Street Art Shoreditch: Early on Sunday Morning

Street Art in and around Shoreditch, Sunday 2nd April 2017

Spring is finally here. The shops are full of bunches of cheap daffodils and the Shoreditch street art scene is a riot of colour and an abundance of new work.

In the last two weeks new work has been painted by Alex Senna, Dale Grimshaw, Argiris Ser, Dreph, and Alo. Top names in international street art.

And all last week (27 March – 1st April) another leading artist, Ant Carver, was painting the four panels of the Shoreditch Art Wall. Today was my last chance to see the finished work before Nerone takes over on Monday.  So I left home at 7am and this is the result of my morning’s stroll around the area.

My first stop was on Holy Well Lane to look at Argiris Ser’s new mural on the Village Underground Wall. He’d been in London for a group show of Greek street artists, Paracosm at the BSMT Space gallery in Dalston a few weeks ago. And then he returned to paint this wall last week.

 

Artist: Argiris Ser (from Greece) on Village Underground Wall. Old tube train painted by Amara Por Dios. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Bright morning sunlight created dramatic shadows on Ant Carver’s work. He uses stencils to create these beautiful faces drawn from photographs.

 

Artist: Ant Carver with help from Rhianna halda, Josh Booth, Poppy Haldar and Street Art Atlas. Shoreditch Art Wall. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Artist: Ant Carver. One of 4 panels on Shoreditch Art Wall. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

I passed by again on my way home to see how they looked in the sunshine.  And wow! Unfortunately it also cast ugly shadows on some of the other panels and this was the best additional shot.

 

 

 

I headed over to the Aldgate side of Shoreditch and Commercial Street to catch new shutter art from Zabou before the shop opened. I paused when I spotted this new work from Dreph.  He has been regularly repainting this shutter and I’m sure this portrait is very new.  I’ve not seen it on IG yet.

 

Artist: Dreph. Commercial Road, London E1. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

And here it is. Zabou’s portrait of the surrealist artist Salvador Dali.  Isn’t it stunning.

 

Artist: Zabou. Commercial Street, London E1. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

As I made my way along Fashion Street, the Mr Cenz mural (repainted in February) looked so damn pretty in the sunlight, I paused for another pic.

 

Artist: Mr Cenz. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

My next stop was Star Yard, off Brick Lane where I knew there’d been plenty of new work. By now it was around 8am.  And I didn’t expect to find an artist packing up having just finished a fresh painting.  Artist 0707 said he enjoyed the peace and quiet of the early morning.

 

Artist: 0707, Star Yard, Brick Lane.  With a cheeky tomato from Atomiko still visible. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

There was also new work from Artista, Tom Blackford and Airborne Mark. Its hard to keep up at the moment. The massive Frankie Strand piece was gone though.

 

Artists: (from left to right) Artista, Tom Blackford, Airborne Mark, Amara Por Dios. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

The end panel by Amara Por Dios was painted a few weeks ago before she moved back home to Sweden. Last time I was here it was raining and so I didn’t notice how beautifully she’d painted the buttresses also.  And I’m sad to think that we’ll not be seeing regular new murals from her now.

 

Artist: Amara Por Dios (from Sweden). (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Tricky bright sunlight this morning. But it helps the illusion that Fanakapan’s helium balloon dog is really there.

 

Artists: (from left to right) Fanakapan, Carleen De Sozer, Dreph. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Artist Dale Grimshaw has a solo show on in Hoxton at Well Hung gallery which opened last week. And he painted this wall on Hanbury Street to compliment it.

 

Artist: Dale Grimshaw, Hanbury Street. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Another artist in town for his solo show is Alex Senna from Brazil. I spotted a lot of his work when I first started noticing street art in 2013 but he’s rarely in London. This is one of three new pieces.

 

Artist: Alex Senna. Hanbury Street. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

This next work is a clever mix of illustration and graff art. Though I’m sad its replaced a recent work by Pang. Murals on this wall now change much more frequently than they used to.

 

Artist: Mowscodelico on Hanbury Street, London E1. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Another early bird enjoying the quiet before the tourists and Sunday shoppers arrive. I didn’t like to interrupt to ask his name. And I don’t recognise his work.

 

Artist: Unknown. Buxton Street, London E1. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

One of my favourite portrait artists Alo, is having a yellow period.  This is one of two newish portraits I snapped today, painted to coincide with his solo show, Exit from Aden, currently on at the Saatchi Gallery until 10th April.

 

Artist: Alo, off Brick Lane. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Back onto Pedley Street and Jay Caes recently repainted his mural on this wall. Its only a few days old and it was already tagged when I passed by this morning. But a bit of love and post-production has produced a good photograph of it.

 

Artist: Jay Kaes, off Brick Lane. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

The second mural from Alex Senna. I think the tribal masks add something to the photograph. Better than an old chest of draws or dumped mattress which have been common sights in the area.

 

Artist: Alex Senna, Bacon Street. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

You can still find many new works by Jim Vision who helped established the street art scene in Shoreditch. This one is very recent.

 

Artist: Jim Vision, Shoreditch. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Back onto Shoreditch High Street and on this spot, you can often see the artist John Dolan painting works, with his dog George.  This is the first time I noticed that he’s left a work behind. Its quite small.

 

Artist: John Dolan. Shoreditch. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

The new builds around the old Leonard Street car park are nearly complete. Soon there will be no more hoardings for street art. This stunning new work is from an Austrian artist, El Jerrino.

 

Artist: El Jerrino in Shoreditch. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Spanish artist Jay Caes has had a work on this spot for the last two years during the building works. Here is his latest update.

 

Artist: Jay Kaes. “Who’s Watching You” Shoreditch. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

I shall miss the wonderful riot of paste-ups and small works along Blackall Street.  Love this detail.

 

Artists: The Real Dill (pink/green eye), others include Donk, Neon Savage, SubDudeLondon and others. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

As I headed back to Shoreditch High Street again I spotted this image. The shop front name seemed apt for this detail of Jim Vision’s mural depicting Native Americans fighting corporate American.  Jim Vision’s mural runs the length of the wall opposite and its a suitable theme for the end of Shoreditch as we know it.

 

Artist: Jim Vision Shoreditch (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Artist: Alo in Shoreditch. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

Artist: Otto Schade, aka Osch. Old Street. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

By now I was ready to go home and have breakfast but I had spotted earlier a massive work by Alex Senna on the Hackney Road.  So I forced myself on, in the name of art.

I regularly pass this shutter collab by Zabou and Koel on my way to work. It was painted in January but this morning I noticed an absence of black tags and fresh white paint. So I stopped for a snap.

 

Artists: Zabou and Koel. Hackney Road. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

And my final mural of the morning.  Still a work in progress but the sunlight/blue sky created magic with the simplicity of Senna’s black and white imagery.

 

Artist: Alex Senna. WIP on Hackney Road. (photographed 2nd April 2017)

 

And there it is. 30 murals in one morning’s walk around Shoreditch. And about 19 of them were painted in the last couple of weeks!   And they have all be painted since January 2017.  Its still an extraordinary, vibrant area for street art.