Wednesday 24 November 2021

Orrible Eau de Virus show

Secret Art Gallery
28 Cheshire St, London E2 6EH
21 Nov - 19 Dec 2021


Inadequate ventilation is not normally an issue when viewing Orrible’s art as we are mainly familiar spotting it out on the streets. Indoors you better wear a mask for Covid 19 is definitely the theme for his London solo show at the Secret Art Gallery.

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Orrible first appeared on London’s street art scene some 5 years ago, his animal paste-ups combining stencil and paste-up techniques on decent quality paper stock.

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2017


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That time Orrible was given a G, 2016


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2016


The past year has seen Orrible pasting up apt to be mis-interpreted Covid-19 art work spoofing and parodying the classic Chanel No19 spray bottle.

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2021


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The two floor gallery just off Brick Lane is packed with Orrible’s spraypainted stencil artwork, the paper art and canvasses in essence are made the same way as the art that appears on the street.

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A Chanel bottle denotes luxury. The luxury in question could refer to the inequality in the availability of vaccines and the cruel irony of vaccines being produced in low cost developing nations being contractually destined for wealthy first world domains and almost completely unavailable in the country of origin.

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Eau de Virus, 3 layer stencil with black diamond dust


If one city may be held to characterise style and luxury that city would be Paris, hence its place of pride on the Chanel bottle. Paris is replaced with Wuhan in the Eau de Virus bottle which on the streets at least has triggered China ex-pat sensitivities against insults to the motherland.

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A used stencil hanging in the gallery draws attention firstly to the fact that at least two different stencils were used in creating versions of the Covid-19 Spray bottle then, if you really dive into the detail, you discover one of the natural charms of a stencil in that no two uses of the same stencil will produce the exact same result.

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Eau de Virus, 3 layer stencil on genuine Chinese notes, cast resin glaze


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The Orrible show has a refreshingly honesty, a throwback to simpler times and earlier days. Urban art passed peak hype a long time ago. Street art media coverage now is dominated by hero artists doing massive murals who indoors morph into fine art painters; illustrators and graphic designers spewing day job by-product rule the paste up space on the streets but in this show, the artist takes the same art seen on the street, made using the exact same stencil technique, adds resin and diamond dust bling but still the art is essentially the street come inside. tn_IMG_0607 copy
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All photos: Dave Stuart

Friday 12 November 2021

London International Pasteup Festival Review

The history of street art is a complex story whose content varies depending upon author, location, editorial preferences for a “creation” date and people’s differing actual lived experiences. The early phase of its ripping away from graffiti was for many reasons dominated by stencilism and the significant role of the paste-up technique is easily overlooked. Perhaps the London International Paste-Up Festival has addressed that.

LIPF paste-ups
LIPF paste-ups


LIPF was held over the first weekend in November and featured art on paper by 100s of artists who responded to an open call by the organisers and here is a hat tip to Outside The Zone (Trix Mendez) and Art House Project London (Apparan). I had the pleasure of kind of winding up proceedings by leading a street art tour around the spots. This gave me the unexpected joy of meeting some street artists whose work I have loved for many years for the first time as well as renewing acquaintances with familiar artists and friends, I learnt more from the experience than anyone.

LIPF Street Art Tour group led by Dave Stuart
LIPF Street Art Tour group led by Dave Stuart


One reason why paste-ups were so significant was newcomers to street art who were not coming from a graffiti background were not going to spend hours creating, perfecting and refining a spraypainted piece of art under risky illegal circumstance, their art would be prepared at home, in the studio or at school and then pasted up in seconds. The paste-up was the ultimate in risk avoidance yet participants still experienced that buzz, the thrill of being a little bit naughty in a relatively harmless way.

