These huge murals by ROA and Phlegm in Peckham were put up back in February this year and at the time weren’t featured on Street Art London. However, given that these two pieces are arguably two of the finest examples of ‘street art’ to be found anywhere in London they deserve extra attention. The setting of these pieces is also a great – a secluded brick courtyard encloses you on all sides creating a feeling of isoloation despite their location in the bustling centre of Peckham.
Given that Banksy has been very active recently putting down pieces left right and centre in London, with most being very quickly buffed/removed, we thought now might be a good time to feature two other recent pieces of his that are still riding on the streets.
Banksy put up four new pieces in London this week. One on the side of National Gallery, one in Bell Lane near Liverpool St. Station, one on Wapping High Street – all which were buffed/removed very quickly indeed. The best place to see these pieces is therefore on his website which last night underwent a major update with new pieces in Liverpool also.
Brooklyn based street artist Swoon, real name Caledonia Dance Curry, yesterday put up some of her trademark paste-ups across East London. Swoon uses traditional wood cut techniques to render her evocative, ephemeral and realistic street art that draws inspiration from an array of historical and folk sources as well as people that she knows or meets on her travels. The results are exquisite, with an astounding level of craft and detail within each piece. Street Art London managed to find seven which are pictured below.
Swoon has visited London before and last year put up four pieces up on the street of which only one remains today. She also put up a piece a few weeks back (reported here) that was removed after just two days on the street. This year in London, Swoon has also been busy with other projects, having put on an exhibition at Black Rat Projects and delivered a lecture at the Bank of Ideas.
It would seem that Invader has launched his ninth wave of Invasion against London – this time centring upon Brixton. Street Art London went down for a look and managed to find three new Invaders. There are probably more out there… Street Art London’s intelligence gathering unit is on high alert and will keep you updated if any new Invaders are found across London.
Last night, RUN put down this awesome piece on Hackey Road at the old tennis courts which makes clever use of pre-existing paste-ups by Mustafa Hulusi. Mustafa Hulusi’s paste-ups have themselves have been popping up all over the East in recent weeks.
For a little more background on RUN, check out this interview that we did with him back in March this year. Also, check this 12 storey mega wall that RUN painted this Summer in Gdansk, Poland as part of the Monumental Art Festival.
German street artist EVOL is in town and today hit up Smithfield Market with some of his distinctive street art. Evol uses paste-ups and stencils to transform such urban furniture as concrete blocks, tree planters and telephone exchanges into tower blocks thereby creating tiny cities with the city. We went down to have a look, check out our shots below…
King Robbo’s iconic ‘Robbo inc’ piece has returned to Regents Canal, Camden, albeit in a slightly difference guise. This wall is where the Banksy v King Robbo feud was spectacularly ignited nearly two years ago with Banky’s notorious ‘modification’ of King Robbo’s iconic Robbo inc piece which was, at the time, 25 years old. In the intervening period this feud has been much scrutinised within both the street art and graffiti scenes as well as the mainstream media.
Italian street artist and painter Ozmo is in town at the moment. He recently painted this striking piece at Cargo in Shoreditch which is entitled ‘Big fish eat small fish‘. The piece draws inspiration from the works Brugel the Elder and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’ painting ‘The Turkish Bath‘. Speaking about the piece he said that he was “inspired by the city, where everyone is thinking about money, business and fame, without any respect towards people and relationships..”
Check out the rest of Street Art London’s photos below.
With Macay
Tell us a little about how you got into street art and graffiti?
The very distinctive hardcore tagging scene in Sao Paulo, pichação, was what turned my attention to urban street writing, and a love of letter styling in the first place. I have enjoyed drawing and messing around with paint ever since I can remember, but the urge to go out and paint on the streets was to do pichação in the very beginning. Pichaçao was what I saw at first, since a little kid around the streets, but I quickly moved into doing thick bubble and piece letters once I started spraying as well as character designs. That was a time of the first generation and a second was emerging, of writers influenced by the hip-hop graffiti painting in São Paulo, and with little visual information around, not yet with the wonders of the virtual world established. More influences and magazines came about, seeing more pieces and murals, I quickly got hooked and saw myself doing panels almost every day around the city, which developed into murals and big productions.
We caught up with Phlegm whilst putting up two great new pieces up at the Foundry Building on Old Street. Phlegm was fresh from painting this epic piece over on the Azores Island and is off to another far flung destination soon to paint another massive wall so be sure to watch out for that. In the meantime check out our photos of his new stuff at the Foundry below.
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that the Olympics are coming to (East) London next year. Next door to the Olympic Stadium, just across the canal, is Hackney Wick, which in recent years has experienced a proliferation of street art. Here, Street Art London presents a modest collection of some of the finest street art to be seen in Hackney Wick and also aims to provide a little background on some of the street artists at work over there. Be sure to pay a visit to Hackney Wick soon as the future of much of this street art is perhaps uncertain as the 2012 London Olympics and it’s legacy draws ever nearer.