Auf Wiedersehen Kunsthaus

Not quite gentrification but another little sign that the bohemian lifestyle enjoyed by Berliners, travelers and new foreign residents may be a little under threat. It seems in recent times that Berlin has decided to try and be more like your boring vanilla older brother than your crazy slaggy little sister. There was talk of Berghain being shut… not true thank feck, then there is the gentrification of the K’Beurg area and there is also a few problems for the many arts of Berlin.

For years Kunsthaus Tacheles was the go to place for creative types just visiting, it has music studios, big open windowed bar rooms, art studios, a studio, a metal works and even a maze in former years. (Click here for the ever reliable Wiki info) Just recently the local council have been trying to move people on but Berliners are made of sterner stuff. Last I heard was that the electricity supply had been cut off and doors bolted, this was a week ago and I’d not be surprised if those doors were open again now.

For now some art work on the outside….

Punk Schwein

How long is now?

Berlin Spock

BLU is the artist – Berlin town

The walls of Berlin town have more paint than any other I have visited and one artist has helped to dominate the skyline there. There was an agreement between the local council and the residents that every wall possible spare space or wall had to have a stencil, a pattern, a tag, a scribble or doodle…. well not quite but would have been nice

Keeping an eye on Watergate since 2007

Blu is an Italian guy who’s huge pieces can be seen from miles away and across the world from his home town in Bologna, the Camden to Isreal, to Valencia, Barca and even Poland.

BLU Berlin skyline

Most of his pieces look like some kind of mutant super heroes, the style is pretty hard to copy so you will always recognise them.

I also double like his website, his scrap book of artworks from across the globe, the drawings scribbles and doodles

Things I’ve seen….

The last few weeks the number of new pieces found has gone right now, SF has been pretty inactive due to tumble on two wheels, it will continue in this vein for a while but there will be bits and bobs for your eyeball delectation…

Shok 1 is London based and a bit underground, more known for spraying off the beaten track in places others dare not go. His style is pretty individual and like no other… Like. for a guy who has been spraying since 1984 he has certainly done his time. This is his old site  but the new one is en route. See it around Brick Lane, Hanbury St to be exact.

Colour Sho

Cheery fag… looks a bit like Malarky but it is actually Kid Acne

Shmokin

Fin DAC has a take on Joy Division

Art will tear you apart….

Like this of course, it is a little bit of paint combined with a girl wearing a tour t-shirt from one of the best British bands ever… Joy Division. Add to the fact that design of the album was by Peter Saville, add to the fact it is by Fin DAC means that this piece is pretty sweet.

Check out his site for some brilliant stencil and spray can work, like many artists I like he uses popular culture with his own twist of romance, colour, cheek and creep about it. He is french so he is clearly a bit aloof and cool

Through this blog I have found pieces and slowly i find out who they are by…. a couple of piece I found that I love come from this very man. Great discovery

Things I’ve seen….

Mooching around the city I call home has become rather difficult in the last 3 weeks, being as I was knocked off of my bike and bust my shoulder and cut my face open…. and then had my bike stolen while I was unconscious… but that is another story

So here are a few piece I have spotted on my hobbles around Londres….

Pez dispenser

Pez is a cute artist, his stuff adorning the walls and trains and sometimes even galleries in Barcelona, London, NYC, Amsterdam and beyond since 1999. On my recent trip to Barcelona to dance my ass off at Sonar his fishy pieces were everywhere, a bit like our friend Sweet Toof in London. He is the signature of Barca for me.

Then something I have seen more and more of recently in the Eastend…

BFC head

Relatively new to London but making a bit of a splash, more info to follow on Broken Fingaz Crew Love this, it looks like some weird super hero cum slasher porno mag from Sin City

That’s all paint pickers… until next time

Cartrain homage to Gilbert & George and a little Damien Hirst baiting

Cartrain – An artist SF really likes, few reasons for the respect, firstly the style is cool, love the collage based stuff, taking everyday items, cultural reference points and making them into playful pieces. The pieces are 3D as well using other items to stand of the canvas, wall or paper.

G&G – Legends

This piece features a collage including a Blue Peter badge and a stamp with the iconic Queens of the Eastend. #Like

The other reason I like him is his amusing feud with Damien Hirst, Hirst is not known for his sense of humour. He comes across as a bit of a dour-nut, someone who takes himself supremely seriously and who has pretty much performed an anal gynecology with his head…. The feud started when Cartrain used imagery of Hirst’s over-priced skull a few years back for an exhibition he had created, it happened to share the same name, For The Love of God.

Cartrain was only 17 and maybe trying to steal some notoriety by doing so really got on Hirst’s wick. He retaliated and sued…. a 17 year old. He won ownership of the art work and since then there has been some bad blood.

Cartrain pulled a funny by pinching some pencils from a Hirst exhibition then creating a wanted style piece with a note to Hirst which read…

‘FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF DAMIEN HIRST’S PENCILS I WOULD LIKE MY ARTWORKS BACKS THAT DACS AND HIRST BACK IN NOVEMBER. IT’S NOT A LARGE DEMAND…. HIRST HAS UNTIL THE END OF THIS MONTH TO RESOLVE THIS OR ON THE 31 JULY THE PENCILS WILL BE SHARPENED. HE HAS BEEN WARNED’

Cartrain for a giggle….

SF feels having a little sense of humour about this could have ended in Hirst not looking like a bully and even an amusing colab. A chance for Hirst to help a young pretender.

In the end the young pretender created his own riposte and hung it

A lil Dscreet Roa

Couple of things I have seen en route recently

A Dscreet hoot

And then….

Roa bird

A few pieces off of Brick LAne, the centre of street art in the Eastend

Stik it to you

Stik. One of the most visible artists in town, especially around the Eastend, these are not new ones but they have not featured on SF before.

Cute sleepy one

Zzzzzzzzz Stik

The lookout one

eye Stik

A SF fave for simplicity and and conveying emotion through something ever so simple, in a world of political art and the plain shite, this is a refreshing change. props Stik.

<3 Kate Moss & Hate Mr Brainwash

La Moss still looks hot

So where does my sentiment lie? I love Kate Moss, if I was a woman then I’d be her. Ok she made a boo boo with the drugs, or was it just getting caught with that druggy rat fink Doherty? We all have dabbled. She has managed to say nothing but say everything and become a cultural icon by maintaining mystique while being one of the most famous faces in the world. Being accessible but totally inaccessible. Genius.

Then you have Mr Brainwash, a man whose opportunism can either be admired or found to be totally nauseating, I fall on the latter. By showing additional pieces I am giving him credence but at the same time it is attention seeking. O how torn!

If you fancy seeing his exhibition then check out here... as much as it is recycled ideas from everyone who has ever put paint to canvas… it is a touch intriguing.

Ps. Kate Moss – Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

Things I’ve seen….

Couple of quick additions from around the Hackney Road area.

Found round the corner from a Sweet Toof piece, by regular collaborator Paul Insect. Nice cool and simple piece of a super hero-esq mouse character. Vivid colours, sharp lines and a creepy cyclops style eye.

Eye eye

No idea who this is by but love the mixture of two styles, classic B+W and the firey word work. Any suggestions for who this then hit me up

Off Hackney Road