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.
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
Had the chance this week to visit Montreal, i’ve always wanted to go to Canada so i jumped at the chance. Thankfully Louis Jenson from Spraying bricks hooked me up with a local Fred Caron who found me a wall behind an amazing pub The Burgundy Lion. Its a great spot! great food, good beer and plays all the premier league matches live, which is great when your away from home. Any how thanks to all involved and especially Paul Des Baillets. Loved Montreal and will be back.
So i’ve been painting a series of underpasses in Stavanger over the last few years, the latest collaborating with Martyn Reed . The idea is to make the wall look like the Summer show at the RA. The Royal academy Started in 1768 with a the type of show that was in style across Europe hanging the works with much of the walls covered by hundreds of frames these rooms were often called Salons shows.
The difference with this install is that all the easy to reach frames are empty waiting to be filled by passers by. It took 3 and a half days to put up close to a hundred frames. Thankfully i had help from Helga, calum and The J0n. On the last morning people had started to fill the frames with collage , acrylic paint and Pen. Looking forward to how this wall is going to progress, bit nervous too.
The Street Art of Penge and Anerley Book for Charity
I’ve been painting with the Penge street art crew for a few years. The area has become for a go to for street artists and street art fans. It’s a project of passion for all those locally involved and those further a field who support and photograph the process and finished works. Finally after a year of disruptions and false starts they have managed to get a paper documentation of the works and artists that have been working there over the last few years. These are available for pre order now here https://pengestreetart.bigcartel.com/
Available for pre order until the 20th of November with all profits going to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham. Making it a limited edition publication that documents the work done by all over a few short years.
A word from the producers:
Over the last 18 or so months ourselves and our dear friend Street Art Atlas have been working on a project we are super excited to finally be sharing with anyone who cares. We have created a book documenting in photographs and text how our community street art project SprayExhibition20 has blossomed since 2016 making Penge and Anerley the largest open air gallery in London with over 170 artworks up at current.
We would like to offer a massive thank you to Street Art Atlas for documenting our project from day 1 and using so many of her excellent photos in this book, which she also designed and put together superbly. Thank you for all the time and dedication to this project and on this book! Big thank you to Colossive Press for all the editorial advice and help behind the scenes, answering all our questions. A huge thank you to Dotmaster and Irony for the unbelievably generous donations to accompany this book, beyond kind both of you. Lastly thank you to all the artists who have painted for us around SE20 over the last six years, to everyone who has donated a space to allow the artists to work their magic and everyone who has stopped by to admire the creativity and support this initiative that we couldn’t be prouder of.
So there you have it and you can purchase the book and potentially some special edition artworks exclusive for this project here https://pengestreetart.bigcartel.com/ with all proceeds going to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham.SprayExhibition20 – The Street Art of Penge and Anerley.
Since 2016 Penge and Anerley has become a hub for Street Art in London, with SE20 having hosted over 400 artworks to date. So in acknowledgment of how this project has grown beyond our wildest dreams, we thought it was time to share some of this project with anyone who is interested. SprayExhibition20 – The Street Art of Penge and Anerley is the first publication to showcase the art of Penge and Anerley, covering a selection of work from 110 artists spanning 2016-2020. The book offers a peek behind the scenes and tells the story of how this quiet little corner of London has become one of London’s largest open-air galleries, documented by London Calling Blog and Street Art Atlas.
All proceeds go to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham. Free UK Postage.
Paperback 280 pages
Price (UK) : £15
Price (Worldwide) : Will be notified during checkout process *
* When a package is shipped internationally, it may be subject to import taxes, customs duties, and/or fees imposed by the destination country. These charges will typically be due once the shipped goods arrive at the country of destination. Such charges are not included in the product price or shipping and handling cost. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility as we are only charging the transportation fee for your order.
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We have been incredibly fortunate enough to have some artwork generously donated by two artists featured in the book.
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Irony ‘Molly’ Print
A limited-edition of 10 photographic prints are available of Irony’s ‘Molly’ mural as featured on the book cover captured by Street Art Atlas. All prints are numbered and signed by both Irony and Street Art Atlas. The print comes with a copy of the book and all proceeds go to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham. Free UK Postage.
Price (UK Only): £100*
Editions: 10 Print size: A3
* When a package is shipped internationally, it may be subject to import taxes, customs duties, and/or fees imposed by the destination country. These charges will typically be due once the shipped goods arrive at the country of destination. Such charges are not included in the product price or shipping and handling cost. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility as we are only charging the transportation fee for your order.
Dotmaster Special Edition ‘Rude Kids’ Original Artworks
A4 Handmade 3D pop up Stencil works. (self assembly)
We have a series of ten handmade stencil works by Dotmaster. All works are entirely original and feature spray paint on a plywood A4 size board, accompanied with sticky back cardboard stenciled additions that you can add to the board. The stencil painting comes with a copy of the book and all proceeds go to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham. Free UK Postage.
Price (UK Only): £200*
* When a package is shipped internationally, it may be subject to import taxes, customs duties, and/or fees imposed by the destination country. These charges will typically be due once the shipped goods arrive at the country of destination. Such charges are not included in the product price or shipping and handling cost. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility as we are only charging the transportation fee for your order.
Proud to present my lockdown labours in this multi channel broadcast show, event, web thingy. So first was there was Lockdown Magazine, Dot2Dot portraits and a release of the wino boxes now finally some work you can see in the flesh in this site specific Christmas light shop front installation.
In collaboration with Kensington and Chelsea art week as part of their lockdown HIGH STREET WINDOWS. A series of site-specific window installations across Kensington, activating local high streets through imaginative interventions by contemporary artists.
The small boxes displayed in the windows are experiments in materials and light that were made during lockdown. Boxed-in, we have all tried to see the bright side, and these naughty rude kids lights have been my way of bringing some light with these humorous candid acts of indoor disobedience. The entire building is transformed into a giant, glowing light box, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside.
A full explanation of the show as well as a shop to buy it, can be found here Lockdown show.
