Some old pieces

Trawling through my archives I found these pics that I took a couple of years ago and thought I'd share them with you. Enjoy!

Mooner Lisa by Nick Walker. Classic!

Charlie Brown by CyOne. Somehow makes the ultimate loser/geek look REALLY mean and hard!

Invader by Space Invader. This guy is totally refreshing in that he used materials that no-one else uses. Ceramic tiles in a mosaic of a Space Inveader. Genius!

A couple of old Banksy works now. This pink car is still in the Truman Brewery courtyard if you wanna check it out.

Sadly this Banksy is no longer there. So just call 0800 226579 to advertise here.

Boy by Twat. Gotta just love that tag! hahahahaha

The Krays by Twat. For those of you that don't know, the Krays were a notorious pair of East-End gangsters from the '50's and '60's. I can't imagine them popping out to Tesco's for their shopping.

Kate Moss by Jimmy (sorry Ican't remember his last name!) As you may be aware I love art that makes me laugh, and that is tongue-in-cheek.

Nigella Lawson by Jimmy whateverhisnameis again. The downtrodden man walking past adds to the pathos of this piece by pointing out that it is taking the piss!

Cans Festival (geddit?) by ? Taking the piss out of both the art and the film worlds. Double Whammy!

Big Foot by ? Nice pun.

As I said, there are plenty more pics of great art like this to come. Keep yoor eyes peeled for my updates and tell all your friends how great this blog is.

mancpete

Street-Art "Jam" and more pics

Last night, Son of Recession asked some of his friends to come along to Fashion St. between Brick Lane and Commercial St. to do some "legal" street-art. Let me explain: even the prolific grafitti artists and street artists were asked to come and use materials that they could not get arrested for. Most people chose to use chalk, though Son of Recession chose to spray on bin-liners. I wondered whether even this would be considered criminal damage, though he seemed confident in his assertion that as he was spraying on the plastic bag and not the actual surface, it should be ok.

Son of Recession, Fashion St. admiring his handy-work

Kadir, Fashion St. There aren't many female artists in the street scene, though Kadir really impressed by doing something based on perspective, with depth a key theme. Kadir also left some free presents above her piece: some postcard sized piece of her artwork. I took one and asked her to sign and date it for when she gets famous and I can seel it for a million.

Marco, Fashion St. There was also a poet on hand. Here is Marco checking his work which he usually makes up on-the-spot according to how he feels.

Lost Monkey, Fashion St. Sorry it's a bit dark, you can click on it and lighten it yourself.

Also, Lost Monkey has a new exhibition coming up, here's a poster for it with the details.

Maxwell, Fashion St. Click on the image to enlarge.

Maxwell, Fashion St. Here's the man himself in front of his work.

The artworks should still be there for a while, so go and check them out (if the rain doesn't wash them away)

Here are some pics of some assorted work from around the area. I'll try to name the artist and location whenever I can, so if this info is not there then I can't fathom it out.

2 Kold by Zomby, Redchurch St. There is not enough graf around Brick Lane and I've moaned about this time and time again. The majority of the graf is of a good standard, and this looks good, though I think it needs developing.

Keen One and Ideal, Sclater St. off Brick Lane. Nice to see some international graf in the area. These are from Dortmund, Germany.

Redchurch St. off Brick Lane. Even I can't read this tag, but I like it! So I'm gonna call it Moo. Notice the Space Invader sticker? See previous posts for more of his/her work.

Piss alley, off Brick Lane. Remember the blue sperm from a while back? Well I really liked it and I would be so pissed off that it got covered if the urinals weren't so good.

Hanbury St. You Know. I like this little guy as it reminds me of the arcade games like pacman, but also because he is implying that everyone know's his secret.

Ronzo, Brick Lane. I used to have a problem with paste-ups, then ones like this would make me laugh.

Bink, Brick Lane. Not much to say about this except that it makes me smile.

Roa, Brick Lane. The Crow. This is one of the most prolific, and ambitious, artists on Brick Lane. Did you see his 20 metre Stork? WOW!

Roa, Brick Lane, The Boar. He has also done a giant squirrel. Go to previous posts to see this.

Mark Amerling, Sclater St. off Brick Lane. I've a feeling I've uploaded these before, but they're so good I don't mind seeing them again.

You know, I've only uploaded about half the pics I meant to. It takes soooooooo long to do it on here, then you have to mess about re-positioning them. Pain in the arse! That means that there is a lot more to come so I'm gonna be busy with the blog for the near future.

