Last weekend, I visited Birmingham (England). My first stop was a walk around different areas where I expected to locate street art. I started by walking to Moor Street train station in Birmingham before walking down Fazeley Street and Floodgate Street, Heath Mill Street, and some of the other areas. I discovered The Custard Factory, a location for the creatives with several shops and a gallery. There's quite a few great pieces of street art here. The city also hosts its own street art festival, City of Colours. It takes place later this month, so be sure to catch it. The event takes place over the 18th and 19th of June. For more information, visit the official website here: http://www.cityofcolours.co.uk. It looks like there's a lot of brilliant artists lined up this year.
N4T4
N4T4
First up is a stunning portrait of a young female by N4T4. N4T4 has been painting with spray paint since 1985 and tends to paint portraits of females mainly, and he is inspired by aboriginal influences and uses patterns. The above piece is brilliant because the artist actually uses the building material to create the piece. The female appears to be wearing an earring and holding other jewels, and these are actually a part of the building itself and painted and used in the piece.
Mr. Penfold and Tempo 33
Mr. Penfold is from Cambridge, and I've originally covered his work in London on a previous post (Malarky, Mr. Penfold, Billy & Lucas). He paints characters in bright colours. Tempo33 is a Birmingham-based street artist and often pastes up black and white faces. In this example, he's used colour to create one of the faces. More of Tempo 33's work is below, and he's also pasted up many pieces in London, but I've never covered his work before.
Tempo33
Tempo33 and Toasters
In another collaboration, Tempo 33 painted with Toasters. I have previously covered their work in London here.
Unknown and g-anders
This whole building on Frazeley Street is covered in street art. The portrait of the lady is unknown, but the monochrome piece is by g-anders and is an optical illusion.
Unknown
N4T4
Unknown street art robots
Unknown street art magnifying glass; corpse; Golden Boy
Newso and Gent48
The above piece was only just finished in February this year and celebrates 40 years of The Body Shop and its "enrich, not exploit" campaign. The artists have both been around the street art scene for awhile. Newso has been creating work all over the UK for the past eight years and has done mainly community work. Gent 48 studied art at Birmingham and has painted around Europe.
Philth
Philth (Phil Blake) is a graphic designer and illustrator who often paints female forms.
N4T4
Unknown
Amara Por Dios
Amara Por Dios hails from Sweden but is a regular visitor to London, and I have covered her work many times (Street Art: Amara Por Dios).
Unknown
Dscreet
Dscreet (covered here) is a regular to east London's street art scene.
Unknown
Masai
Masai is a popular artist in the street art scene and often paints endangered species or animals. The giant fly is on a wall near The Custard Factory. I've recently covered his work at Mile End for Endangered13.
Inkie
Another high profile street artist is Inkie, who often created vintage-inspired 'advertisement' pieces. I last saw the artist's work last year at Bristol Upfest.
Jim Vision
Jim Vision is a London-based street artist, and he's created hundreds of pieces there. I last covered his work here. In this piece, titled 'High Rise' shows a burning building.
Dank
Dank (Dan Kitchener) is another London-based street artist who creates portraits of Japanese women and street scenes. This stunning piece reminds me of a busy Tokyo street. Some of the artist's work is covered here.
MYL
coLor, Eugene Bloom, Corpse
Newso
Lost Souls Crew, Spzero, Squirl, Kaptain Kris
The Lost Souls Crew are also regular street artists in London, and I've covered them here.
Andy Council
Andy Council is a Bristol-based street artist, and I like this piece with ice cream and ice cream cones. He often creates illustrations showing different perspectives and architecture. He also painted at Endangered13 in London.
Philth
Rainbow Christ
Liskbot
Liskbot paints robots and often pastes up robot characters.
Senna
I've covered Senna's work when he went to London a few years ago. Senna hails from Brazil.
MEF and Gnasher
I've covered Gnasher's work at Bristol Upfest.
Jim Vision
Gent48
Gent48
PST
Annatomix - David Bowie
Annatomix creates work with different planes or dimensions, and many of her work is monochrome. Her tribute to David Bowie must have been painted at the beginning of the year. I've previously covered her work here.
Newso and Gent48
Have you been to Birmingham to explore the street art, or can you tell me who created the pieces in the 'unknown' ones in my collection above?
Leave a comment