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.
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Malarky, Ronzo, 2011
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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.
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Redchuch St 2008 feat ATS, Peripheral Media Projects, Toasters, Jak-D and Faile
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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.
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Sickboy 2008
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INSA 2009
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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.
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Otto Schade, 2010
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Mobstr, 2011
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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.
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Cept, Dscreet, 2009
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Mean, Aset (RIP) 2014
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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.
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Dr Zadok, Meeting Of Styles 2014
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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.
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Probs 2009
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Jim Vision 2014
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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.
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Roa 2009
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Cityzen Kane, James Bullough, 2015
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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”.
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INSA 2014
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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.
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EINE, 2008
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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.
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| 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.
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Camille Walala, London Mural Festival 2020
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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.
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Zomby, Type, 2011
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Stormie Mills, 2009
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Jimmy C, Alo, Cartrain, T.wat, Cityzen Kane 2013
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Pure Evil, 2012
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C215, 2013
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NEOH, 2012
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Unify 2014
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Jonesy, 2018
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Cabinet Of Curiosities, Shoreditch Design Triangle 2020 (same facade as Pure Evil above)
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