Got all the rude kids together for a 10th birthday party in Penge, London. Thankfully London calling blog Steve was there to help me keep this unruly mob in check. It’s located in the Blenheim shopping centre car park, which the top two floors have been set aside for people to paint. Check out London calling blog with details of the rooftop gallery open days (where you can see what we’ve been up to) Rooftop gallery here
Its been 10 years since the first rude kid was cut, it was my daughter, at the age of 9. It’s a age before the teenage angst starts, a time of innocence and i thought getting her and her friends ( a lovely bunch) strike some poses that would perhaps be more associated with the age group above them, then these simple stencils could rude little invaders on a urban street corner. Not a threat, just rude!
Over the years the kids have grown up, so friends and families kids have joined the original core Hackney group of kids with some of the kids now come from as far away as Osaka, Stavanger and the Wirral. a full list of names of the kids involved can be found on my instagram. Thanks to everyone whos been involved and Happy Birthday!
I Painted a wall in Croydon on Park street a good number of years ago, think someone said it was 6! The space was agreed by the owner and was part of a larger number of works in the area. To be honest id forgotten about it, till someone posted a horrible picture of it a few weeks ago
Thats of google maps, I dont know which is worse to be honest.
I had 10 liters of black paint, left over from something and needed some 600ml cans for ‘Yes we can show’ at Atom gallery for the 9th of November. Once ordered i had to empty them (instructions from the gallery, something about postage)…so had 6 large cans to empty. Given the state of how the wall became , i need to create something bold that would cope with subsequent additions.
Black and white, dots kids and wallpaper while you wait for the bus.
The biggie was developed for a show in Tokyo with Hand inc. Ken last year, i haven’t painted them on the street in the UK, bet he gets a moustache and glasses, an arrow at least.
Of course i had to do a Indigo to replace the one i painted over, almost did the kids in primary colours , but chickened out. The different blacks work ok and a shadow goes a long to separate them.
Had a fun couple of days painting ending on Halloween, during the painting i re connected with the lovely lady who gave me the permission the first time i painted it, to be honest i hadn’t checked, (thinking something togo over the top of what existed was better than not painting it). Friendly place Croydon, had some good encouragement. Still have a large mural from the same time round the corner
It was a with great pleasure i accepted an invite from my old friend Martyn Reid to participate in the Nuart festival in Stavanger Norway (They also do a Nuart Aberdeen ). I worked on this festival for over a decade being first invited as an exhibiting artist (when it was more of a New Media festival in 2004) and coming back year after year in a progression of roles from curator to artist and production manager. The year after we met Nuart started to focus on street art, the budget was small and the possibilities of painting round the city were non existent. We ended up painting some abandoned buildings in a down at heel part of town as well as staging a small show up at the arts centre Tou Scene in 2005.
Since then the Festival has grown, huge murals appeared around the town, logistics grew, cherry pickers were hired with a huge volunteer task force who’s amazing help allowed the thing to grow into a world leading festival of art on the street, drawing camera crews from CNN from the USA, Google it. With amazing artist line ups from across the globe, the curation of each years participants tells you a lot about the way street art has developed over the years, covering most aspects of public space art intervention. From situationalists to muralists, wheat paste to spray paint, key artists from the history of the medium as well as show casing the breadth of the techniques happening on the street today.
I did a decade of production and have visited them a few times as an artist over the years, so it with great pleasure to be invited back for this years ‘Intangible’ festival. A back to basics approach to urban mark making. A what you can carry method of production on un sanctioned spaces. Not a mural in sight. I have always been a fan of floor based works that you come across when walking round a town. It all seemed to start with that for me. Over the years people have worked out logistics for larger and larger works. Rollers on poles, fire extinguisher and extendable ladders, anything you could carry on public transport and then over fences but it rarely involved a cherry picker or a scissor lift.
For 5 days i wandered the city with a hi-viz popping up life size works, i used a ladder once… it was lovely. I have a good knowledge of the city built on my years of production of the festival which meant i had a good idea of places i wanted to paint and images i wanted to drop there. What a wonderful week thank you Stavanger, a sea of thumbs ups, Coffee and cake, even two six packs and a packet of fags! Most importantly i didn’t get chased once.
A couple of things didn’t fit the walls chosen, and were painted over, sorry for that. But i think that much of it will stay and brings a certain something to the places chosen, but like all street art it’s councils and maintenance contracts that are the curators of our public space.