Coming soon: More graf and street-art pics

mancpete

New and old street-art and an intro to some galleries

Well not much action going on recently, even at First Thursday 2 weeks ago. So I thought I would take you on a short tour of some of the galleries on and around Brick Lane and show you some new (and old) stuff that has appeared.

Unknown artist. This is on Redchurch St. at the northern end of Brick Lane and has been there for a while. I like that it's done in a graf style and looks pretty apocolyptic, like the opening scenes of Terminator when the machines are chasing the humans and killing them.

Existence is Punishment, unknown artist, Redchurch St. As an ex-tagger I kinda like this, not that I ever wrote anything other than my tag and crew name. Notice how whoever did this made a mistake and tried to cover it up by writing a huge "T"? This makes me laugh and sort of gives more gravitas to the message.

Unknown artist, Redchurch St. I like the way the artist has utilised all the available space in this tiny doorway. This the same doorway featured earlier of a boy saying "Nothing in particular". I would really recommend that if anyone is visiting Brick Lane that you start in Shoreditch and walk down Redchurch St. towards Brick Lane making sure you look up and down towards the ground, AND in all the little nooks and crannies.

Brick Lane, unknown artist. There is a lot of bizarre stuff around Brick Lane, though is one of the freakiest. It kinda scares me which I like and it makes want to look at all it composite parts to see what the hell it is. It seems to have the body of a Hindu deity and the face of an African witch-doctor with a manic smile.

Unknown artist, Rechurch St. I presume it says "Miss Skull" as someone has tried to rip it off the wall. When I look at this it says something about the fashion/make-up/beauty industry, though I don't exactly know what. I would like to meet the artist to ask them about this.

Crow by Roa, Brick Lane. Remember the giant stork and the suirrel featured on earlier posts? Well, Roa is one of the most prolific artists around Brick Lane. I like the style of the work and the naturalistic poses of the animals, not to mention the scale of some of the pieces.

Self-portrait by Son of Recession, Brick Lane. Another one of my favourite artists, and if you saw my interview or pics of him in front of work you may be able to see that this is a self-portrait. As soon as I saw it and the hair I knew straight away. Son of Recession is also one of the most prolific artists in the Brick Lane area, and here he combines both his main methodologies, the "Fragile" tape and outlines of shadows, into one artwork.

Invader by Invader, Brick Lane. Apparently this guy is very famous, my friend from Bilbao told me she saw his work there and he is quite well known all over Spain, though she doesn't know if he is Spanish. This another artist I would to meet and pick their brain. There is a new, and bigger, one recently appeared on the Foundry. I will bring you this soon.

I am usually quite cynical about about commercial art, whether it's gallery based or street based, though I had to admire the piece below. I think it's done by a grafitti artist trying to make a few quid and fair play, the technique and colour scheme are amazing.

O.K. before I go on to the promised introduction to some of the galleries around Brick Lane, I want to show you something that is from another area of London called Hampstead. For those of you that don't know Hampstead is a posh area and seeing this on the pavement made me laugh even more because of this.

I like the way that the dog shit has steam coming off it! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

There are numerous galleries around Brick Lane, including some that are also bars and clubs, Here is a few that I have visited and commented on before. In the next installment, I will provide a map highlighting where they are.

Brick Lane Gallery, 196 Brick Lane, London, UK E1 6SA, 020 7729 9721. I've been here numerous times (check through past entries) and spoken to Tony the manager about this blog. I told him I'm not making any cash from it yet, he said stick with and come back in 6 months time as that's how he started out. That was 2 months ago, so not long to go now! Confession time: When quite drunk I told Tony that I started this blog because I was going to all the galloeries and getting very drunk. Now I'm only allowed 1 drink when I go there! HAHAHAHA!

The Gallery in Redchurch Street, 50 Redchurch Street, E2. This gallery isn't open very often, which is a shame as I think it's a very good space, airy, lot's of natural light and of course, very close to Brick Lane. If you look at my very first interview with David Marsh, you will be able to see how good this gallery is and how vibrant the area around it is.

Studio 1.1, 57A Redchurch Street, London E2 7DG, 07952 986 696. This a tiny space, though I must admit that it's one of my favourite galleries in the area as they exhibit artists that may not get a look in elsewhere. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that they show work from lesser known artist and students, in fact I interviewed an guy here about his instalation of a spiral of sticks that resembled a stairway to nowhere, though unfortunately it was all lost due to one of my famous "technical difficulties".

