I’ve been meaning to get up to Rockaway park for ages. I’ve known Mark, the driving force behind it for years. We used to store old stuff from The Unfairground there years ago, but its changed a great deal from those humble beginnings. These days it’s a incredible social centre for alternative alternatives, its hard to explain, best to visit and make your own mind up. The reason for this weekends shenanigans was the Rockaway Part Arts weekend. Art, music, great food, film and eclectic art market. Loads of old faces and a right good laugh.
From right to left, Martin Parr, Dan Rawlings, Me with Rowdy underneath.
First up i painted a new set of billboards Mark has had put up along the entrance way, you need to get that forklift serviced by the sound of it Mark! (lolz)
Painted the old workshop too, making sure to paint around the initial scrap yard sticker on the door which i remembered from back in the day.
Took a few things up with me, it was always going to be blandalised with wallpaper, but for some reason only Mark can explain he plumpt for a swinging monkey…..well wasn’t just him i did haul it up to Temple Cloud thinking it might fit in with the general vibe. The chimp is on a sliding door that rolls back and forth so the monkey swings as you close the door, very apt for the workshop!
What a fun weekend! It was very busy, loads of visitors and a lot of fun. Sunday lunch is amazing, one not to miss! Get your order in early to avoid disappointment, so good ! Bands were great! Company fantastic, i had a ball. Find it here. Check the calendar for events.
What a wonderful week in Ireland, thanks to all the crew that made the week a slick production experience. A special thanks to Gabe, John, Kerri, Luke, Raphael, Madison and Soak7. There were more involved of course but as an old tipsy man my memory fails me. I haven’t experienced such a shared responsibility amongst a team for a long time, congratulations to all of you, you should be proud of what we all achieved. I cut some new things specially for the festival that were a bit out of my usual schtick. Hope they worked for the local audience as they were cut for you.
The kneecap image was mediated thing i have ever painted, i’m a plastic Paddy (london irish) married to a Dubliner, taking a provocative image from a Northern Irish band to a southern Irish graffiti festival, i planned to just paint it around the place on unsanctioned walls and not ask permission. However with all the other factors that i’ve mentioned, i actually checked with all involved to see if i wasn’t stepping on too many toes. The band and the festival said yes and with the wife happy i was not being a bull in a china shop i was set.
I only explain this background to temper the uk interpretation of this image . I am not ignorant of an irish dialogue which may make this image problematic. But as a street artist its more of a tribute to Mr B’s flower thrower than anything else. It is after all me in a tracksuit pulling the same pose with a can of paint.
Faced with that, the location Waterford and the whole street art shtick. I thought of doing it my way with a localised message . It was first painted in much hit spot in Jenkins lane car park, keeping the look of a tagged wall to contextualise the tagging that is bound to appear after i have left. Thought i’d contribute to their wall than go over it with something more mural like .
I painted it a second time at the Waterford walls paint jam. I love a good knackered wall, something with a personality. There were a loads of great charcoal drawings and kids chalk drawings all over it and i thought i could add a couple of kids or something would of added to what was already there. The artist i ended up going over was a nice guy called Maurice Caplice who drew the seahorse, he explained a French girl had written the Free Palestine on the wall and the spot for DJ Próvai was found.
Photo by me
Rather than paint a mural in the town, Waterford walls were kind enough to find some smaller spots dotted around town. Its a big ask, a lot more talking to folk and finding walls that work with my style. But they pulled it out of the bag with 8 or 9 nice folk that allowed me to pop up some old fashioned street hits.
A big thanks to Hannah Judah and Street Art Atlas who captured my visit. Thanks to Hannah for my inclusion in her wonderful book signing ( check it out, available from all your usual suppliers ). Thanks you too all those who came and suffered my quite sweary artist presentation. Sorry! Had a great week, painted a fair bit, drank a little too much, i blame the Buzzballs!
The Kid above is actually called Luca and is an old friend of the family. He’s a bit sweary but the coincidence was appriciated by the nice guys in the record shop.
Deck the walls with trucks of folly! Happy Christmas to you all! Been working on some Shit skateboards for some friends in Stavanger Norway. Got in to a conversation with these long time friends and collaborators at Shit Skateboards this summer in Stavanger while mucking around at Nuart festival. I love making skateboards and a chance to make some with someone has led me to make these. Who knows if they ever go in to production but they made me laugh and i was really happy with how they turned out.
Hopefully Martin and Frode from shit skateboards will ride them over Christmas and send us some cracking shots of them railing them out of existence. check out both their feeds on Instagram for updates .
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
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
