Showing posts with label Dscreet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dscreet. Show all posts

Saturday 26 September 2020

Street Art on Redchurch Street

 

Redchurch Street in Shoreditch has changed dramatically over the years yet despite gentrification it still houses some seriously good street art. 

As part of the Shoreditch Design Triangle, itself a subset of the London Design Festival, I was asked to assess the impact of Redchurch St and the history of its street art.   The novel twist was that OnRedchurch who got in touch set up a Cabinet of Curiosities in window fronts on Redchurch St where QR codes linked to online features.   Here is a reproduction of my survey of Redchurch street art produced for the Shoreditch Design 2020 Triangle Cabinet of Curiosities.

Malarky, Ronzo, 2011
 

Redchurch Street with its swish boutiques, street fashion, food and coffee was until barely a decade ago a cut-through lined by roofless derelict properties and empty wasteland plots.  As street art found its home in Shoreditch, Redchurch Street’s rough surfaces, dark corners and curious small spaces came to host a huge amount of street art and to play a role in developing the careers of many significant street artists.  

Redchuch St 2008 feat ATS, Peripheral Media Projects, Toasters, Jak-D and Faile

Derelict properties led to squat galleries and exterior canvasses for street artists.  The former Section Six Gallery, now the apartment block next door to Labour and Wait, sported a kaleidoscope of stencils and paste-ups and eventually was transformed with a mural by street artist and fashion designer INSA.  

Sickboy 2008

 
 
INSA 2009
 

After dereliction, the next phase in an area's development sees properties made secure and ahead of redevelopment, street art becomes tolerated and occasionally explicitly consented.  Many Redchurch Street facades witnessed early street art pieces from artists such as Roa, Otto Schade and Jimmy C and others who have since gone onto international success.

Otto Schade, 2010

 

Mobstr, 2011
 

Redchurch Street still had proper corner shops until a few years ago, shutters provided prime real estate for a rolling exhibition of graffiti luminaries such as Cept and Discreet, Aset (RIP) from the ATG crew and Vibes representing the RT crew.  A significant factor was the presence of specialist spraypaint store Chrome and Black which had an entrance next door to Richmix on Redchurch St.

Cept, Dscreet, 2009


Mean, Aset (RIP) 2014
 

Redchurch St was a linear building site for a large part of the late noughties, extensive building site hoardings hosted furiously changing art stencils, paste-up, tags and murals by artists from the UK and abroad.  There is little doubt that street art was co-opted as a tool in the “gentrification” phase.

Dr Zadok, Meeting Of Styles 2014
Jim Vision, a spraypaint artist and key figure at the more permissioned end of the street art spectrum resided for many years on Redchurch Street.  In his role as organiser of the Meeting Of Styles graffiti festival Jim Vision arranged impressive murals on Redchurch Street as well as painting massive spectaculars himself.  He also curated a number of pop up graffiti writers and street artist group shows in several Redchurch St locations.  

Probs 2009

Jim Vision 2014

The cottage at the junction with Club Row hosted some stunning murals by Roa, James Bullough and Jim Vision as well as a long running relief sculpture by artist Cityzen Kane installed with permission as a poignant tribute to his deceased son.  

Roa 2009

 

Cityzen Kane, James Bullough, 2015

As is often the case galleries sprung up In advance of the arrival of boutiques. The event space at the junction of Ebor St, in its guise as the London and Newcastle Gallery was the venue for pop up exhibitions by street artists such as Borondo, Insa and Shoreditch’s own Pure Evil as well as graffiti writer group shows.  Its outside wall was the location of a piece of INSA’s pioneering “Giffiti”, an augmented reality mural which with a smartphone app would reveal a squad of policemen chasing eachother in  “The Cycle Of Futility”.

INSA 2014

Urban Angel at the junction of Redchurch St and Chance St had very distinctive shutters declaring themselves as ART, as indeed they were having been painted by EINE in 2008.   Doomed by the coincidence of its opening and the financial crash of 2008, its brief existence saw it host shows by Remi Rough, Hush, Copyright and Best Ever.   