The Aubin Gallery. 64-66 Redchurch St Shoreditch London E2 7DP www.theaubingallery.com. 0845 6048486. Probably the largest and trendiest of all the galleries on Redchurch St. Loads of shows on here all the time and some interesting work, see past posts for reviews of work here. The best thing about this place is that there is ALWAYS free booze on the go!

Well, that's your lot for now. Coming soon: More introductions to galleries and I will be tracking down your favourite street artists and harassing some gallery artists!

mancpete

Interview with Stik and some more Street-Art

Before I start, let me apologise for slacking off too much recently. No excuse, I just couldn't be arsed!

Here are some more pictures of the art around Brick Lane. Enjoy!

Unknown artist, Fashion St. Some people attribute this piece to Banksy (it's got perspex over it). I'm not so sure as it is not as subtle as Banksy's usual style.

Unknown artist, Fashion St. I like this African Head, though I would like to meet the artist to acertain info on the Devils ears and the red stripe on the face.

Unknown artist, Fashion St. Sorry about this one being blurred, though I really lilke the image. It's quite disappointing that someone has seen fit to place a sticker over it though.

Unknown artist, Fahion St. "Death Dance" A truly great piece

Unknown artist, Fashion St. Great painting and I like the little "spudbomb" character on the right.

Unknown artist, Grimsby St. Sorry it's a bit dark. I think it is an ants head. What do you think?

Unkown artists, Fashion St. This is one of the best walls around Brick Lane. I like all the pieces, particularly the woman injecting herself (click on image for an enlargement)

Unknown artist, Fashion St. I always wanted a pair of Kaleidoscopic glasses!

Here is another of my favourite artists, I like monkeys, though these stylised ones are among the best I've ever seen. I like the way that no two of them has the same expression. To see more go to 93 Feet East on Brick Lane.

Unknown artist, Redchurch St. Unfortunately, someone has ripped some of this piece away. I only hope that none of the message is missing.

The other day me and Son of Recession were passing by Old St. station and he gave a gasp of amazement. He had spotted a shadow that he wanted to reproduce. I decided to take some photos of him at work (remembering he likes to stay anonymous) and here they are

One of the great things about watching Son of Recession work in publuic is the reception he gets. He swears blind that he is not in it for the fame, but when people stop and speak to him and take pictures and congratulate him on his work. as you may remember, not only does Son of Recession make shadows of street objects in "Fragile" tape, he also draws peoples shadows in marker pen and makes them look like barbed-wire. Here are some photos of my shadow that he did live in an interview I did with him (you can still see this interview, just scroll down). Here are the photos of my shadow.

Here is my shadow (click to enlarge)

And here is me "giving the finger". Interestingly, I only noticed later that my middle finger was facing towards the financial district of the "City of London". Quite apt!

And here is some more of Son of Recesion's work.

I have taken Son of Recession to task over his religious imagery a number of times (see interview), though it seems to me that he may well be questioning some religious practices without consciously realising it.

I like these because they combine two of Son of Recessions "modi operandi", both the "Fragile" tape and his penchant for outlining peoples' shadows.

I am reliably informed that this is somebody's shadow, though I really think it is a giant fish-head!

Son of Recession piece, Grimsby St. I don't know if the Arabic writing was written by the artist (which I doubt) or was added by someone else, I will ask him to clarify that. Also, is someone can translate the text, I would be very grateful.

Son of Recession (again!). Shadow of a taxi-driver, Fashion St.

And the man himself! Posing next to a piece on Whitecross St.

Well, that's enough Son of Recession over-kill! Next is an interview with "Stik". You will probably be familiar with his work if you live around London as he has had both commissioned pieces and illegal pieces. Watch out for my dissing him on this in the interview, though he is very sarcastic in return. It's the most excruciating interview for me so far as I am quite drunk in it and Stik finds a level of sarcasm that went over my head at the time. But I think it was all in good stead.

Here is some of Stik's work for your visual pleasure!

Whitecross St. Street-Art exhibition.

Fournier St. off Brick Lane. This is one of my all-time favourite pieces by any artist. For a discussion see the interview.

The interview was conducted in front of this piece (as with all photos on this blog you can click to enlarge).

And here is the interview itself.

To see more of both these artists work and more of the art-scene around London you can go to Claude Crommelin's flickr site at: www.flickr.com/photos/claudelondon

This Thursday is "First Thursday", where every gallery in and around Brick Lane opens its doors. I will be there as ever, and the report WILL be uploaded to the blog the next day.