Extraordinary Portrait Painter Dale Grimshaw’s Street Art

 

Double portrait, 2016


Street artist Dale Grimshaw featured in a brilliant BBC programme on TV last night so here is a little profile of Dale’s street art pedigree and a huge recommendation that you to catch up with Dale’s moment of TV glory.


Dale Grimshaw work in progress, 2019


In the early years, from about 2009 Dale Grimshaw put paste up street art featuring elaborate dynamic portraits. Motion was a key characteristic, bodies plummeted from the skies, subjects kicked out at us, heads twisted with dizzying speed.


The Fool, Dale Grimshaw, 2009



Self portrait and raven, 2009



Falling Kicking; 2010


Dale’s involvement in the scene extended to running the Signal Gallery in Shoreditch with his partner. They staged exciting shows by street art luminaries such as Jef Aerosol and C215 and urban art stars including Matt Small and Jaybo, all of whom are predominantly portraiture specialists. Of course there were also several great Grimshaw shows.


C215 Shoeshiners exhibition, Signal gallery, 2009


Although Dale did paint murals on permission walls right from the off, his distinctive aboriginal portraits emerged in spraypainted mural form about 10 years ago.


Who's taking who for a ride, 2009



2 Worlds, 2013



Man and Eagle, 2015



Hanbury St, 2017


Portrait paintings have been an indulgence for rulers, kings, religious icons and rich art patrons with the moolah necessary to immortalise their image through portrait commissions. Extraordinary Portraits, presented on the BBC by British rapper Tinie Tempah redresses the balance pairing unsung heroes with artists for a portrait sitting to honour real people and real lives. For this edition Tinie matches up Dale Grimshaw with Patrick Hutchinson who made the front pages world wide in 2020 for his selfless rescue of an isolated white BLM “counter protestor” under attack.


White man rescued by Partick Hutchinson, London, 2020


After Dale and Patrick’s initial meeting the programme pursues Dale’s commitment to reveal something deeper than the superficially obvious, they meet Patrick’s family, visit his place of work and then of course there is the grand reveal. Fascinating sequences unveil Dale’s photography session, his varied and very detailed painting process and his studio environment. It’s not just about Dale of course, Patrick is an equally heart-warming character and it is quickly apparent that his credentials as a role model for humanity and harmony go way deeper than that one photographed incident.


Dale Grimshaw and Tinie Tempah, Extraordinary Portraits, 2022


What has Dale painted? Will the family like it? To find out track down Extraordinary Portraits Series 1 Episode 3 (link HERE), available on BBC iPlayer until April 2023.

Links:

Dale Grimshaw: instagram

Patrick Hutchinson: instagram

Photos: Dave Stuart except where noted 

Street Art Solidarity With Ukraine

Three days ago Russia invaded Ukraine.  Street artists in Shoreditch have united with the rest of the world in putting out street art with messages of solidarity with Ukraine and revulsion at war breaking out on the European continent.

This afternoon (Sunday 27th February, 2022) these pro Ukraine messages were seen in Shoreditch, shown dovetailed with photographs from protests outside Downing Street in Whitehall, London yesterday.


Peace and Love, our thoughts are with Ukraine



Shelter the sky over Ukraine/Block Putin war



Putin Danger To Life, by Pegasus



Ukrainian flag flying over Downing Street, London



Solidarity with Ukraine and Putin poison warning



Solidarity with Ukraine in Whitehall


Street artists not known except Pegasus where stated

Street art photos by Dave Stuart

Whhitehall protest photos by anonymous contributor with thanks

Enigma In Shoreditch

Just suppose someone decided the missing ingredient in street art was monochromatic medieval woodcut images of public hangings or fantasy horror representations of bizarre sea creatures attacking intrepid seafarers venturing beyond the realm of worldly knowledge. Japanese street artist Enigma has stepped up to fix this obvious void in Shoreditch’s globally acclaimed street art scene.


Sea Serpent, 2021


Street art has developed to a level of variety and sophistication that it takes something quite special to stand out. As observed in our look back at Shoreditch street art 2021 favourites, the street art of this new (to us) artist Enigma was a highlight of a rather unusual year. It won’t escape your attention that the leviathan serpent traumatising that unstable looking ship above spells out ENGM, a contraction of Enigma’s moniker in a style barely removed from graffiti. The sea serpent was our first stop-you-in-your-tracks encounter with Enigma’s art last year.


Ready To Fly


A sepia appearance coupled with extensive use of cross hatching lends Enigma’s art an unfashionable antiquated appearance. Street art is awash with pretty but very average photorealistic portraiture, there is a huge gap for new artists prepared to buck the trend, to not follow fashion. Enigma's vision of Lucifer cast out of heaven, based on a detail of Cabanel’s Fallen Angel, has butterflies where others paint wavy locks of hair.


Fallen Angel, 2021


Elsewhere faces are sliced to reveal what a proper clockwork orange looks like.


The Clockwork Orange


Surrealism and distortions suggest an artist enjoying playful imagery and experimentation. How many eyes can you or indeed should you fit on a bowler hatted whale or on a chequered finish flag winged stag beetle?


Whale Watching



Love Is A Verb


Fish currently feature frequently in Enigma’s compositions, though the circumstances are typically bizarre.


Santa, 2021


Enigma’s representations of body parts might resemble pages torn from vintage anatomical studies though a recent fish emerging from an ear could owe more to Hieronymus Bosch.