EINE, 2008

It is hard to believe that 11 years have passed since Graffiti legend and renown musician Goldie had a two floor solo show with live painting demonstration at the Maverick Showrooms.

Goldie, "The Kids Are All Riot", 2009

At the time of going to press the London Mural Festival is in full swing and London Design Festival favourite Camille Walala has provided a huge makeover to the rear of Rich Mix at the eastern end of Redchurch St.

Camille Walala, London Mural Festival 2020

The logical trajectory of combining property development, street art and expensive shopping reaches its unavoidable conclusion with spraypainted adverts appearing where once there was street art, though having spent years honing their spraypainting skills in the riskiest circumstances, who would begrudge artists a living?

Among the niche fashion houses, beauty treatments and designer furnishing accessories Redchurch Street has not lost its edgy cool, a stroll will still yield brilliant stickers on lampposts, freehand non- permissioned portraits, art paste ups and for the especially observant, illegal bronze castings by street artist Jonesy. 

Zomby, Type, 2011
Stormie Mills, 2009
Duk, 2010  
 
 
Jimmy C, Alo, Cartrain, T.wat, Cityzen Kane 2013


Pure Evil, 2012
C215, 2013
NEOH, 2012
Unify 2014

Jonesy, 2018

 

Cabinet Of Curiosities, Shoreditch Design Triangle 2020 (same facade as Pure Evil above)

 

Sunday 19 April 2020

Diggin In The Archives 3


Four weeks of Lockdown now, most sensible countries have extended their lockdown period for a few more weeks but don’t worry, the archive isn’t going to be running on fumes any time soon.

The relationship between impact and size is not at all clear in street art. Isaac Cordal's forlorn concrete figures were found in nooks and cranies in London over several years from 2010. Spotting them was difficult, how the artist installed them at their illegal elevated perches was inspiring. A few survive to this day.

Isaac Cordal 2010
Issac Cordal, 2010


As a great fan of stickers it is a bit remiss not to have looked back at some great stickers of times past. PS, or "Public Spirit" was an amazing sticker artist, the examples here date from 2010 and 2011. PS was comfortable with a range of styles from fantasy illustration to op art via pure abstract geometeric but always in a very distinctive teardrop style. The first sticker in this series has a little clue how to look for the initials PS embedded in the swirling shape of the art - other than the purely symmetrical ones (so far as I can see anyway).

At least one PS sticker dating from that period survives in Shoreditch.

tn_DSC05448-1 copy insta


tn_DSC_2441 copy insta


tn_DSC_1141 copy insta


tn_DSC_4307 copy insta


tn_DSC_1104 copy insta


tn_DSC_3409-1 insta


Fake stencil. Fake Street artist K-Guy. Fake photo from 2017. K-Guy has total authority.

tn_IMG_4006 copy
K-Guy, 2017


Burning Candy represented by Cept, Sweet Toof, Tek 33 and DScreet had the first spot on lockdown for many years. The Garage owner received a council enforcement notice demanding the piece be buffed but flatly refused. Garage now rolled over by development.

tn_DSC_3809 copy
Cept, Sweet Toof, Tek 33 and Dscreet


Burning Candy at its largest grew to 9 members, the next photo features two of London's hottest #rooftop kings of that time, MightyMo and Goldpeg

tn_P1010045-001
Mighty Mo, Goldpeg, 2010


Otto Schade painted very intricate musing on human emotions using a stencil technique, symbolically connecting the emotions and the nervous system to external stimuli. This was one of his earliest ribbon paintings on the street, the owners buffed this very shortly after Otto finished it.

