Tag Archives: streets

London, streets

Banksy new mural in London

Elusive artist Banksy unveiled a new mural in Finsbury Park, North London on Saint Patrick’s day.  Located in Hornsey Road, a social housing area, the council recently pruned a massive  mature cherry tree, as part of their regular maintenance,  and left it looking miserable.

Before Banksy mural – image courtesy of the artist

Using a pressure hose or fire extinguisher, Banksy painted a cascade of green colour on the façade of the nearby building, creating a trompe l’oeil effect.   At the bottom the mural Banksy used a stencil to paint a lifesized person holding a pressure hose next to it.  When stepping back, it looks like the tree is bursting to life.

Banksy’s attention to detail is noticeable with the green colour palette matching the one used by Islington Council for signs in the local area.  This also helped him act unnoticed despite the bright green colour.

This fire extinguisher technique is a favourite amongst graffiti artists as it enables to cover large surfaces high and wide quickly without the need of a ladder or scaffholding. 

_▁▁▂▄▅▆sumMeR

Mural by Russian artist 0331© in Moscow,  2012

Local residents expressed joy and pride to the addition of this major cultural element to their streets.

Listen to the podcast on BBC with James Peak and Patrick Nguyen here

Placement and timing are key. A celebration of the green colour (perfect timing with Saint Patrick’s day), combined with a celebration of nature and the springtime season in full bloom.

Update 20.03.2024

Street art is ephemeral by nature.

The mural did not last long in its original state. Three days after unveiling the piece, the wall has received some white splash paint, as well as a little addition with a brick signature character by Ronzo. Can you spot it?

Image PA

London, Street, streets

Yoko Ono – Imagine Peace

Fifty-three years after Bed-In, Yoko Ono is staging a global intervention by pausing commercial advertisements on the world’s most prominent digital screens to share a message of peace with the global community. An invitation for the world to unite, Ono is broadcasting her powerful, universal mantra IMAGINE PEACE every evening at 20:22.

The public art installation presented by CIRCA in collaboration with Serpentine, will feature local translations of Yoko Ono’s message to the world. Launching 3 March on London’s Piccadilly Lights and screening across the CIRCA network in Los Angeles, Milan, Melbourne, New York, and Seoul every evening throughout March 2022.

IMAGINE PEACE by Yoko Ono

To coincide with this commission, Yoko Ono has created a new time-limited edition silkscreen print, available to purchase for one month only, with 100% of print proceeds to be donated to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Available exclusively on CIRCA.ART from 1 – 31 March 2022.

Street, streets

New Banksy artworks in Lowestoft, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth and Cromer

Elusive artist Banksy seems to be enjoying a staycation on the British seaside this summer. Several stencilled artworks have popped up in Suffolk, in Lowestoft, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth and Cromer. With a careful selection of locations, the artworks play with their surroundings: a child is building a sand castle on the pavement, reminiscent of the 1968 French student’s uprising ‘ Sous les paves la plage’ ( beneath the pavement, the beach). Another artwork features three children who seem to empty buckets of water and stare at the horizon while a message reads ‘ We all in the same boat’.

An elderly couple are dancing away on a bus shelter while a guy is playing accordeon.

A giant seagull is about to pick up what looks like ‘chips’ from a dip, while on the beach a rat is laying on a sun-chair sipping a martini glass, and crabs approach a sign ‘Luxury rentals’ to become hermit crabs.

Photos PA and @leandajaineillustrations

Enjoy the English Summer!

Update 8.8.2021

A new model of a miniature stable, which appears to have been signed by the artist, was found at Merrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on Sunday morning. On the side of the miniature stable a cheeky message states ‘Go big or go home’ with his signature rat character.

Photos Merrivale Model Village

Shows, Street, streets

La Rochelle: Graff on Tour(s) with Lek & Sowat

2 Comments

Lek & Sowat - Graff on Tour(s)

The Towers of La Rochelle, managed by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), are currently presenting Graff on Tour(s) until 25 June 2018 with a focus on historical graffiti as well as artistic interventions by contemporary artists ( see our first preview here. Following a month residency, internationally renowned graffiti duo Lek & Sowat were given total freedom to create contemporary artistic installations in the Saint Nicolas Tower and the city of La Rochelle.

