377709
And thanks again @AndyRM, your original mention of the Banksy Basquiat at the Barbican led to this particular graffiti/street art history lesson

Glad you caught it. iPlayer for me (tonight, hopefully) as the little one was having a melt down!