Behind the Curtain: Street Art Competition on the Shoreditch Art Wall 2015
This was a new international street art competition held over 4 weeks on the Shoreditch Art Wall in East London. The wall has 4 sections for paintings. And in early August this year, the London Art Wall Company issued a press release inviting artists to send samples of their work for the panel to select 16 artists to compete for a cash prize of £1000.
I knew nothing of this until Otto Schade announced on facebook that he had been selected to enter the competition. As a big fan of his work, I made a mental bookmark to follow this when it started on 21st September.
Painting began on a Monday and was mostly completed by Friday or Saturday at the latest. That didn’t leave long for street art lovers to pop along and have a look. Especially after week one when new painting for week two actually started a day early, on the Sunday. Luckily for me, I don’t live that far away and I was able to see all the works.
The first four photographs are of the completed walls. Individual images of each work over the four weeks will follow.
Behind the Curtain Street Art Competition 2015. Week 1. Artists from left to right are: Otto Schade, Zabou, Himbad, Ant Carver. (photographed 25th September 2015)
Behind the Curtain Street Art Competition 2015. Week 2. Artists from left to right are: Gee Street Art, Perspicere, Amara Por Dios, Pang. (photographed 3rd October 2015)
Behind the Curtain Street Art Competition 2015. Week 3. Artists from left to right are: Gnasher, Gomez, HmmmBates, Candy Lo. (photographed 10th October 2015)
Behind the Curtain Street Art Competition 2015. Week 4. Artists from left to right are: Nomad Clan, Tizerone, Furia 139, Nick Flatt and Seedsone. (photographed 18th October 2015)
The first week of artists included three of my all time favourites. In particular I thought Himbad had produced some of his best work to date. And it whetted my appetite to make sure I covered the rest of the competition. By the way, the awkward angle of the first shot was due to very bright sunlight that afternoon causing glare for any pictures I took standing directly opposite the wall.
As the weeks unfolded I discovered some new artists and exciting work from others I already knew like Furia 139 in week 4.
In the end there were 18 artists because there are two collaborations: Nomad Clan are a duo Joy Gilleard and Hayley Garner. And Nick Flatt was assisted by Seeds One on the background. And of those 18 artists, six were women.
For the rest of the post I’ll let you enjoy these single shots of each work.
Behind the Curtain: street art competition week 1. 21-27 September 2015
Artists in order of appearance: Otto Schade, Zabou, Himbad, Ant Carver
Behind the Curtain: street art competition week 2. 28 September – 4th October 2015
Artists in order of appearance are: Gee Street Art, Perspicere, Amara Por Dios, Pang
Behind the Curtain: street art competition week 3 5th – 11th October 2015
Artists in order of appearance are: Gnasher, Gomez, HmmmBates, Candy Lo
Behind the Curtain: street art competition week 4 12th – 18th October 2015
Artists in order of appearance are: Nomad Clan, Tizer one, Furia 139, Nick Flatt and Seeds one
I’m glad I’m not a judge of this competition because I would find it hard to choose a single winner. There is such a variety of techniques and styles here which is one reason I love the London street art scene.
I thought Amara Por Dios has also excelled on her piece with the woman and the dragon face. And in such exquisite contrast is Pang’s dark representation of our inner angst. I loved Gnasher’s underwater piece which has a post-it note on it – ‘please don’t tap the glass‘ signed Gnasher. The final week has the angriest and most political set of paintings. My favourites are Furia’s anti-violence against women and Nick Flatt’s biting satire “Capitalism is Rad“. I discovered that it took Nick 50 hours to paint the avenging fury casting scorn on us mere mortals. The background and lettering were painted by Seeds.
I have plenty of detailed shots which I might add to a 2nd post when the winner is announced.
And for those wondering why the competition is called Behind the Curtain. Well this wall is going to be part of the Shakespeare Curtain Theatre development. This link will tell you more.
"Notice what you notice..." 
A most informative blog. You are fast becoming London’s foremost expert on street art. Would love to buy the book, if and when, you produce it. Have you ever wanted to become one of them, and sneak out with tins of paint, aerosols and brushes, at the dead of night?
Thanks for commenting Colin. Means a lot. Well, you never know. hehe, they no longer paint in the dead of night much. Not these artists anyway. But you make it sound such fun, I’d be tempted. 😉
Enjoyed seeing these on your blog as it saves me getting run over!!! More please Tanya
Thanks Mitch. There will indeed be more.
I choose one of the last two – good blend of skill, creativity and personal politics.
Good choices indeed. Be interesting to see who wins.
Great post Tanya, good work collecting them all and nicely presented (for the record we are planning a similar showcase when the winner is announced). What was of particular interest was the final note about why the competition is named as such, great research and nice addition. Thanks.
Ah, thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed it. I’ve got a cunning plan for the winner announcement. I’ve a good idea who will win and be interesting to see if I’m right or not. Not long to go now. I look forward to your final post on this.
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