Wild paste-up wall in Shoreditch
Wild paste-up wall in Shoreditch


More than other forms of street art paste-ups have an ability to acquire a history, to evolve. There is a joy in the aging of paper, the savagery of rips and tears, the marker pen additions from passers-by, the possibility that meaning is changed by clever juxtaposition of another piece of art. Some artists regard their art as having an independent life on the walls and indeed even photograph their paste-up to rejoice in those changes.
D7606 Kurt Cobain
D7606 Kurt Cobain

D7606 at LIPF
D7606 at LIPF


The LIPF art was pasted up in Shoreditch over the preceding couple of weekends by a coalition of willing and experienced locally street artists. One of the kind of predictable and I argue welcome consequences of this early installation was other artists subsequently adding their creativity in and around the LIPF displays.

Corrosive8 vs Eartha Kitt Catwoman by Shuby
Corrosive8 vs Eartha Kitt Catwoman by Shuby


Creativity is a word that means different things to different people, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that. Here we see WRDSTH explaining how his Winona Forever paste-up was “edited” by artist unknown and subsequently restored by him and he gave a wonderful articulation of his rationale for doing so. For the benefit of readers and those who heard WRDSMTH’s anecdote first-hand, the second picture below shows the redacted artwork.

WRDSMTH presents his art to #LIPF
WRDSMTH presents his art to #LIPF


Subverted WRDSMTH paste-up
Subverted WRDSMTH paste-u


The festival locations facilitated several different presentation styles for the paste up. Two spots highlighted individual artists, Yu_wallart and JD Montaigne in an installation format, reminiscent perhaps of something by Ludo or early Camille Walala when walls were less cluttered! It would be rare these days to see single stand-alone paste ups like this but hey, organisers gotta make use of the spots they have available!

Yu_Wallart
Yu_Wallart


J D Montaigne installation
J D Montaigne installation


In four other spots the team had created massive banners of art pasted onto vinyl which was then tied to what in any other circumstance would be advertising frames. The first one featured below serendipitously referenced the world’s most prolific paste-up artist. Its placement and elevation high up the wall precisely matched a Lenin paste-up placed illegally by Shephard Fairey in 2007.

LIPF Paste-up banner, Bateman’s Row
LIPF Paste-up banner, Bateman’s Row


Shepard Fairy 2007, Chris Stain 2008 below
Shepard Fairy 2007, Chris Stain 2008 below


The two Old Street banners had to be taken down on Sunday evening but the others on Dereham Place and Bateman’s Row (above) could last a few more weeks.

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LIPF Paste-up banners on Old St


LIPF Dereham Place paste-up spot
LIPF Dereham Place paste-up spot


The location the artists referred to as “The Beast” became my favourite as it offered the closest approximation to the layering and direct application of art to the wall that we see in the wild.

The Beast wall
The Beast wall


Collaboration is a wonderful aspect of most forms of street art and one beautiful collaboration that emerged in the festival was between Donk and Uberfubs. Donk pasted-up his brilliant “Higher Ground” piece a week before before the main crew got to work with the other paste-ups, the second photo shows the dramatic impact on his monochromatic composition after Donk invited Uberfubs to augment it with her flouro creatures, Natasha Searston also got in on the act.

Donk, Uberfubs, Natasha Searston collab
Donk, Uberfubs, Natasha Searston collab


Donk did his bit to shame the youngsters by getting his Dad’s art pasted up in the festival, a quartet of coppers with appropriate symbolic numbering which represents the acronym ACAB which…..go figure! ACAB by Donks Dad
ACAB by Donks Dad


Some collaborations arise through intentional placement, such as the kitty cat and rat living in perfect harmony with two foxes, others are actually created as single sheet collaborations

City Kitty, a rat, Yaya and DaddyStreetFox
City Kitty, a rat, Yaya and DaddyStreetFox


Perhaps the guiding hand of the installers has had a role in placing a body positivity collaboration between Flakes Store and Planet Selfie adjacent to a Playgirl cover and Sam Fox in a box.