Otto Schade, Shoreditch, 2010
Otto Schade, 2010


Stewy Stencils populated Shoreditch and Norf London with a menagerie of animals, reaching a zenith with the size of this horse. The horse appears to be tethered and getting fed, not sure if that was Stewy or a clever augmentation by someone else. Either way its great when there is a little more to the stencil than just a spot where there was no cctv. Then virgin wall, now a hotel stands on the property opposite the Pure Evil Gallery. A version of this horse closer to Brick Lane was brilliantly augmented by Saki, might have to dig that pic out later but let’s hope we aren't in Lockdown that long.

tn_DSC_8155 copy
Stewy Stencils, 2012


From the days when artists did find virgin unpainted derelict walls in Shoreditch. "Plastic Bones" Best Ever v. Deadleg

tn_DSC_1674 copy
Best Ever v. Deadleg, 2011


Next week, same time same place yeah?  Check out Part 1 and Part 2

Art credits and links are by each photo. All photos: Dave Stuart


Monday 29 October 2018

Dscreet Top 40 Covers

BSMT Space (see photo below)
5D STOKE NEWINGTON ROAD
LONDON N16 8BH

In December 2008 a parliament, for that is what a group of owls is called, assembled in the famous Pure Evil Gallery cellar for a solo show by Dscreet. Graffoto raved about Dscreet’s solo show in that famous cellar and indeed a pair of Owls has adorned NoLions Towers ever since.


tn_Owls goin Underground
Words Up - 2008


Ten Years After we flock to BSMT Space, again a cellar, for Dscreet’s first London gig - sorry, show since then. Titled Top 40 Covers, Dscreet presented his painted homages to a variety of musical highlights in a show staged as a music gig and BSMT rocked that night!

tn_IMG_4063
drunk girls


That opening Thursday was special for Dscreet on several levels; he appears to be One Hundred Years old and evidently has immense wisdom like his owls but opening night was DScreet’s 40th birthday. The choice of 40 as the key number in the show title will resonate with ancient music fans from the pre digital era for whom everything came to a Grinding Halt at 6pm on Sunday evenings as the Top 40 rundown aired on Radio 1. Claire Grogan was probably not available but a suitable rock ambience was brought to the venue by Brick Lane street musician Lewis Floyd Henry, opening for Dscreet.

Sadly the “phone in the crowd” recording makes this sound crap which completely undersells how hard this dude rocked but there was a lot of rocking going on that night.


Lewis Floyd Henry - Live at BSMT Space


Lewis also has old school pedigree as a proper graff writer, that's the kind of attention to detail DScreet has put into this show.

tn_IMG_4014
Rockin All Over The World


Dscreet owls have perched on East London’s walls for years, normally Graffoto likes to pick a few pellets from the archives just to revel in the history and development of the subject artist out on the streets but with Dscreet did Too Much Too Young making such a selection an invidious task.

tn_WP_20150822_13_02_21_Pro__highres copy
Dubl Owl, Howl Owl, Owl and Pussycat (2015)


Of course, not to forget some Brilliant Compositions

tn_DSC02995
Sweet Toof, Cyclops, Dscreet 2007


tn_DSC04093
Cyclops, Sweet Toof, Dscreet, Kid Acne, Seks (TRP), also feat Toasters & Snoe (TRP) (photo 2008)


As his owls are so popular, the fact that Dscreet is a phenomenal graffiti writer is perhaps a little bit overlooked. The owls and the graffiti both featured in this combative collab with Conor Harrington, we loved the blood spurting everywhere and note also the musical reference in the tribute to Adam "MCA" Yauch of Beastie Boys.

tn_DSC_0094_5_6_tonemapped copy
Dscreet v. Conor Harrington, feat RIP MCA (2012)


tn_DSCReeeeeet
Dscreeeeeet (2009)


tn_DSC05007
Dscreet (2008)


Although there is a neat link between age 40/top 40 for this gig, the theme isn’t a contrivance for the benefit of a show, musical references have featured frequently in Dscreet’s street art. The tribute to Lou Reed based on the Velvet Underground lyrics to I’ll be Your Mirror is cemented on a Shoreditch wall with a pair of mirror image owls, in the gallery the same song is executed on an actual mirror.

tn_IMG_4233-001
I’ll Be Your Mirror – Top 40 Covers 2018


tn_DSC_1510 copy
I’ll Be Your Mirror/RIP Lou Reed (2013)


Similarly Dscreet has covered The Doors on the streets and in the show.

