Alias Arts

Several sources have reported this new piece as being by Banksy but a quick check on Mantis‘s website reveal him to be behind this neat stencil in Homerton. It’s one of three new pieces from Mantis – to see more head on over to his website here.

Above has finished off his European travels with a time lapse piece entitled ‘Reverse Psychology’ created and filmed in Leipzig, Gemany. It’s a shame that he never got to the UK – there’s always next year though!

I’ll leave Above to explain this piece:

“There are two sides to every coin, and we all know two wrongs don’t make a right but somehow when it comes to filming a video in reverse then reversing it, it makes total sense? Confused? Watch the video to get a better idea. If you still don’t understand, I can only suggest to try and watch it in reverse?!”

“The reverse side also has a reverse side. -Japanese proverb”.
Above.

Time lapse videos are good enough but when the time frame is 5 years and the subject is the graffiti layering of the outside wall of singer Serge Gainsbourg’s last home in Paris with a stunning 3D effect – well, the results become exceptional. Take a look at this short film by Arnaud Jordain which has been compiled from thousands of photographs. Amazing work.

Sticking with Paris, Above has recently visited the city and created another great site specific piece incorporating elements from the street landscape. Street art always works best when its done like this:

MuTate Britain’s ‘One Foot In the Grove’ closes this weekend  so its the final opportunity to see the show if you haven’t been already. Most of the artists in the show have work on sale including Dotmasters, Carrie Reichardt and Eelus. Eelus’s ‘Nesting’ piece (pictured below) is now available from both the MuTate show and on his website.

Mutate has a couple of events lined up to coincide with the closing of the show. On Friday evening the film ‘Carnival’ by Don Letts will be shown and on Saturday night Don will be on the decks while the flaming mutoids will be strutting their stuff again.

More MuTate pics here.

‘Nesting’ by Eelus

Mutate Britain – Acklam Road, Portobello Grove, London

Tony Blair by War Boutique

Roa’s been in town recently and left a great collection of pieces all over the Shoreditch area. From sleeping boars to nibbling squirrels there’s a great variety of wildlife to now be found on the all too barren streets of this part of town. Most of the main pieces are detailed below. There’s another one to be had but its on a double door thats open every time I go past.

So well done to Larry Livermore* for knowing the answer to the connection between Euston Station and Green Day. It was the site of their first ever UK gig which was held in what is now the Britannia pub above an Marks and Spencer Simply Food store on the station concourse. At the time it was called Rails or the Railway Tavern and was part of Travellers Fare (anyone remember that)? Quite a surreal space to go and watch a band (let alone Green Day) and then walk out directly into the station. Green Day did a neat trick which still grosses me out until this day but its probably best left untold. It wasn’t exactly a packed out show as I remember – lets just say if you were there I probably know you!

* Larry Livermore was running Lookout Records at the time – thanks for giving us ‘The Thing That Ate Floyd” Larry!

The Art of Rock previews tonight and opens at Stolen Space tomorrow.

The Britannia pub on Euston station – scene of Green Day’s first UK gig

A stranger place for the gig would be hard to imagine

Over recent months this blog has been pointing firmly in the direction of street art. Long standing readers know it wasn’t always like this and for the vast majority of its time its been pretty much a photo blog covering London, street art / graffiti and the occasional burst of punk rock. Getting back to this as an idea here’s a post that covers all three.

Stolenspace next week put on a show in their East London gallery of the artwork commisioned by Green Day to represent songs on their recent ’21st Century Breakdown’ album. 18 artists were involved and were given just the lyrics to a single song each to interpret. The artists included many names familiar to those who love street art - M-City, Pisa73, Ron English, Sadhu, Sixten, The London Police, Broken Crow, C215, Eelus, Lucamaleonte and Logan Hicks. Quite a line up and the results are on show at stolenspace from 23rd October until 1st November 2009.

Now here’s a Green Day trivia question to incorporate punk rock, street art and London into this single blog post. What’s the connection between Green Day and the location below (you’ll need to work out what the building is yourself)! Sorry – no prizes. This ones just for fun. The answer will be posted up before the public opening of the show (earlier if someone adds it to the comments below this post)!

There’s a great new video up on the Mutate Britain site which shows you around the site and some of the artists involved.

Here’s a few more pictures from the show

War Boutique

Dr D

Carrie Reichardt

One Foot In The Grove: I’ve been banging on about this show for a while now but the wait is over and it’s finally open. And a real head turner it is too. Following on from the teasers earlier in the week here are some clearer shots of what’s on offer. It’s still only a small selection – get down there if you can to see the rest.

Tristan Schoonraad

Shok-1

Larry!

Paul Insect

C6 Dotmasters

Bleach (I think)

Dep

Joe Rush

aots link: One Foot In The Grove

What’s the collective noun for street artists / graffiti artists? Whatever, take a look at this new wall in East London (thanks to nolionsinengland for the heads up) and see how many artists you can recognise.