Cross Stik

Nice lil addition to a Stik piece in Shoreditch…. almost looks like the character is peering down on the artist painting over his legs

Bit of Stik

Diamonds are for-never

I’d heard of the Artist Above before…. but a short post will not do the guy justice so take this as a mini-intro to a prolific artist who unlike so many has many many sides to his work, he can do political as well as Banksy, cartoon as well as Sweet Toof and word stencils to match Ben Eine.

This is a brilliant piece, I believe the story goes that he got permission to stencil ‘Diamonds are a Woman’s Best Friend’ on the wall outside Jewel City, Johannesburg’s center for diamond trading…. he then went back and added a little extra. Brilliant, beautiful and not a little bit dangerous I’d imagine.

Stay tuned for my full look at Above…. when I have time that is

And why I am at it…. Surely Kanye should get props for pointing this out as well. Soooo Kanye

He’s got a big art

Ich liebe Berlin, I would live there if my pigeon German improves, and it will so help me. One of the big reasons I love Berlin is that it is unlike any other city I have been to on every level and one of the most beautiful levels is the art you can see. On pretty much every corner of Kruezberg there is something to feast your eyes upon.

Berlin is a hotbed for creative types, from artist to musicians to sculptors to those very sexually liberated, they are attracted to the city by the bohemian lifestyle, the hotpot of nationalities and the city’s lax attitude towards drugs.

All the above combines to some of the coolest and most creative art, street art and graf you will find.

That is spray paint you know

I spotted this on urbanartcore this week and thought it was immense. The scale, the detail, the expressions, just make for an amazing display. James Bullough, a Washington native is creating this masterpiece at Torstrasse 111. If you have never been there then go, it has music studios, art studios, scuplture, a maze and bars. The launch is on April 28th, get there is you can. If not check out his website for some cool and abstract stuff.

She menacing...

I must have gone to Berlin 5 times last year for various reasons, this year only once so far…. better get booking. If for no other reason than this place…

Fight the gentrification Nazir

A little of what you like....

Nazir Tanbouli is a resident of East London, he has worked here amongst his collective from 1995 so has probably see the changes to Whiston Road more than most.

Upstairs boarded up.... downstairs a little doodling

Recently Whiston Road saw a few pieces of new art to brighten up the slowly but surely closing housing estates. The estates are in disrepair and I can only imagine the council are ignoring them until the very last resident gives up the ghost and moves on. All around this area shiney new housing developments are going up. Makes you wonder where the people living there at the moment are going to go?

Bit blurry... but you get the idea

And another one....

Also makes you wonder where the local graf artists are going to to paint if everywhere is new and clean…. gentrification here we come, expect a Pret on Broadway Market in the next 6 months

Damien Hirst – Artistic Marmite

He divides opinion across the board, some see him as visionary and some, like myself think he is just a shock merchant, beit with his thermaldahide animal experiments or for creating a skull with more diamonds than Liz Taylor would know what to do with.

Love Sharks

I was not that bothered initially to visit his retrospective at the Tate Modern, even less so when the reviews were mixed, even even less so when I found out he was selling a souvenir version of his skull for a mere £35k. Erm seriously?

I can do this....

It also got on my wick when he said that art is not about the money….. It also confused me that he has so many assistants who actually do the art for him, just feels like he like a more respected version of Mr Brainwash.

Here is a video clip of him walking through the exhibition with the curator Ann Gallagher discussing each piece. Still not entirely sure what I think of him, however I am going to pay the ££ and going to see it, I am going to say it is because I like sharks, but secretly maybe I like Hirst?

Phil Collins is a hero – Fact

Friends of StandardFact, the guys at id-iom clearly understand the huge cultural and musical importance of the great man. His drumming was second to none and he featured on numerous other artist’s albums because he was so good. Plus he dumped a wife by fax…. the man was always ahead of the curve.

Art + Phil Collins = Groovy

The idea behind this piece is to obviously bring the genius of Phil Collins to a wider audience, but additionally the guys were using a bit of a subtle mind trickery, by using the lyric of ‘When I’m feeling blue, all I have to do, is take a look at you, then I’m not so blue’ from the classic ‘A Groovy Kind of Love’ on a blue background they are planting the blue message in peoples minds, hopefully forever.

A vintage year

This little piece is in Brixton so I am imagining it will have the same effect on the number of sales from that area of PC  purchases in a similar way that a certain chocolate bar did to ‘In the Air Tonight’

More from our id-iom friends very soon….

Primrose paint

Bank Holiday wonderings too me over to Primrose Hill this weekend and as always I kept my eyes peeled for any examples of street art. It will not shock you to learn that the pristine streets of NW1 do not feature that many pieces.

This piece was on the bridge over the canal and even this was probably commissioned by the council.

Still there are some pretty colours I guess

Pretty.... vanilla

Dalston big gob

Like this art… but also like the picture my shite iPhone3 managed….

eye tooth

Too many sweets will rot your toof

I think I might be having a bit of a sugar overload here. I can not turn a corner without seeing another piece by Mr. Toof. You have to give him credit though he goes far and wide and does not mind hitting some pretty random places.

Spotted the toof?

This one was in a warehouse carpark on the way to Stratford and pretty damn hard to find, I only spotted it out of the corner of my eye.

Simple rules of Hackney….

The writing is on the wall

I would like to say right now that this is not my opinion, I am only quoting something I have spotted on my travels around London…

You do have to love this though…. short, sweet, spelt correctly and with a slight musical reference. This had lead me on a new mission… to find tags and comments that may not seem that artistic but that make me chuckle.

If you can find any then I want them… regional comedy much welcomed