After having archived and documented graffiti on the national monuments as traces of history and archeology for decades, and referenced graffiti on thirty historical monuments, the CMN is dedicating its 2018 cultural season on historical graffiti with a series of exhibitions and events called “Sur les murs, histoire(s) de graffiti“ on nine of its national monuments curated by Laure Pressac .

Wandering in La Rochelle, a few signs announce an atypical invasion.
Local buses adorn abstract geometric and dynamic shapes…


Bus Yelo La Rochelle, Lek & Sowat ©Théo Larmaillard/CMN

Looking up we noticed that the French flag on the Saint Nicolas Tower has been replaced by a pirate flag floating high with graffuturism and calligraffiti letters. There is no doubt: Lek and Sowat have taken over La Rochelle.

Lek & Sowat - Graff on Tour(s)

Known for their interventions both in abandoned places such as Mausolee ( see here) or institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo ( more here), Lek and Sowat were particularly interested by the historical monument of the Saint Nicolas Tower due to its architecture, context and history.

Some quick historic facts: during the 14th century La Rochelle was a centre of maritime trade and the Towers were controlling entry to the port by the many trading ship. From the 16th to 18th centuries, the Saint Nicolas Tower and the Chaine Tower were also used as prisons for Huguenots (French protestants) and foreign sailors, followed by military prisoners from the 19th century. Over 600 graffiti have been recorded, engraved in the walls of the Rochelle Towers, as testimony of imprisoned sailors during the various wars.

Lek & Sowat were inspired and intrigued by the story of the junction between the Saint Nicolas Tower and the Chaine Tower, mentioned in an old historical book of La Rochelle, added to the calculations of the architect Juste Lisch whose illustrations concurred with the possible existence of an arch between the two towers.


Illustration by Juste Lisch (1864)

Based on this historical and utopian idea, they have imagined a graffuturist gateway with the help of their friend David ‘Tcheko’ La Tulipe.

Lek & Tcheko - Graff on Tour(s)
Lek & Tcheko

In the continuity of their work done at the Pavillon du Carre Beaudoin , both artists pursue their quest to push the boundaries of graffiti and contemporary art, this time by creating a multisensorial and immersive installation inside the Saint Nicolas Tower.

They wanted to recreate the feelings of fear and unknown so present when doing urbex (urban exploration), not knowing what you might find, but being excited as the same time.
Visitors descend the Saint Nicolas Tower’s stairs in total darkness until their feet touch the floor of the lower ground space. Then the adrenaline kicks in: Boom !

It’s an explosion of lighting effects and shadows, revealing a three dimensional metallic bridge with geometric shapes, reminiscent of the abstract geometric shapes found in Lek & Sowat graffiti paintings.

Vibration sensors connected to a set of nine lights trigger an infinite combination of light variations which evolve through the stamps of visitors. All the surfaces from the floor to ceiling are transformed and the shadows appearing from the metallic structure create characters and shapes on the walls of the Tower.

The immersive installation creates a new dynamic dialogue between the viewer and the historical tower, a vibrant and interactive display for all ages, where the viewer is also an active participant in the creation of the installation.

Shy visitors start an impromptu dynamic dance to activate additional lighting and discover more fractal shadows and projections, characters and shapes. The interaction is fun, liberating and addictive.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

View the full set of pics here

The arched shape of the ground floor combined with the artistic installation also reminds us of a cathedral and its colourful stained glass windows with the graffuturist metallic structure recreating the stained glass windows outlines, giving a sacred aura to the historical space.

With their installation Lek and Sowat successfully take graffiti and contemporary art to another dimension, while giving a second life to the historical monument.

Simply magical.

In addition to their installation, Lek & Sowat are releasing a special limited edition Tote Bag to support the protection of the French cultural heritage, available in CMN’s gift shops.

Stay tuned as we continue our visit of the CMN Cultural season across the summer
“Sur les Murs, Histoire(s) de Graffiti”.

Graffs on Tour(s)
Until 25 June
Saint Nicolas Tower
Lantern Tower
La Rochelle

London, Street, streets

London streets: Fanakapan

Fanakapan

Street artist Fanakapan recently completed series of murals  in the streets of East  London. Using a shiny silver inflatable 3D style, the artist painted a silver balloon dog,  a  duo of clown characters holding a smiley balloon , and a tribute to Peanuts fictional characters by Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip featuring a flying helium balloon of the bird  Woodstock and Snoopy.

FanakapanFanakapanFanakapanFanakapan
Fanakapan