Week twenty-nine

Its fairly hard for me to write my review of the street art tour I went on in London as I have a fairly jaded view of the scene here.  The reason being that my education of graffiti and street art originated in Argentina.  There are a myriad of words to describe the scene out there: stunning, vibrant, positive, colourful, unique, inspirational, brilliant etc etc etc etc.  I am completely and utterly in love with street art in South America.

But, this is absolutely not a review of street art in South America - its about the gritty streets of East London and I have to have a completely objective head about me.  Except that I don't.  I can't.  The scene in London is for the most part.....a bit whack.

Harsh?  Maybe but I bet that a lot of some of  the best artists from the UK would say the same thing - they all want to go abroad and paint because its so much more open, without constraints and they have the freedom to paint extravagant and truly expressive pieces.  I'm lucky enough to be friends with one of my favourite street artists from London, Pure Evil and he told me a long time ago that he rarely goes out painting in London anymore, unless its for an organised event. Artists just can't paint the way they want to in London as they are too rushed.

It just baffles me how oppressively single-minded and primitive London councils continue to be when it comes to street art.  My time in Buenos Aires taught me one very important thing and that is the utter power that street art has and its positive effects on communities.  Since the economic crash of 2001 the city and country fell into a state of complete turmoil and grey pessimism.  After a group of artists decided to say fuck you to the government they went out and painted the streets in a colossal swirl of colour and it brought some happiness and togetherness to the neighbourhoods and continues to do so today.

London continues to boast of its cultural proclivities and forward thinking presence especially with 2012 approaching. Surely the Olympics is the most perfect reason in the world to want to bring communities together and to regenerate the East End of London.  Painting stunningly beautiful murals on walls in school playgrounds, hospitals, community centres and around the Olympic Village is one very simple and eye-catching way to do that.

Sorry........self-righteous digression.  Stop it.  Back to the tour.

Ok, so its not all bad - there is actually still some very good art to see in London, albeit rather self-contained and mainly on private spaces.  If you really want to find the interesting pieces you need someone to tell you about it.  There are quite a few different tours running these days and I had been recommended from a couple of people to check out Vandalog.  Its a great blog devoted to street art, constantly being updated with beautiful pictures and is run by RJ, a 22 year old student from the States.  We met last week at Old Street station and instantly had lots to talk about comparing how we got into running tours.

I love how he got into it as its kind of similar to me and my partner, Marina - he just loved the art he was seeing everywhere and wanted to find out more so started educating himself by walking around, meeting artists and asking questions and all credit to him he knows his stuff.

We started off on the corner of Great Eastern Street and Rivington Street where there are some great walls.  I like this wall in particular as all 3 of these pieces are done by artists with great technique.  The top piece is by a Czech artist called Masker and the bottom 2 are both Brasilian artists.  Milo Tchais who painted the piece on the left has painted quite a lot in London and I often admire his swamps of colour.  The piece on the right is by Zezao.  RJ told me that he started painting his abstract versions of water in areas where there is a high concentration of homelessness in Sao Paolo to raise awareness of their existence.

We headed up towards Curtain Road and passed the familiar sight of Cordy House, a well known warehouse space that has been used for some immense parties, exhibits and lots of art events courtesy of Mutate Britain and the Cordy House owners.  Unfortunately, I think the space has now been sold and is no doubt being developed into offices or residential space but until then there are still some great pieces to look at.  The massive one below is a collaboration between Best Ever and the Dead Leg crew - all British.

I love the work of David Walker who also has a piece on the front of Cordy House. He does the most beautiful layered portraits using spray cans.

RJ and I then turned down Rivington Street heading towards Cargo and although I've seen some of the more permanent pieces down there a thousand times - Ben Eine's "Scary", a Banksy behind perspex and a portrait of Pure Evil as a boy by C215, RJ still managed to point out a few I'd never noticed before.  There is a mini Shepherd Farey still intact and clinging to a lampost but also a really interesting piece from Spanish artist Sam 3.  His inspiration often takes the form of love or fetishism.  

I think this piece is the latter but one thing that is so hard to notice because of the light is the small man climbing up the woman's leg in the top left-hand corner.

After walking through the carpark by Village Underground we made our way round to the top of Brick Lane and this is where there really are some stunning pieces that have had some amount of longevity.  

I like very much the unusual portraits by Jimmy C, an Australian artist whose pieces I had not come across or even noticed until RJ pointed them out to me - bizarre since one of them has had pride of place just off Brick Lane since last year.

 One of my favourite artists is a guy from Belgium called ROA.  His larger than life monochrome animals are just amazing.  The piece below is on a wall of one of the many Indian Restaurants on Brick Lane.  He has a few pieces dotted around London, all incredible and one that was painted on a private music studio last year, Hackney Council decided was going to be removed, despite it not being public property.  Only after a massive public outcry and thousands of signed petitions did the council back down and leave his piece to stay.  I just find the whole thing insane.  

Just as RJ and I were ambling to the end of the tour we saw some artists mid-paint and we'd barely passed them when 4 policeman swooped in like locusts hoping to attack.  But, their hopes of castigation were bittersweet since the artists had permits.  A royal finger just as I was on my way.

If going on a street art tour sounds like something you'd like to do.....and you should, RJ is a great guide.  He's a bit shy and awkward at first but he really knows his stuff, is incredibly passionate about the art and is really easy-going.  

Yes I think the graffiti in London is a bit balls, but that's only compared to South America - a very big place and another world.  There are definitely some gems to find and RJ can tell you all about them.  Find out all the details here.

Next week I'll be reviewing my time at a Physic Garden where I'll be learning how to make my own home remedies from common plants.  Best get my green fingers on.