A Decade On - King Robbo

Christmas Day 10 years ago the notorious Robbo vs Banksy spat went to another level. Robbo, RIP, headed out very early Christmas morning, crossed the Regents Canal at Camden directly under British Transport Police HQ and painted the perfect riposte to Banksy’s Wallpaperer.


25th December 2019 KING ROBBO!


Early that Christmas morning I noticed a photograph on Flickr of Robbo’s new iteration of this piece posted by Robbo’s WRH crew mate Doze. The genius was immediately apparent from that photo. I whizzed straight down to the canal, took some photos and wrote “Banksy vs Robbo WRH, WD – Checkmate” which was up online before Christmas lunch was served. It remains to this day the most read post on Graffoto.

Before Robbo’s Christmas morning adventure, the art on the wall consisted of a workman by Banksy wallpapering over some graffiti, which was actually an ancient Robbo piece.


Banksy Wallpaperer, 19th December 2019


For context, Banksy vs Robbo was an intense feud with ancient origins but for roughly a 6 month period it raged spectacularly at several locations along Regents Canal in Camden as each artist attacked the other's art with a succession of insults.

“It’s tongue in cheek, it’s all a laugh, it’s a giggle” Robbo told Graffoto about 10 months later when we met for a beery one on one unpublished interview in his local near Kings Cross.  Robbo also said in reference to the art Banksy was producing at the time "A couple of things I like, the graffiti wallpaper, that was a good piece, so was the global warming, that was a good piece. I appreciate art, I’m an artist. I’m a graffiti artist that’s my main flag but I am an artist".


Robbo exhibition opening night, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010



Robbo exhibition, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010


Robbo mentioned how he didn’t have much to do with social media so his mate put up the photo on Flickr, then early afternoon called Robbo to tell him the piece had already been picked up by a blog. Robbo said some kind and appreciative things about the Graffoto coverage so on the 10th anniversary of that event it is a pleasure to remember that exciting piece of art.

The word "Checkmate" in the title of that Christmas Day blog post was a bit presumptuous, Banksy didn't let things lie there and neither did Robbo.  Follow the full sequence of evens in the spat below:

Update - check Robbo's flick, in particular go down to Keen-one's comments, here.

Old news: Banksy hits Camden

Robbo Trumped Banksy: Banksy vs Robbo WRH, WD - checkmate

Banksy vs Robbo...Did You Think It Was Over?

And The Beef Goes On

Banksy v Robbo: War Continues

Banksy Reparations

2014, sadly..  Robbo RIP

Robbo RIP, Tribute by Adnate (Aus) in Shoreditch. Sep 2014

All photos: Dave Stuart

2010s A Decade Of Murals

Muralism is the painting of astounding pieces of street art on buildings, these days usually with permission. We're talking daylight painting, accomplished artists and permission but not direct municipal involvement. In Shoreditch that’s generally how it operates. We are not talking about civic murals where artists pitch for council approval, arts council funding and perpetual legacy.

Although this is not intended to be about any kind of order or preference of ranking, let’s begin at the end, or perhaps the top, the one single mural in Shoreditch compared to which all others are fussy little miniatures, the Connectivity Mural painted in 2018 and partly repainted in 2019. This took muralism in Shoreditch to a level of complexity, coherence and (unimportantly) a size which we had not previously seen.


Busk and Oliver Switch, flanked to left by Ninth Seal, Nomad Clan and (just visible) Lovepusher and Mr Cenz; Ed Hicks and Dr Zadok to right, 2018



Mr Thoms, Hunto, Captain Kris, Tizer, 2018



Connectivity Matters - 2019 Pride update by Autone and Neist


Curiously, the very end of the decade saw an unexpected change to Shoreditch’s oldest mural as EINE updated SCARY in support of the mental health charity Movember


EINE, Really Scary October 2007 - 2019



Movember Scary, December 2019


At the start of the 2010s street art muralism was in its infancy. Typically artists were on their own if they wanted to sort out a permissioned wall or if they were lucky there might be a gallerist sorting out a few spots to paint in conjunction with a major exhibition.


Mode 2, Wenlock Rd Laundry, 2010



Gaia, Hackney Road, 2011 (who says murals have to be painted?)



Phlegm, 2011


Mural walls with frequent updating were few and far between and were typically in the management of well organised, knowledgeable, skilled but otherwise busy spraycan artists.


