Back in April, my husband and I went back to England for the first time since we moved here in December of 2008. The visit was way overdue, Andy hadn’t seen his mum, family and friends in three and a half years.
For the final few days of the two week trip, we headed to London. We’ve both spent a considerable amount of time in the capital city so this time I wanted to see something different and non-touristy. We stayed in the East End, the epicenter of London street art.
Unfortunately—and so very typical—it rained for most of our stay and I was under the weather. We did happen to see some of the more important pieces and artists, some of it planned and some completely by chance.
Banksy
Most of you know that I’m a big Banksy fan and I documented some of his work in Detroit. His Yellow Line Flower was steps from our hotel in Bethnal Green. Banksy got permission to paint this on a working man’s club and it’s one of the few Banksy’s in London that isn’t covered in plexiglass. Don't get all upset that he asked for permission, it seems that it was in response to the local council saying they would erase any of Banksy's work in their district.
The smaller photo shows the yellow street lines, they used to cross the sidewalk and now you can barely see the line painter who got bored and painted the flower in the bottom left corner. See what it looked like before it was tagged over.
Dscreet
Australian Dscreet is based in London and he has a thing for owls.
Mobstr (left) & Jimmy.C (right)
London street artist Mobstr is known for his typographic pieces. I really should have got a shot of my husband staring at this while stroking his chin.
Australian James Cochran—AKA Jimmy.C—has devolped his own form of pointillism. Check out this article in The Guardian where he talks about his background.
Unknown
Dibo & PEZ
Spanish artist PEZ is known for his smiling fish. He and fellow Spaniard Dibo collaborated on this mural off of Brick Lane. This was done just days before we stumbled on it while exploring the area.
Ben Eine for Shelter
We really just happened on this amazing piece after we had walked for miles in the rain. And we were hungry. That's my excuse for why these shots suck. Go to the Hooked Blog for more info and better photos.
If anyone knows the artists I didn't identify, let me know in the comments.
Recently, there has been some great street art happening in Hamtramck and elsewhere in Detroit. Australians Dabs and Myla are mentioned in this Metro Times article and they've also worked with the above mentioned Dscreet. I hope to expore it soon!