As Shoreditch, an inner city district in London’s East End, continues its transformation from a working class neighborhood into London’s most creative hub, its walls attract not only the best of its local artists, but those from across the globe. Here are a few images captured on my recent visit — more to come!
Photos of Phlegm, Alexis Diaz, Pez & David Walker and Matt Adnate by Lois Stavsky; of C215, Run and Stik by Dani Reyes Mozeson
I’ve been a fan of Run‘s work for many years, but I’ve never met the man and never really knew much about him. All I knew were his men, creeping around the walls of Hackney and Shoreditch. Earlier this year, Tim Hans met up to Run for the latest in our continuing series of photo-portraits of artists by Tim, and I asked him a few questions over email.
RJ: Who are the people in your paintings? Anyone, or group, in particular?
Run: The people that I paint show an evolution of episodes and experiences. They are ‘nobody’, they are the portrait of ‘nobody’, they are not even a race (some people said that they have black features) but they have not, they are a template to demonstrate actions, feelings and thought. Sometimes they have a totally blank expression, but others are completely awake and aware. I guess that on the deepest level any artist tries to reproduce him or herself; we are just trying to survive and perpetuate ourselves in order to not disappear. Where I cannot go, or where I cannot reach, “the people of my paintings” can.
RJ: What do you look for when choosing a wall to paint?
Run: The urban environment is so diverse and exciting to look at that sometimes it doesn’t need any other information to be added to it. We should carefully consider whether to add a painting, it really is a delicate matter. Graffiti has such a strong and random statement, that for it to appear it doesn’t need to ask permission and it is totally beautiful and spontaneous. If you look at cities like Rome or Madrid, Buenos Aires or San Paulo, graffiti is everywhere and is not inscribed in any closed area. It is the skin of the city that changes constantly like a snake.
What I do is a bit different because it is not horizontal or vertical but expands with the shape of the building, squashing the architecture around the drawing. I can’t always ‘choose’ a wall but I guess that when I can, I go for the wall that gives me the most options for creating what I want. Also I go for a wall that gives me the chance to be organic with the city and with the architecture/habitants/
RJ: You do a fair bit of traveling. What have been your favorite places to visit?
Run: Traveling it will never be enough. West Africa has been my latest destination and is probably now on the top of my list of places to go back to. It was a self organised and planned trip and I had the backing of a few amazing people (two above all, WideOpenWalls (Gambia) and Yattal Art (Senegal in Dakar)). I moved through the countries by land (and boats), to have a closer view of the culture and nature. People over there don’t care about ‘street art’ or who you are as an artist, but the person that you are.
The most astonishing places to visit for me were where the nature is virtually untouched and where really there’s nothing to paint.
Other than that I try to concentrate on organising my trips, and luckily I’m getting better at that. Maybe now I feel that every trip is such a special opportunity, nothing should be underestimated or taken for granted.
RJ: What is your goal with your art?
Run: Control my time. Inspire people and get inspired. Keep my rebellion always consciously aware and exercised.
RJ: Can you explain your recent fascination with phones? Seems like a completely different subject matter.
Run: When I was in Africa I wanted so many times to communicate with my friends overseas, but it was almost impossible. Sometimes there was no electricity or water, so imagine the internet or mobile phone networks!
Art is projecting magic into the world, so the phone-box was like a dimensional door, you know, it gave me confidence that someone was on the other side of the line ready to listen to me. It’s magic, it really works!
Yes, it makes more sense in a wild area with broken networks, but it’s funny and I like it, kids like it too and I bet adults do as well.
I remember the first couple of phone-boxes that I painted in villages in Africa, the kids called them ‘mobile’, of course, because they have never seen a public landline phone before. I like to keep this phone old fashioned, but I think that I will only paint phones for this year 2013 and then I will stop.
Photos by Tim Hans
It’s content I missed. Check it out.
Photo by OX
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.
The map of the exhibited works are available here and the hours are… well, unlimited.
Photo by Street Museum of Art
Well, the big story this week was of course Hyuro’s wall under threat in Atlanta, but a lot more has been happening elsewhere on the web, plus I missed a week of link-o-rama when I was in Atlanta myself, so here’s what I’ve got to share:
Photo by Sam3
The good people over at Juxtapoz have once again inspired me to post about an artist who paints some interesting freight trains. Aris is based in Italy and his seems a bit unexpected for freights, but unexpected can be good, and these trains look beautiful. Sort of reminds me of Run, another Italian street artist.
Photos by Aris
Just a heads up in case you don’t like murals, unless I get really into procrastination through blogging (which isn’t unlikely), the blog will probably continue to be pretty Miami-centric for the next week or so as I’m bogged down in finals. Now that you’ve got fair warning for that, here’s what I’ve missed covering over the last two weeks in art:
Photo by Caroline Caldwell
Yet another group show for the holiday season, High Roller Society will play host to their roster (and some special guest artists) for a festive group show. Opening December 4, the exhibit features the likes of Filthy Luker, Pufferella, Run and a few others. Personally, I always love the outdoor conceptual/sculptural pieces by Luker, so he should be a highlight of the show.
Admittedly, East Meets East might be a bit out of the way for some people, but their line-up is a solid one. I’m not really familiar with Nasimo’s work, but it looks interesting. The rest of the artists are some of London’s best. Blam and Busk are top-notch writers, Run is London’s answer to Blu or San, and kennardphillipps (Kennard in particular) have been making excellent propaganda since before Shepard Fairey had ever heard of Andre the Giant. I’m really looking forward to checking this out.
This show looks like it will be good! I’m really looking forward to seeing pictures of it coming together – I like Dem (check out his awesome piece for Fame Fest) and, as anyone who knows me well knows, I am a gigantic fan of Ericailcane (here’s some of what he did at Fame).
You can see a few more representative pics for the whole group in Prescription Art’s flickr set.
– Elisa