An American Prayer - The Doors
An American Prayer – The Doors


tn_DSC_1675 copy
Break On Through – The Doors (2015)


In recent months a demonic character has appeared in DScreet’s street art, generally the character, believed to be the artist’s alter ego, is up to no good, some kind of Devil In Disguise.

Dscreet, Pez, Nylon
Identified nutters: Dscreet, Pez, Nylon, (2018)


This demonic character appears in one of the shows highlight, the DScreet visual rendition of the Bob Marley tune Time Will Tell. Bob Marley has also featured in DScreet’s street art, Marley’s classic Three Little Birds become three lurid owls.

tn_DSC_0022 copy
Time Will Tell - Bob Marley


tn_WP_20140319_12_16_47_Pro__highres
Three Little Birds (2014)


The troublemaker is conjuring flames from the palm of his hands in the unmistakable Firestarter while Dscreet's friend and fellow writer Nylon makes an collaborative contribution.

tn_DSC_1252 copy
Firestarter - The Prodigy - Dscreet & Nylon


BSMT’s cellar space terminates in a pair of vaulted cells which lend themselves to something installational, DScreet blacks out the space and illuminates his characters with a phosphorescent glow evoking that thrill when auditorium lights go down and faint shadows stir indicating stars hefting guitars and adjusting codpieces, that point in a gig where anticipation ends and sonic delivery commences.  Mouseover this pic to see the effect.



Ceremony – Joy Division (guitar) c/w Reign In Blood - Slayer *Mouseover image*


The sexual murmurings on Aphex Twins’ “Windowlicker” translate on canvas into a curiously tilted owl, or at least that’s how it seemed at first glance until longer scrutiny revealed the secret duality in the image, perhaps I have had too sheltered an upbringing as it did take quite a while.

tn_DSC_1224 copy
Windowlicker - Aphex Twin


Talking Heads’ cinematic rock gig film Stop Making Sense (34 years ago? Really???) begins with lead singer David Byrne strolling onto an empty stage with just a guitar and a beatbox, things can hardly get more rock ‘n roll and it’s not a million miles from how Lewis Floyd Henry rocked BSMT. Hanging on the wall is a lone guitar, painted black with the lyrics to Psycho Killer penned on it.

tn_DSC_0029 copy
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads


Mother Sky by Can refers to a droning throb of krautrock sustained by a plodding riff and drug addled lyrics, neatly captured on canvas by an unending psychedelic flow of vaporous digits streaming out of a can, madness I say (as did Can).

tn_DSC_1254 copy
Mother Sky - Can (collab with Eoin)


These owls may have the serious stares of classical music geeks but their spiky hair do screams punk and they don’t get much more OG punk than The Clash.

tn_DSC_1206 copy
Guns Of Brixton (The Clash)


In a list of greatest hits it takes some doing to stand out but among the candidate gig highlights was Dscreet's imagining of Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan. The Sabb have of course featured in Dscreet’s street art in his interpretation of Symptom Of The Universe.

tn_DSC_1250 copy 2
Planet Caravan - Black Sabbath


tn_DSC_3998 copy
Symptom Of The Universe - Black Sabbath (2012)


It was like spotting an old friend to spy an owl from the Words Up show perched in the BSMT Space rafters, which bring us right back where we started from.


tn_IMG_4230 copy
Top 40 Covers, BSMT 2018 - also feat The Look Of Love, I'll Be Your Mirror & Heart Of Glass


tn_DSC00885
Words Up, Pure Evil Gallery (2008)


The history of rock is often forged in grimy downstairs locations, think of the Cavern in Liverpool, the 100 Club in London. Dscreet’s opening was as much an event as it was the beginning of an exhibition of some painted art.  The show must go on (until 1st November). The blues that rocked BSMT Space’s subterranean cellar that night didn’t make anyone homesick.




Lewis Floyd Henry rocks BSMT


Links:
Dscreet Facebook
Floyd Lewis Henry website - check that out baby!
BSMT Space website

All photos/phone videos by Dave Stuart

As there is scarcely a more secretive hard to find gallery in London, this pic shows the door into the basement trumpeted by a Dscreet A-board

tn_IMG_4217 copy