Fanakapan and Horror Crew are London-based street artists, and their work is always popping up in east London. Their work always brings a smile as they create detailed pieces using everyday objects. A few years ago, it was characters made from Liquorice All-Sorts or balloon animals and birds. I've previously covered their work here and here.
Fanakapan's latest work features silver foil balloons in letters to spell out different words. The lighting and the 'shine' of these balloons is perfect to give them a three-dimensional effect. The artwork pops off the wall. The first that I discovered was in Star Yard, off Brick Lane. The word created from the foil balloons was 'STAR', no doubt after its location.
A few weeks later, I went back to the area to discover Fanakapan creating a new piece on Pedley Street. The work was more than half of the way finished, and I watched Fanapakan create the piece. He did mention to others who were watching that he was getting tired of creating the piece and was getting a little bored of it. I thought that was unfortunate because the work is stunning, and I really love the foil balloon effect.
I went back to Brick Lane a couple of weeks later in order to get a photograph of the finished piece. I am glad that it was not tagged over. The work is highly-detailed, and there's a blue and gold cast of reflection; all of this is achieved through spray paint.
The work reads "Rise & Shine" and is signed "FAN" by the artist (short for Fanakapan).
Fanakapan is based in London, and he's been painting from an early age; he started to paint with spray cans from about ten years of age. He enjoys creating non-offensive pieces that viewers could recognise, and he lets his work bring smiles to faces (1).
On the same wall next to the large mural by Fanakapan is a portrait of a bird, and this is work by Horror Crew. An older piece by Horror Crew is below, and it appeared off Brick Lane (Star Yard) at some point last year.
Just before Easter, a little chick appeared. This is a stunning piece, and I love the detail of the features and the light and shadow.
My next photographs feature older pieces that I had not got around to posting. In the summer and autumn of last year, Fanakapan and Horror Crew were busy with creating new pieces, and I've posted these below. The first was a set of skulls with a balloon-like crown and bubbles, and it appeared on Brick Lane.
Fanakapan and Horror Crew collaborated on the balloon animals and the portrait of a deer.
Fanakapan was painting a lot of balloon animals last year, and in the same spot where the large foil balloon "Rise & Shine", was a selection of balloon animals. This mural had two different iterations.
In the first iteration, The Real Dill painted next to it.
Fanakapan also created toy hip-hop and soldiers off Hackney Road last summer.
On Pedley Street, a mural dedicated to pink elephants was created, and this did last a little while before being replaced. The wording in the background of the balloon animals is the lyrics to the "Pink Elephants on Parade" song from Disney's Dumbo.
This skeleton with a balloon dog looks like a quick piece. I discovered it near Bethnal Green.
Christmas brought us two penguins with a crown. Penguins were the icon of last year's Christmas season and they featured in commercials and shop fronts.
I'm hoping to see some new pieces by Fanakapan and Horror Crew appear in London over the coming months. There's also another pice that I have captured in collaboration with another street artist, so keep checking back.
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