EINE, 2010


Muralism changed dramatically when Lee Bofkin, a man with a vision, set up Global Street Art and delivered a different model for mural organisation.


Spore, Macism, 2013 – support by Global Street Art



Cyrcle, Cept, Run, Faith47, Mysterious Al, Rone


Soon muralism was on steroids, exactly the way you all love it now.   These days photo journals from certain street art and gallery websites pantingly announce “the world's best murals this month” and it is clear that what appeals most to them and by inference you, is SCALE. Things ain’t worth shit unless two hoists, a photographer and a drone were involved. We don’t have so much of that in Shoreditch thankfully.


ROA permission mural work in progress; buffed non permissioned EINE above, Tizer below; 2014



D*Face 2011


Jim Vision has been a key organiser of festivals, group shows and murals in Shoreditch but as also an awesome spraycan artist his own right produced a stream of belters throughout the decade.


Jim Vision, Hanbury St, 2017


Jim has organised Meeting Of Styles in London since 2008 and in consequence the Nomadic Community Gardens housed a series of spectacular signature murals.


Twesh Vibes Odisy Gent 48 Ders Sokem Meeting Of Styles 2014



Meeting Of Styles 2015 feat Zadok, Wisher, Tyme, Kak, Jim Vision, Ekto, Anone, ADNO



Meeting Of Styles 2017 feat Zadok, Xenx, Jim Vision, Balstroem, Neist & Twesh



Meeting Of Styles 2018 feat Voyder, Samer, kaes, Jim Vision, Jeba, Irony, Fanakapan, Core & Aches



Graffestival 2019 feat Jim Vision, Trafik, Balstroem, Cazer, Planet Rick, 2Rise, Vile, Lifer, Tizer


Graffoto is allowed to pick favourites so it’s a pleasure to include this 2018 Xenz mural which was just beautiful. The young man in the photo potentially has a great career as an art curator.


Xenz, MOS 2018


Many home based artists made the transition from graffiti to non permissioned street art and then on to legal murals. At the start of the decade our favourite local muralists were the guys and girls making up the Burning Candy and The Rolling People crews.


“Love Will tear us Apart” CEPT TRP, 2014



D*Face got a double points score with Guilty Pleasures as both a mural AND rooftop!


“Guilty Pleasures”, D*Face, 2013


Murals don’t have to be huge. This stunning confection by meme Martinez was painstakingly painted and looked incredibly photogenic, something which Graffoto is always biased towards


Meme Martinez, Argentina, 2018


Shok 1 consistently produced virtuoso spray painted Xray imagery and successions of interesting thematic projects including the spectacular Rainbow XRay series.


Shok 1, Seven Stars Yard, August 2013


A real challenge in assembling a selection of favourite murals and finishing before the following decade ends is the painful process of deciding what to leave out. The same applies to Mr Cenz’s oeuvre, over the decade Mr Cenz has produced a solid stream of stunning futurist inspired portraits.


Mr Cenz, Fashion St 2018


In 2012 Sheffield’s Jo Peel managed to find a rain free 3 week period in April to paint and repaint a mural which was photographed to make the amazing “Things Change” award winning animation . Planning, execution and grinding hard work was required for this majestic achievement, a mural who fulfilment really unfolded in the virtual space with the street art element being a step in the process.


Jo Peel - Things Change (end piece)

Things Change animation - Jo Peel



Portuguese artist Vhils drilled and chiselled this amazing portrait out of the plaster on a wall on Hewitt Street on a vanished building which for a while provided a home for the End Of The Line crew. This portrait was significantly different in the way pretty much that no one really works quite like Vhils.


Vhils, Rockwell Studios, 2013


Behind the Vhils in that photo you can see a mural depicting intertwined stiletto wearing legs by the immensely talented INSA. INSA developed his giffiti™ concept using an augmented reality phone app. The “Cycle Of Futility” was a standard waypoint for street art tours for a number of years until the wall was taken over by spraypainted adverts. You can simulate the effect INSA achieved on the street by downloading the free "Insa giffiti Viewer" app and displaying this next “work in progress” shot on a screen or another phone and viewing it through the app, available here.