So faced with a finite amount of drawers i have gone through a couple of them and discovered a load of old prints that weren’t sold at the time. Some of these i never released myself but were commissioned by an auction house in the states (these are numbered with the prefix HC (Hors Commerce) – French for “For Commercial Use as per their instructions. Most of the others are AP’s (artist proofs) and there are a few of the actual editions on some prints that were overlooked when the sales occurred (don’t ask me why, i can’t remember)
So i have put all these gems from over the years into my shop almost at the original sale prices (ive added approximately 10% for inflation)
So if you missed a edition release at the time here is a second chance to buy visiting the shop. I’ve been a bit slack in posting here so half the stuff is gone, sorry. But to make up i will be adding some more on Halloween. They’ll be some old and rare pieces from years gone by so check the shop out as new things will appear… I still need some more drawer space!!!
Spent a week up north on the Borders, in Carlisle and Newcastle, I love this part of the world and visit regularly. On this trip i Painted a Tattoo Parlour Eclipse Ink for Eden arts and Blank wall Assasins.
Took a few days even managed to off set the mural with a couple of more traditional street hits at West walls Brewery Nice place! They supplied a wall, pizzia and a beer! Film By ARJ visuals.
Had a super nice few days in the town, met some great people and painted some walls, even made local TV. Film by Stuart Walker
Seeing i was so far north, i decided to pop over to Newcastle to see some friends, so popped a few things up around Ouse Burn. By chance Seven Stories the National Centre for Childrens Books was on the route, so Popped a #Rudekid on the front of the building and it seemed to be received very well and may stay. film by Jamie Dobson @jamiesgotacamera
The local phone box was hang out spot for local ne er’ do wells who used it as a base (excuse pun) to smoke crack throughout the night. Often loud and very funny these impromptu party events were often a daily occurrence starting at night and often ending as the school run started in the morning. I thought it was about time that both the occupants of the box and the often stunned locals deserved a break from each other in this relic of telecommunication.
‘Wash it up” mixed media installation in the heart of #Dalston A series of staged photo’s and videos with myself as the model. Photo’s taken by @streetartatlas a big thank you to The Pea for cutting the stencils and Betti for the support in making it happen!
So it’s election day, and my! What a choice there is ! A Myriad of promises, logos and strap lines. Its like your at a market on a Sunday where everyone is selling knock off goods. They all look legit but after a few washes the the signs of forgery are sure to show themselves in time. Inspired by the lies and images that accompany them and a desire to see how paint works on glass, led me to a practice paint on this much loved phone box / voting booth in Dalston (well loved with the late night crack crowd and your voting crack). so here it is ! A pic n’ mix of logos, slogans and lies that it doesn’t matter which way round they are arranged and organised in the end up in the same old message. Promise the world if its secures you power. Then you have 4 years to line your pockets. Personally i’m up for spoiling it, faced with the candidates my choice is to register a protest after all spoils get counted. We need a dramatic change, not a pick of the same coloured hue of bullshit
So todays the day that Roam couch and myself release the print we have been working on. Prints launch at 10 am BST on the 5th of June sorry for the late notice (I’ve been ill)
The blue fade background is my UK colour way printed at bi-cep press in Bristol on. 300gsm Canson Arches Aquarelle paper with archival inks.Signed by both artists, numbered and embossed It measures 50cm by 50cm Available here Each artist will have a set of 5 pairs of both images for those that are interested in owning both at a discounted price for the two and without the subsequent postage from both locations Available here certificates of authenticity from both artists accompany the print.
Last year i was lucky to bump into Roam Couch in Tokyo at Kawamatsu Gallery. During an afternoon talking shop and drinking highballs the idea came up that we could work on a collaborative piece combining the styles and themes we liked working with. I’ts taken some time working across timescales, language and techniques, which really come in to focus when you work by DHL.
We decided on two versions to be painted in each others cities. Yep a lot of back and forth, our couriers faces lit up.
Twinning Penge, London with Nagoya, Japan.
We are thinking of releasing this as a small edition Giclee print when we work out the logistics , couriers and the inevitable postage back and forth to get the thing together, so stay tuned for details. The basic idea being that we will do a simultaneous release of each print edition in Japan and the UK, with each artist posting them locally.
