Jano RIP - Graffiti Tributes At Feltham Circles

 

The graffiti scene recently lost a true virtuoso with the passing at a very young age of Jano. Jano was a master of style. He pulled off the almost impossible feat of constantly innovating and developing new directions while always remaining distinctive and instantly recognisable.

Jano - Sclater St London 2009

  Jano writing "Human", Leake St London 2009

Jano Shoreditch 2017

Jano Shoreditch 2017

 

Jano, Bishopsgate 2017 

Whenever you came across a Jano piece or saw his latest upload there was always a kaleidescope of geometry and colour that made the letter form almost redundant yet on close inspection Jano’s very inventive and unconventional take on letter shapes would be revealed to the patient and curious eye. You did not need to be a graff obsessive to see the beauty in Jano’s style and this cross-over appeal may explain a lot about the esteem in which Jano was held as well as something about the growing general appreciation of graffiti as a significant, valid culture.

  Jano, Exor Shoreditch 2018

Jano, Leake St 2020 

Jano frequently painted concrete structures at the former sewage works in south west London now known as the Feltham Circles and it is at this location that a large number of tributes to Jano, by fellow writers have appeared – hat tip to Romanwg who messaged me to draw my attention to this.

  Feltham Circles Hall Of Fame, 21 May 2021 

Thanks also to local boy Art Of The State who pointed out that Feltham Circles is next to the crematorium where Jano’s funeral service was held. After the service and the next day friends, relatives and writers gathered at Jano’s favourite location to celebrate his life and pay tribute.

Vicious Circle by Gems vcs

RIP Jano, by Exor vcs

RIP Jano by Gasp, background MrMeana

Jano tribute by Paul "Don" Smith UA

Jano tribute by Sky High

Some graffiti writers, a talented few, develop a character which becomes as much a signature for their identity as their handstyle, the character is so distinctive and recognisable you are in no doubt who the creator was. Zomby has it, Tizer has it. Jano had it too. “The Boy” as the character is known, a seated character based essentially on a circle, was often found close to Jano’s graffiti and all around his usual writing haunts.

 

The Boy - Jano, Sclater St 2009

The Boy is replicated in homage in many of the tributes.

 

The Boy character homage by Chum

 

Jano Rest In Piece

 

The Boy, homage by Gem vcs

 

 

The Boy, homage by Dice

  The Boy character by Sky High 

 Among the many character tributes was this particularly poignant shrine, also seen closer up in the feature image at the top of this post. It is possible that this version of the character may be protected under plastic as a genuine Jano relic, comments seen online from writers paying tribute to Jano suggest this may be the case.

   

I met Jano on just a few occasions many years apart and found him courteous and tolerant of my intrusion on his painting. RIP Jano, not forgotten.

 

Jano work in progress, Shoreditch 2017 

With apologies to all those writers and friends of Jano whose art features in this post but who through my ignorance I can't credit. If you know who any of the uncredited pieces are by, just drop me an email: nolionsinengland at gmail or insta DM  @dave_stuart_ldn, all polite messages most appreciated!

  RIP Jano: Gasp, Dice and MrMeana

 

 

All photos: Dave Stuart

Banksy's Wilde Time in Reading Prison

A street art stencil has appeared on the wall of the former Reading nick and after making us wait a little while, Banksy has just this afternoon confirmed it as his, the tease.  

 As usual the confirmation comes simultaneously via his website and his Instagram and for the second time in less than a year it is in the form of a video showing in gripping detail an unidentified person spraying a stencil. A well sorted stencilling strategy is so important to a successful outcome and the video contains many fascinating details about the order of operations for this particular artwork.

   

screengrab from "The Joy Of Painting With Bob Ross...and Banksy", Copyright Banksy 

The artwork depicts old fashioned “over the wall” flit by a prisoner and the presence of the typewriter suggests the escapee is a writer. All the coverage has inferred the art is related to Oscar Wilde’s incarceration in Reading and that seems reasonable. Lots of references to Oscar Wilde’s last published work “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” abound though many contend that the piece was written while Wilde was in Reading while literary historians say it was written post release. 

Plenty of local coverage draws attention to a campaign to turn the now closed prison into an arts centre so there could be a political aspect with Banksy possibly offering support, though this would be the exact opposite of his intervention in 2010 which condemned the use of his street art as the centrepiece of a new “art-hotel”. 

Three elements really raise this seemingly modest artwork quite high in the Banksy cannon. Its placement is stunning, it is by the give way lines at a major roundabout in inner Reading so the chances of the artist being spotted were very high and indeed there are reports and photographs of work in progress last Sunday.

  Anonymous photographer, Reading and Berkshire News 

Secondly, it has context. There is the physical context which is why you need to see the prison in the backdrop, not for nothing does Banksy’s video includes a rising birdseye view over the wall. If you don’t see the prison buildings well, it’s just a high wall isn’t it. The historical context too is important, this being where Oscar Wilde did time and so the prisoner has the old school (non graff) writer’s tools of the trade, the typewriter. The weirdly downward pointing CCTV almost directly over the spot supplements the giggles nicely. 

