SMoA brings guerilla curating to the streets of London

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The Street Museum of Art has launched its second venture in “guerilla curating” in London’s artsy district of Shoreditch. Like their first exhibition, it’s basically a self-guided street art tour with museum-like wall labels. The exhibition’s title, “Beyond Banksy: Not another gift shop“, is likely a tongue and cheek reference to the commercial attention that street art has received in London these past few years, with Banksy at the forefront of the movement. In all fairness, Banksy has become enough of a household name that he and Exit Through the Gift Shop are frequently my reference points when speaking about street art to people outside this niche community. For that, I am thankful that I get to SMoA advises that the name is not meant to undermine the work of the beloved stencil artist, rather it is to encourage those who have Banksy as their token understanding of street art to the diversity of the other talented artists on the streets. This exhibition highlights works by artists such as C215, Christiaan Nagel, Eine, Mobstr, Pablo Delgado, Phlegm, Roa, Run, Skewville, Space Invader, Stik and Swoon.

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The map of the exhibited works are available here and the hours are… well, unlimited.

Photo by Street Museum of Art

2501 and James Kalinda

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Two frequent collaborators, 2501 and James Kalinda, produced these pieces this week in an abandoned factory in Parma, Italy (the work above was just 2501 and the figure below was a collaboration between the two). It’s a little morbid, but it works and 2501’s bird head is a great effect.

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2501 and James Kalinda
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2501 and James Kalinda

Photos by 2501

La Mesa

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La Mesa is an incredibly talented realistic painter from Spain. He seems to have a good understanding of the way light hits an object. His attention to detail (especially with hair) reminds me a bit of Dan Witz, if Witz were to work with spray paint instead of acrylic. A lot of his work is in black and white but he is also pretty skilled at painting in color.  You can find more by La Mesa on his Flickr and Unurth posted a few beautiful walls in Western Sahara in January.

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Photos by La Mesa

Hush at Scope in Miami

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Hush was in Miami at Scope showing new works with Corey Helford Gallery before his solo show with them in LA in May. This is not my favorite by Hush, but to be fair the work probably comes across quite differently in person. I think his stronger pieces are the ones with more intricate, closer-knit collaging; similar to the collaging in the wheatpaste of the last picture.
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Photos courtesy of Hush

Guido van Helton’s “Vacancy” series

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“The Offerings…” in Brisbane

For his series entitled “Vacancy”, Guido van Helton paints portraits of actual public sculptures, keeping the classical antiquity of these statues in public spaces through a new medium.”They attempt to highlight the contrast between the permanence of sculpture vs the ephemeral nature of street art,” says the artist.

These pieces were done in his home country, Australia, but Guido is making his way to London soon and is eager for more walls.

"The dancer" in Sydney
“The dancer” in Sydney
"Tragedy vs Comedy" in Brisbane
“Tragedy vs Comedy” in Brisbane

Photos by Guido van Helton

Empowering images by Hyuro in Valencia

Exquisite placement of these pieces by Hyuro in Valencia. Though it is up to interpretation, to me these murals represent women attempting to break free from their roles as “homemaker”, “cook”, “laundry-doer”, etc. The content is great. This is probably one of the last groups I would imagine getting represented on the street.

Photos by Hyuro