Body positivity collab Flakes_store and Planet Selfie, Samantha Fox by D7606
Body positivity collab Flakes_store and Planet Selfie, Samantha Fox by D7606


The Live and Let Live/Street Art Against Hate project was initiated by the #NoHate family, an awesome group of street artists from Cologne. Artist were invited to support the anti-hate initiative by creating paste-ups adding their art within a circular "Live and Let Live/Street Art Against Hate" message.   A version from Streetart.globe gave me the prompt to explain Sunday's tour group the Street Art Against Hate project and the opportunity to demonstrate the power of collective paste-up messaging with an anecdote about the time I came across their Brick Lane Wall of Love in the company of two parents who had lost a son in an American High School mass murder. Full 2018 story HERE. The impact of the message and the touching affect it had on Patricia and Manuel Oliver in 2018 truly demonstrated something about paste up street art.

Street Art Against Hate repping at LIPF Street Art Against Hate repping at LIPF


As I told the story, street artist Face The Strange handed me two of his versions of the paste-up message, demonstrating perfectly that the project is actually still alive and doing good things.

Street Art Against Hate paste-ups by Face The Strange
Street Art Against Hate paste-ups by Face The Strange


One of the more inventive uses of paste-ups we have witnessed down the years has been Dr Cream’s creation of online stop frame animations using paste-up linoprints. Daisy Riot animation frames by Dr Cream
Daisy Riot animation frames by Dr Cream


He has done loads of these in Shoreditch over more than a decade and something we have never succeeded in doing is to locate all the elements of an animation to have a go at rendering our own, it is nice to think that this game or quest was Dr Cream’s gift to the streets. Finally, courtesy his LIPF installation we have all the frames of a star jumping Daisy Riot animation and I was thrilled to get it to work, though my effort does appear to be a homage to the jumpy animation style of Roobarb and Custard (look it up!).

Dr Cream "Daisy Riot" animation


As the social media flurry around the Festival subsides, I mentioned in my little digital contribution that I had enjoyed leading the Sunday tour and had learned a lot from the guests and artists present. As I pointed out the drama in the layering of Rider’s fluorescent prints against his darker monochromatic background, print artist MeandBlue helpful informed us that the two prints flanking Rider’s display were by David Shand, an artist who was new to me. David focussed on the residue of tears and colours generated by the action of time on flyposters on the streets, a phenomenon paste-ups are beautifully susceptible to. David passed away last year but as I explored his art online this week I got the sense that the spirit and intent of the festival would have chimed with him, it was a pleasure to be introduced to his work through the art on the wall.

Rider flanked by David Shand (RIP)
Rider flanked by David Shand (RIP)


No matter what form a piece of street art takes it will always by elevated by good placement and use of the environment. Wrdsmth scores highly for placing the “Hearts Shatter” message within the shattered glass window, happily no wrists were slashed in the placement of the oversize stencil through the jagged shards.

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Hearts Shatter, mixed media by Wrdsmth


The festival concept had a few minor and unavoidable aspects in which it deviates from the nature of paste-up street art in the wild. Pasting all the art up at one point in time denies the “patina” of a good street art spot that comes from artworks going over eachother, from the tearing, the layering, the decay and aging at different rates from different moments in history. Seeing the artists own particular eye and mind controlling placement and juxtaposition is often desirable. On the other hand paste-up street art actually facilitates collaboration, sharing and representation by mailing paper or digital art to friends in other locations and letting them get on with it.

London International Pasteup Festival LIPF
Shuby, Uberfubs, Art.tits and Carl Stimpson


Something rather less obvious from the participation in the LIPF was the gender balance. The art world is notorious for its discrimination on many basis especially gender. A crude assessment based on identification of artists in a sample of 155 photographs suggested a ratio of male to female artists of 5:3. It’s not great, it’s not perfect but it is likely to be better than the perceived state of play in the in gallery world.