Pink Fish


Another theme in Enigma’s recent art has been shadow hands creatures. Those “how to” guides to shadow puppetry never convince you that the contortion of the hands could cast the demonstrated shadow, Enigma teases you into the same shadow guessing game.


Shadow Puppet Series



Shadow Puppets


A conceptually paired couple of paintings play with the notion of a shadow rabbit created by hands then the actual creature casting a shadow of a hand.


Don't Follow The Black Rabbit



Follow The Rabbit


Jeopardy crops up frequently in the paintings and this ship in its shattered bottle certainly faces stormy seas and rocky Shoreditch shores.


Bon Voyage, 2022


Enigma even infiltrates occultist references onto Brick Lane walls, the grinning jester in his harlequin clothing is based on the Hanged Man in the tarot card system and represents submissive states such as surrender or sacrifice.


Hanging Jester, 2022


Enigma garners respect and praise from fellow street artists and when you watch Enigma’s painting style close up you can see why. His can control would be admired by many graffiti writers, those fractured cross hatching strokes come from practice and skill not accident or chance.


2nd Century Greek bust with butterfly mind



detail


Enigma has thus far had few gallery outings in London, what has been seen indicates his street art translates beautifully onto rough canvas, as spotted at the Secret Life Gallery in Shoreditch last year. Instinctively it feels like there is more and better non street art to come from Enigma.


Love Is A Verb Canvas



Whale Watching Canvas



Follow The Rabbit Canvas


There is a lot of fun to be had with a little light painting, a long exposure at night and Enigma’s high contrast imagery.


Stag hands



Hanging Jester at night


Enigma has proved to be very engaging with the public.


Hello



Work In Progress


We just don’t see enough thematic street art paintings, if you want an idea of the kind of level Enigma is operating at it Ed Hicks might be a suitable peer, a comparison that neither insults Ed nor flatters Enigma. The sources Enigma mines for his art, fractured ancient Greek busts, tarot cards, cast out demons and psychopathic Kubrick films do a bit more than merely hint at dark undercurrents within his art. There is an intellectual depth and creative variety to Enigma’s painting and in the high turnover here-today-forgotten-tomorrow world of street art it is testament to Enigma that his paintings are memorable. Let’s hope Shoreditch continues to play host to his street art for a long time to come.


Mackerel


All photos except gallery canvasses: Dave Stuart

Canvas art photos courtesy Enigma Photo captions mostly from Enigma’s Instagram

Street Art v. Graffiti starring Jim Vision

Should this Shoreditch Street Art Tours post start with an apology to the spraycan virtuoso Jim Vision? Perhaps.

Last night [31 Dec 2020, new Years Eve] we held a short notice online virtual ramble through some of the art that provided great food for thought on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour in 2021. With the benefit of being able to show slides from the past, we were able to look at the waxing and waning of Jim Vision’s Jerome St mural which concluded with the photograph shown at the top of this post mural taken 2 days earlier on 29th December. This is the story of that mural and it ends with the dramatic update based on what we found today!

The history starts in 2020 with a curved wall pretty heavily battered with graffiti of varying styles and levels of accomplishment. The artistic highlight on the wall was probably back in 2014 with a beautiful paste-up from the French street artist Ludo.


Wild! Featuring Noze, Lap406 Oct 2019



Ludo, 2014


Forward to 2020 and Jim Vision secures consent to paint the wall with permission and has claimed the spot as his since, painting a couple of portraits as part of his admirable “Colourful Women” series. In the artist’s words this was “celebrating all women of colour with their vibrancy and strength, at the same time addressing an imbalance in the representation of women of colour on walls. This first dates from early Summer 2020.

Jim Vision, June 2020


The next portrait on this wall came complimented by a pod of killer whales. In this next early December 2020 photo we see the mural in great condition with 8 killer whales swimming through, to the right is a cluster of illuminations and the background is an abstract veil of almost luminous vertical streaks.

Jim Vision, 2nd Dec 2020


Just a few days later the negative spaces in the margins have been targeted with graffiti, including sundry tags and a nice piece by Lap in the background:

Jim Vision, lap406 , 22nd Dec 2020


Things are relatively unchanged by July 2021, a throw has gone over the cluster of lights to the right, a couple of tags and Lap in the background appears to have been painted out. Still the augmentations are occurring away from the main subject:


Jim Vision July 2021


By October there is fascinating development in the artistic interactions taking place on this wall, Jim Vision covers up new tags with the creative and playful expedient of adding Orcas where the tags were. Now the pod has grown to 20 killer whales and something a bit albino, or perhaps a 21st whale with only its white parts turned to us:

Jim Vision Oct 2021


Halfway through December heavy tagging appears in quite aggressive spots at the centre of the portrait and a green tag close to the front of the face where the white whale was. Ours is not to cast judgement!

Jim Vision, tags, 19th Dec 2021


Then, on 29th Dec, a new killer whale appears to be likely to see in the New Year, its placaement jumping through the earring brings to mind the cruelty involved in keeping these beautiful beasts in captivity in sea life parks. This was the state of play at the conclusion of the timeseries presented in the “The Best Of Shoreditch Street Art Tours 2021” virtual tour last night (New Years Eve):

Jim Vision 29 Dec 2021


New Years Day, this morning, look what we found:


Enigma


Gonna take a lot more whales!


All photos: Dave Stuart