Category Archives: Street

London: Damien Hirst Christmas Tree

December 22, 2015 butterfly

Next to the Connaught Hotel in London Mayfair stands a 30 feet tall Christmas tree adorned with flying doves and unusual decorations: snowmen formed of giant pills, medical instruments, scissors, syringues, scalpels…

Damien Hirst - Christmas Tree 2015

This is the work of controversial artist Damien Hirst, who generated some complaints from local residents who found it inappropriate and culturally insensitive and dangerous as it is on a public highway next to a church and a homeless center.

Hirst said: “The Christmas tree is a celebration of togetherness, a joyful symbol of hope and love. For the decorations, I wanted to reference some of the amazing things that give us hope in the world today.”

View the full set of pics here

Festival, Stavanger, Street

Upcoming: Nuart Festival 15

August 12, 2015 butterfly

Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Nuart Festival (see last year coverage here) will take place on the first week of September, 2015 in Norway. Renowned artists from around the world will come to the city of Stavanger with murals, installations and interventions and Tou Scene centre for contemporary arts, a former 19th century brewery, will host the festival’s indoor exhibition.

Nuart Festival 2015 artists include: Bordalo II (PT), Bortusk Leer (UK), Dolk (NO), Dotdotdot (NO), Ella & Pitr (FR), Ernest Zacharevic (LT), Futura (US), Harmen de Hoop (NL), Icy & Sot (IL), Isaac Cordal (ES), Jamie Reid (UK), Martha Cooper (US), Martin Whatson (NO), Outings Project (FR), Pejac (ES), Pixelpancho (IT).

Dot Dot Dot - NuArt Martin Whatson - NuArt

Nuart will also attempting to create the world’s largest outdoor mural of 21,000m2 in Klepp on the outskirts of Stavanger with French artists Ella & Pitr alongside partners Block Berge Bygg. In parallel, Sandra Chevrier (CA) will be introducing the Aftenblad Wall.

Nuart Plus, the festival’s annual symposium of academic and industry debates, artist presentations and film screenings will take place at Scandic Stavanger City hotel from Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 September. Here, key figures such as Evan Pricco (Juxtapoz), Jaime Rojo and Steven Harrington (Brooklyn Street Art) and critic and author Carlo McCormick will come together with artists and academics to delve into the culture’s roots and reflect on its place within the wider contemporary art canon.
Alongside the recurrent theme of Situationism, this year’s festival will explore notions of play and the ludic tendencies within street art and urban culture. From Jamie Reid – pioneer of the punk visual aesthetic – to conceptual artist Harmen de Hoop, photographer Martha Cooper and abstract graffiti pioneer Futura, leading practitioners from across the spectrum of street art will demonstrate how they approach their craft within the subject of play.

Find out more details about the programme and participants of this year’s event over at Nuartfestival.no.

Nuart 15
Festival: 3-5 September 2015
Exhibition: 6-11 October 2015

London, Street, streets

London Streets: El Seed @ Shubbak Festival

July 13, 2015 butterfly 1 Comment

For the Shubbak Festival, A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture, Cedar Lewison invited French Tunisian ‘calligraffiti’ artist eL Seed to paint his first UK commission on the wall of Village Underground in London Shoreditch.

We previously seen his work in person back in 2013 in Paris for La Tour 13 ( covered here) and more recently for Le Pont des Arts.

Blending Arabic calligraphy with graffiti techniques, eL Seed has developed a distinctive and striking style, fusing poetry and language with dramatic design to create large-scale works.

El Seed - London
View the full set of pics here

The Shubbak Festival runs until 26 July 2015

London, Street, streets

London Streets: Ana Marietta new mural

July 12, 2015 butterfly

Puerto Rican born, Houston based artist Ana Marietta is currently in London and just finished painting a new mural in Brick Lane featuring her surrealistic animal universe.

Ana Marietta - London Streets

See more pics here

Festival, Malaga, Street, streets

Malaga: Remed & Okuda at MAUS 2015

June 27, 2015 butterfly

For the second edition of the MAUS festival in Malaga (Malaga Arte Urbane en el Soho) curated by Fer Francés, many international artists have been invited to paint in the Soho district and along the Guadalmedina river.
Remed and Okuda painted a 30 meters high Venus on the facade of the Hotel Bahia Malaga, mixing their signature colourful style.

The mural is entitled ‘La Danse de Venus et du Marin’.

MAUS - Malaga 2015