INSA, Cycle Of Futility, 2014 – 2018


London artist Stik’s “Big Mother” mural in Chiswick was the largest mural in the UK, the one time I cycled over to look at it a rear derailleur malfunction (shit happens) meant I didn’t get there and never actually got to see it in person before the block of flats was torn down! Brick Lane Couple dating from 2010 made it onto a list of the UK’s favourite art of all time in 17th place and from 2016 the famous “Shoreditch Past, Present, Future” has ruled the Old Street landscape though appreciating it requires understanding the different aspects of Shoreditch that each of the three characters is contemplating. Context is critical.


Stik, 2016


Event driven and campaigning murals were common occurrences. The terrible tragedy/crime at Grenfell tower led to many murals, including this two storey blockbuster whose scale is not actually that obvious from the photo:


"Dedicated to all those who lost their lives 14 June 2017" by NHS and CBM

Australian artist Jimmy C has made a huge contribution to London walls over the span of the decade, perhaps the one with the largest impact internationally was this amazing portrait of Usain Bolt which surveyed Sclater St market during London Olympics in 2012. Also features a stunning trackside image by Dank Kitchener.


Jimmy C "Usain Bolt"; Dan Kitchener (below) 2012


That sorely missed spot also hosted a mural which was one of the highlights of Borondo’s sojourn in London in the decade’s middle years. Borondo was one of the most talented painters we saw in London over the decade and we were very luck to enjoy his work over quite a prolonged explosion of creativity.


Borondo, hackney Wick 2013



Borondo, Shoreditch 2014 – also featuring Miss Van and Dede


In 2012 Shephard Fairey visited and for the first time put up some stunning painted murals as opposed to the huge paste ups which had previously been his calling card.



Shepard Fairey – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back


Even master of miniature sculpture Jonesy got a little mural action going


Jonesy Missing Link, Seven Stars, 2014


Neoh and Sweet Toof get a big nod simply for being awesome painters in completely different ways and being smashing people


Sweet Toof, 2012



Neoh, 2017


It may not be possible to shoehorn a Banksy entry into each of the Review of The Decade posts so in the context of murals we can’t overlook the genius of Shop Till You Drop. Proximity to one of London’s most chichi shopping locations Bond Street lend this mural great context and it also is great to see a Banksy that survives without being under plastic.


Shop Till You Drop, Banksy, 2011


Contemplating the impact of street art murals inevitably weighs in the balance some great aspects and some which are perhaps a bit unfortunate but this is a celebration of some the stunning murals we have enjoyed over the past decade so we're not going to get into “muralism good or bad thing?” here, that’s what academics are for.

This series of "That was the decade that was" blog posts started with a look at the state of the game as it was back in 2010. Not sure what's going to come next nor when all wthat is asked is that you just love, sign up, and follow.



Inkfetish, Poer, Jasik, Nemo, Corp, Stik



Panik ATG, 2010

All photos: Dave Stuart

The decade is dead, long live the decade!

This month the 21st century ends its troublesome teenage years, the street art brat certainly matured and changed. In terms of becoming a phenomenon accepted by the public, the media and importantly the art market, the past decade actually makes up about half of street art’s life to date and Graffoto is delighted to have been around to make a bit of a hash of pontificating about it.

So, Graffoto is going to look back over the past decade in a series of posts looking at the trends, the important milestones and key influences and along the way remind ourselves some of the brilliant art spotted over the past 10 years.


Dran, Brusk DMV 2010


This carefree disinterment up of old memories will be filtered through the limited scope of Graffoto’s experiences, we can’t account for shit that happened behind our back can we? So no whinging about us missing your epoch defining single layer stencil or that one day estate agent sponsored pop-up in Clerkenwell in front of an invited audience of friends, sycophants and mailing list collectors. This is what we saw, remember and think was noteworthy.


Herakut in action, 2010


The cunning plan is there is no plan, we have no idea what we will cover or how many posts there will be which is rather liberating but remember, if you are looking for a particular idiosyncratic ephemeral insane installation, stunning art work or an artist you remember, it might be relevant in more than one place but it will only get one mench, so stay tuned and read the whole damn lot. One thing that will be done by design is that anything that is worth raving about this year will feature in a specific post about the past 12 months and may or may not feature in other posts.

Perhaps a good way to kick off this crazy scheme is too look back where things were in 2010. From that year zero we can perhaps see how much things have kicked on since. Some pretty mental things happened at the very start of the decade. Absolute top bracket American artists like Swoon were still hitting Shoreditch, both on the streets and the galleries. We really do not have that so much these days.


