Showing posts with label Peripheral Media Projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peripheral Media Projects. 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)

 

Friday 3 October 2008

Peripheral Media Projects – Pure Evil Gallery


Among many other cities, towns and urban space perimeters around the world, London has been graced by PMP output already this year. The most visible appeared around the time that the late lamented Leonard Street Gallery was showing Bast and Judith Supine.


PMP – Shoreditch Jan 2008

In the context of the current ultra-buff underway in East London, many street paste-up artists could take a leaf out of the PMP street survival guide and get up high. More than one of their pieces have survived for the best part of a year right at the epicentre of the council graffiti fatwah.


PMP – Shoreditch Jan 2008

PMP’s street work in London has embraced a kooky spectrum from situationist Guy Debord (French situationist and poet) to the slightly baffling cufflinked wrists with origami pieces of paper cranes, not to mention a stencilled skull which still survive despite being comfortably within reach of the short arsed council buffers. In fact, at the start of the year it seemed you coudn’tturn a corner without having your brains poked by a PMP paste-up.


PMP Skull – and others
First thing to know about Peripheral Media Projects is that the name means something which is NOT mainstream media. Nothing about these guys really speaks of conventionality or conformity. And projects? They have a track record in activism, organising illegal parties and un-authorised mass assemblies in NY. Third, these guys have a big thing on the New York street art scene which is Ad Hoc gallery. How big? They have had shows this year by two fave rave artists Elbow-Toe and Armsrock.

The show occupies the upper front room of the Pure Evil gallery. Most striking and obvious are the large hanging wraps which are mega collages of PMP output.


PMP Police Collage


The detail within the collages is almost entirely the result of the political pre-occupations of PMP and it’s worth recapping their origins and motivations. PMP are two guys (at least – at this show) who have campaigned on a variety of right-on street manifestos since about 2000. The origin was not so much a protest as a raising of awareness, executed through a simple text based recitation of facts which you ought to be aware of. This then developed into a more artistic image based campaign. The agenda wasn’t really anarchistic revolution, just heightening concern. Now, their unique and incredibly detailed graphic artwork targets global issues including inequality, globalisation, media consolidation, authoritarianism and environmentalism.

PMP - Plastic Ocean
Their commitment to environmentalism shows in the willingness of PMP to scour the streets for reclaimable materials for backgrounding (new verb!! It’s what happens if you talk to Americans for more than 10 minutes) their work. Even the majority of the frames are recycled from a skip outside a Leonard Street architects' practise, as well as quite a chunk of that white plastic cardboard stuff.

Most recently their message has moved on to the next stage of sowing the seeds, the idea that with enough conviction, ideas can be spread and power might be generated through numbers.

PMP - Resistance is Fertile


PMP have been particularly energised by the post 9/11 infringement of civil liberties as the authority took advantage of heightened paranoia to justify radical interventionist policing policies, notably the crack down on un-authorised popular gatherings for fun. Any slightly left field gatherings such as the highly subversive Critical Mass (flash mob pedal powered bicycle knitters) particularly coming in for draconian targeting and control.

One particular motif repeating in the work is the Panopticon, in its purest form this refers to the hub and spoke – bicycles again – prison architecture which allows the fewest people to supervise the maximum number of crims. Although this echoes at many scales in different pieces it is probably most graphic is this reclaimed studded panel.

PMP – Optical Panopticon

This Panopticon even features in what could easily be mistaken for snowflake backgrounds.

PMP


The All Seeing Eye crops up repeatedly in PMPs collages, usually in the guise of a sinister big brotherish tool for spying and control. The eye as a symbol of evil invasive tracking is superimposed on a thumbprint, embracing the very essence of individuality, everyone being unique, yet simultaneously the thumbprint is the most common way of tracking and identifying specific human beings. The eye, all seeing and watching over you is also a component of the grand seal of the United States. Hah! – think about that then conspiracy theorists.

PMP – All Seeing Eye


PMP fuel dissatisfaction with the status quo through repetition and illustration of facts which frankly should alarm all individuals with a view towards preserving individual liberties in the face of mass indoctrination and prescriptive manipulation.

PMP – The Beginning Of An End Of An Era Of Consumption


Moire patterns, or as they are more commonly regarded – interference patterns (think regional soccer pundits in loud suits) are used as the basic construct in many of the big brother eye images.
PMP – Tune Out


Two specific elements in this show are identified as new PMP images, Rejection Ejection Dejection Bailout is a further Panopticon image

PMP - Rejection Ejection Dejection Bailout

And the second new piece is the distinctively feminine skull counterpoint to what had always seemed to be a quite non-specific gender-free skull.

PMP – Detail

The temptation to recycle and repeat last done imagery is probably quite tempting for many artists passing through London but in addition to gloriously re-decorating our streets PMP have overlayed their stencilled skull on an iconic London view over one of our most long standing and classic cultural panoramas – Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs.
PMP – Hope For London

One aspect of the presentation which left a sense of under achievement was that images as busy as the PMP wall collages really didn’t need a fight with the abstract swirls on black remaining from the previous show – those walls could really have done with a black wash prior to hanging.

PMP on top – Psychedelic Brazilians behind

With PMPs work you shouldn’t really expect an epic grandeur best observed from the other side of the street, you put your chin on the bottom of the frame and lets your eyes hoover from side to side. Close scrutiny reveals the intricate details and reveals the plethora of ideas and ideologies.


Quite a few more photos of the show here