Paul 'Don' Smith is a street artist that I've been following for awhile, and he tends to create several new pieces of artwork in the same timeframe. This year, new work from the artist started to appear from February, and I noticed some new pieces in March and in April. Mr. Smith is a stencil artist, and I've seen him at work a few times now. His work is well-known for the creation of the 'tap man banker' image, which I've covered in previous posts. For more information about the artist and some additional work, visit my pages here, here, here, and here. Additional entries with other artists can be found here and here. I'm the most proud of meeting the artist and getting the 'tap man' image in my sketchbook that I used to carry around with me when I worked in London.
A new wall has been taken over by the artist in the past couple of months. This wall contains portraits of Judy Garland, Spock, Loki, and Heath Ledger. First, we have a tribute to Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It has yellow bricks and rube red and emerald in the background.
Spock also occupies the wall, and this was painted after the death of actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in Star Trek. The background is made up of the symbol.
Heath Ledger's portrait is one of the newer ones on the wall and would have appeared between the end of March and middle of April, and it has sadly been defaced. The actor died much too young a few years ago but was most famous for his roles in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight.
Paul Walker is another portrait on this wall, and this is one of the newer portraits, which has sadly been defaced with tagging. Paul Walker died in a car accident a few years ago; he was one of the actors in the Fast and Furious films. He was in the middle of filming the latest film in the franchise (Fast & Furious 7) when he died.
Another portrait on the wall is Nestorudi and Mila, and she is an artist from Sweden.
I think Mr. Smith is a fan of comic books and science fiction as it is a common theme in his artwork. Loki from The Avengers films (and Thor) makes an appearance on the wall, and the artist uses his signature to incorporate Loki's headgear.
An older piece that appears on Hanbury Street is of the Chinese girl and Blue Lady. This would have appeared at Chinese New Year. I visited London two weeks after Chinese New Year, so this did not last long at all. This is based on a painting.
One of the newest pieces that I spotted a couple of weeks ago is of Ronnie and Reggie Kray, twins from the east end of London who were involved with criminal activity. Quite a lot of east London still glamourises them.
Another new piece of street art appears on scaffolding on Rivington Street, and it features Child 44. This is a thriller novel set in the 1950s Soviet Union.
This same scaffolding also has an image of Dr. Manhattan. He is a superhero in the Watchman.
Star Lord is another comic book character.
Last but not least, Mr. Smith has freshed the colour in one of his older pieces of work. This artwork has been at the location for at least two and a half years now, and it's a piece that most people would have just walked past. Perhaps this is why the artist put some new life into the colours. The work is of Mona Lisa and a skyline of Paris, and it's located on Great Eastern Street. At the same time, he also added a new portrait above Mona Lisa. The portrait is of Bob Hoskins, a British actor who played gangsters and criminals. He was in a film called 'Mona Lisa', and he died a year ago this month, so this new piece is possibly a tribute.
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