Swoon, Shoreditch 2010


By the way, check those spotless walls, that’s Swoon taking a spot without permission. As the decade ends that spot is the curated, funded, controlled preserve of appointed anointed artists, sometimes painting for the first time.


Type (Rest In Peace), Gold Peg and Mighty Mo ruled the rooftops.


TYPE (RIP)



GoldPeg, Mighty Mo also feat Tek 33 and Shepard Fairey
(See also Burning Candy “Getting high…” and Shepard Fairey “Facing The Giant”)


Burning Candy were still an awesome 9-some,


Sweet Toof, CEPT, DScreet, Tek 33



Sweet Toof, Mighty Mo, Cept, Cyclops, Gold Peg


Banksy had a prolific year that started off with him coming second best to Robbo then saw him add to his London street collection with “Choose Your Weapon” in Southwark and his ode to office workers’ anarchy “London Calling” just outside the City. Banksy’s major 2010 triumph was the release of feature length film Exit Through The Gift Shop which got worldwide acclaim, an Oscar nomination and billboard hijackings as well as actual proper paid for adverts.


Robbo, Banksy forced collaboration 25 Dec 2009, read Banksy vs Robbo Checkmate – Graffoto’s all-time most read post).  This shot shows the second iteration when Robbo returned to change it back from "Fucking Robbo"



Exit Through The Gift Shop Portobello Road fire Extinguisher billboard hijacking, March 2010



Exit Through The Gift Shop - ironic advertising



Bansky Choose Your Weapon



Banksy London Calling


Hackney Wick was still had an art community rather than a grid of souless condos.


Busk, Snoe



Temp32, Prop, Tek13


The future Nomadic Community Gardens plot was still a zealously guarded network rail property.


Kewl, Klepto, Type (RIP), Nims, Hefs, Rigor



Fensa, Kewl, Sickboy et al


Eine did his lower case alphabet on Middlesex street, followed shortly after by then British Prime Minster David Cameron giving an EINE canvas to Obama (read about both here)


EINE


The Pit closed:


Zomby, Prize, Func, Skam, Sick December 2010



Catch, Kilo, Odisy, Plot, Skam, Slam, Trev, Zia December 2010


Steve Lazarides was enjoying his post Banksy anti-establishment gallery career and was staging as the amazing Hells Half Acre in the tunnels and caverns next to Leake St. The unconventional was still novel.


Paul Insect & Antony Micallef, "Hells Half Acre" 2010



Vhils, Antony Micallef "Hells Half Acre" 2010



Conor Harrington, "Hells Half Acre" 2010


Stik was truly hitting his stride.


Stik, Bethnal Green Road


Other big names visiting included Anthony Lister (Aus), Case Maclaim (Ger), Jef Aerosol (Fr), Escif.


Anthony Lister



Jef Aerosol



Escif



Case Maclaim


Ludo was called Natures Revenge.


Ludo


Awesome murals were getting painted in places where now spraypainted adverts rule:


Horfe, Roid


Plenty of small, weird and wonderful things happened if you cared to look closely.


Issac Cordal, Sclater St


Beyond the narrow limits of our own experience perhaps the stand out street art happening of 2010 was NY’s Underbelly project – street art underground. Street artists had been spending the previous year or so diving into obscure and even dangerous tunnels in New York to illegally create secret art in a truly derelict subway station. Arranged by a noted NY stencillist operating under the Workhorse pseudonym and involving genuinely first class street art stars this was one of those moments when street art proved it still had the ability to cause breathtaking surprise and genuine shock and also register significantly on an international scale beyond the cadre of hardcore afficionados.   It became part of the collective vicarious expeience through stunning recording by a privileged glitterati of photographers and bloggers – stand up Wallkandy, Luna Park  Martha Cooper and RJ.


Sane Smith - photo Ian Cox



Revok, Cease - photo Luna Park


We thought Shoreditch was poncified by 2010, looking back there were actually still plenty of properties which were still pre-refurbishment, plenty of neglected walls, there were still shitholes on Redchurch Street and there were still places where artists actually could still live.


INSA in action on Redchurch St, October 2010


As we start the task of nailing down the lid on the second decade of the twenty-first Century, this 10 year overdue look back at what was going on in the world of street art as we experienced it in 2010 will hopefully be the start of a celebration of some of the highlights, dramas and possibly even failures of street art’s growing pains. Stay tuned.

All photos Dave Stuart except where noted:

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