Did the paste-up festival work? It got huge numbers of artists’ work visible on the streets, it introduced the art of many artists from overseas that we had not seen here before, it brought new artists to outdoor walls who have never displayed in public this way and it gave huge visibility to this under-sung street art genre.  It was a success.

Tuesday 2 November 2021

London International Pasteup Festival

London International Pasteup Festival LIPF
London International Pasteup Festival sneaky peek feat Shuby, Uberfubs, Art.tits and Whatifier


Street Art has many forms, different techniques have evolved to suit different artistic strategies and different environments. Stencilism is most closely associated with street art’s emergence in the early to mid 2000s thanks mainly to Banksy and the many artists he influenced and inspired. Muralism, on surfaces ranging from building site hoardings to massive end gable walls has come to dominate the public’s awareness of street art over the past ten years. Street art is most profound as an outlet for the unsung, the outsider, the radical and the romantic and the most convenient format for unauthorised street art is the paste up - images on paper glued to external surfaces. Uncurated pasteup street art, 2021
Uncurated pasteup street art, 2021


On the heels of London’s first Mural Festival last year, 2021 brings The London International Paste Up Festival. 100s of pasteup street art over 6 locations and many artists seen in London for the first time complimenting many old favourites KGuy
KGuy, London International Pasteup Festival participant, pasteups from 2007


The formal opening night takes place this Thursday 4th November at The Hoxton Gallery and the festival runs until Sunday the 7th. On Sunday I will be leading a free tour of the paste up locations and the art will remain visible for viewing for varying lengths of time depending on the location. DaddyStreetFox
LIPF participant DaddyStreetFox gets up high earlier this year


The full schedule can be seen below and you can check their Instagram for any updates. LIPF program
LIPF program

All photos Dave Stuart except LIPF program

Tuesday 28 September 2021

Martha A Picture Story Q & A

Subway Art 25th anniversary hardback cover
Subway Art 25th anniversary hardback cover


A bit of context to begin with. All over the world there are graffiti writers who will testify that their introduction to graffiti began with one book, Subway Art written by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant.

In 2009 I queued with literally hundreds of other graffiti fans and graffiti writers to get the Cooper/Chalfant signatures on my new copy of this bible at a book signing held at the Black Rat Press gallery under the railway arches behind Cargo Nightclub as well as NY graffiti legend Blade whose subway graffiti features in some of the most memorable photos in the book. Graffoto recorded the details of that night HERE.

Martha Cooper is a photographer!
Martha Cooper is a photographer!


Mobbed book signing, Black Rat Press, June 2009
Mobbed book signing, Black Rat Press, June 2009


The documentary movie “Martha: A Picture Story” by Australian director Selina Miles does a brilliant job of combining some amazing archive footage with interviews and over-the-shoulder experience photography to present a much more rounded view of Martha Cooper’s life journey and achievements. The film is being streamed free of charge for two days on the House of Vans website as part of their monthly Doc Nights series. Somehow, I got to play the role of host for a 30 minute Q&A session with Martha and Selina (first name buddies now, ha ha), I was in London, Selina was in Australia and Martha was in New York so you can imagine I got the best of the deal in terms of timing!

Martha Copper, Selina Miles, DocrRoll films 'n me
Martha Copper, Selina Miles, DocrRoll films 'n me


Details on how to obtain access to the film and the Q&A can be found on the House Of Vans Doc Nights page HERE. Unfortunately it is UK audience only, sorry to those of you outside UK.

Martha Cooper - photo courtesy House Of Vans
Martha Cooper - photo courtesy House Of Vans


Martha Cooper - photo courtesy House Of Vans
Martha Cooper - photo courtesy House Of Vans


Selina Miles, Director  - photo courtesy House Of Vans
Selina Miles, Director - photo courtesy House Of Vans


For the curious, the other tags in the book are friends from Burning Candy who were exhibiting Subway Art art at the event and TRP members also present.

Photos by Dave Stuart except where stated.