Most importantly, while politically it is relatively mute although some are contorting themselves to see it as Banksy support for a Reading art centre, it is a brilliant cartoon. It ranks alongside the Simple Intelligence Test In Dumb Animals cartoon from Banksy’s 2001 book “Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall"

"Simple Intelligence Test In Dumb Animals", reproduced from Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall, copyright Banksy 2001 

There is a key aspect which the media hive seems to have collectively missed. The prisoner has been almost universally described as escaping from the prison using knotted blankets, even this afternoon in its umpteenth repost on the piece the BBC is STILL adhering to the idea they are bedsheets yet that is clearly not the case (Juxtapoz weirdly sees the typewriter as attached to the prisoner's leg).

Someone has given the wily prisoner a typewriter and under the guise of a major lengthy literary masterpiece, the prisoner has surreptitiously typed an escape rope on continuous paper.  This is about outsmarting your captors, just like the monkey in the intelligence test. Or, as Banksy himself put it in his punchline to that cartoon “A lot of people never use their initiative, because no-one told them to”.

 

Awesome.

   

 Photos: Dave Stuart except where stated otherwise

London Walls ICA Exhibition 10 Years Ago

 

10 years ago the Institute Of Contemporary Arts was besieged by connoisseurs of graffiti photography when a small group of dedicated amateur graffiti photographers (there was no other type) curated by Delete and comprising himself, Buddz, Lee 102, Howaboutno, Joeppo and myself (under the pseudonym Nolionsinengland) created an exhibition of graffiti photography.  It wasn’t really credible to review the exhibition at the time but 10 years on, possibly less encumbered by modesty, it is nice to look back on fond memories and to reminisce with the London Walls photo gang.

 

“Credibility thieves, vicarious thrill seekers, they [6 photographers] follow the graffiti into grime darkened urban corners and locations of un-certain legality; aged limbs but ready cameras scratch deep below the surface of a culture created by a disparate community of egotistical but talented dare-devils, London’s graffiti writers.” (London Walls Zine, 2011)

The first photo cull session was held in the Masque on Old Street, each of us had turned up incredible photos of graffiti by TYPE (Rest In Paint) and after a shitload of horsetrading, the trio that made the cut are fitting reminders of TYPE’s powerful lettering. 

“London walls was an amazing opportunity to exhibit some work, and put faces to many names” – Lee 102

 

Exhibitions of graff photography just about never happened so the opening night was rammed, the queue went down the Mall around the block, thanks perhaps to the uncompromising venue security for whom this lairy crowd wasn’t the usual ICA opening night set.  At one point Robbo yelled through the door “FAAACKIN sort it out Dave”, I pointed out to him that my wife was in the queue a way behind him and I couldn’t get her in either, “You’re in the shit mate” he astutely observed.

“The security wouldn't let #TeamRobbo in as it was a full-house at the
ICA, I had to go around asking a few people to leave politely... Haha,
not sure that type of exhibition has been bettered since.” – Joeppo

With the space heaving, a wonderful mingling of cultures took place.  Graff writers from all over town and from all crews mingled, bragged and applauded eachother. Robbo met Stik and this seemingly unlikely of pairings hit it off immensely. 

“It felt like everyone in the London graff scene was there. A real pleasure to chat with Fenza and Shye, two of my favourite London writers. And Robbo, of course! – Delete, 2021

The positive reception show received from the graff community came as a surprise.  Graffiti writers take wonderful photographs which are now widely seen thanks to Instagram but in those days it was more limited to an audience of fans on Flickr or the few websites such as Hurt You Bad that followed the scene.  Their photos tend to convey the mastery of the can and the energy of the moment whereas the collection in this show took a broader, artier and more contextual view of the culture.

“This was the first graffiti related “thing” to happen at the ICA, which is an amazing location.    It felt like actually being an artist for the night.” – HowAboutNo

When you combine a large graff audience with free beer tagging of surfaces is inevitable, management were loudly un-impressed with the post party state of the premises. 

The opening of the show was accompanied by the launch of a zine “London Walls”, a compendium of more of the group’s photography which for those who were there is now probably the only tangible relic of that event.

 “the ICA said it was the busiest opening night that anyone could ever remember, after about 8pm they had to do a one-in-one-out and the queue stretched right up The Mall.” - Delete

 

You probably thought quite a while back "It would be much more interesting to see the photographs than read this babble". Unfortunately there is no facility for showing slideshows on this blog without developing Russian hacker proficiency in html coding. For a full slide show pop over HERE to what is basically the same blog post but with a slideshow

 “All the writers were chuffed about it and thanked us for doing it, which was a relief because there was a bit of a worry that they would think we were using their work for our own glorification” – Delete

Links: Delete Flickr Joeppo LDNGraffiti Lee 102 Instagram HowAboutNo instagram Buddz instagram Dave Stuart instagram