Alternative London - Street Art Tour

After a few days of doing basically nothing - except enjoying one of John and Pedro's lovely dinner parties, yesterday I headed out in the London heat for the East End.  I met up with Eileen, Doug and Emily Grant do to one of Alternative London's walking tours.  This was all about street art - aka graffiti.  I did this tour with my friend, Sue, a year and a half ago and really enjoyed it.  I have to admit I still struggle with the notion that this is art rather than vandalism but there is not question there is a significant sub-culture with its own rules, messages and philosophy.  Lily, the gal who was our tour guide Saturday was French and a street artist herself.  There are varying degrees of risk that these artists takes and I would put her at the low-risk end of that continuum.  She showed us one of her works and she had been given permission to do it.  As the tour progressed, it became clear that the street art in the area is changing all the time.  While there were some parts of the tour - like the history of the area and several of the iconic art pieces - which were the same as the last time, much of what we saw was not there a year ago and, in fact, some pieces were not there even a week ago.
 


Lily's work inspired by the sea and jelly fish

 

The iconic crane by the Belgian artist, Roa.  This was done over 10 years ago.
Sadly, the property has been sold and this will be demolished to make way for a modern building.
Many are protesting the "gentrification" of this area,

This part of London, near Old Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane, has a long history.  Originally it was outside the city walls and was settled at various times by the Huguenots fleeing persecution from France, Jews escaping persecution in Poland and later Muslims fleeing Bangladesh.  One of the buildings on Fournier Street has been a Catholic church, a Protestant church, a Synagogue and, now, a Mosque.  I think the general area is Hackney and Shoreditch is also part of it. 

 

One of the more famous artists whose works seem to endure longer is a guy named Jonesy.  He worked in a brass forge for years and has been given space there to make his creations.  He is an older man, possibly in his sixties.  He makes little figures out of brass and fits them onto the tops of poles.  We spotted four or five on our walk.  I didn't get photos of them all, unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

 

   

We looked at works of other artists with names like Ronzo, Cityzen Kane, and Stik.  There is even one guy who creates his work as stickers and puts them on road signs like the sumo wrestler on the Do Not Enter sign below.  What makes this interesting is that, while most street art is illegal and artists must resort to some very creative measures so they don't get caught, a sticker can be removed quickly and easily.  Therefore, it would be more difficult to charge him with vandalism because it isn't permanent and it can be cleaned up quickly.  Sentences for artists who get caught can be up to 22 months in prison.
 

 
The following are works by Stik and Ronzo.
 

This couple, a white guy and a Muslim woman holding hands, was created to promote understanding between the cultures 

This is Ronzo's character Crunchy who is chewing on a pound coin - mocking the bankers in the nearby Financial District

 

 
Here are more images from yesterday.  Some of them are beautiful and artistic; others are, not surprisingly, very also political!  Apologies for some of the language - not my doing!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
After over 2 hours of walking around in the London heat, our tour was over and the first place we headed was a pub in the Old Spitalfields market where we could get something to drink.  I had my first lager and lime of the trip and, boy, was that refreshing!  I guzzled a big glass of ice water as well.  We liked the backdrop for our photo!  Then, it was off to Nando's for dinner before bidding adieu to the Grants and heading back on the bus to Maida Vale.