At the end of each year, I take a look at the year in street art. I was lucky to be working on Brick Lane again, followed by Aldgate East, until the end of November. Because of this, I was able to see new street art appear regularly -- only, it didn't. This year was quiet for street art in Shoreditch, and we lost several great street art spots this year in the area. In fact, this was the deadest that I have ever seen Shoreditch's street art movement. Nonetheless, I will post a few pieces here that left an impact.
Vera Bugatti painted one of the largest and most different pieces at the start of the year. The piece, "Teratology", was located in Clerkenwell.
Pang, one of London's street artists that I have followed from the beginning several years ago, painted a mural "Carnival of the Weird".
Otto Schade was a regular contributer to London's street art scene with several murals, including this one on Hanbury Street, which tied into an existing sign.
Dale Grimshaw painted his tribal children portrait on Hanbury Street. Wasp Elder and Helen Bur also collaborated on walls. Jay Kaes, a London-based street artist, also painted quite a lot in the start of the year. Pedley Street was one of the walls he painted a couple of times.
The Village Underground walls also hosted a couple of great pieces, including the one by SER, "Sea of Knowledge". Sr.X also painted on this wall.
Tower Halmets Cemetery Park had at least two paint jams with various street artists to refresh the work here in Mile End with more environmental pieces. Fanakapan also painted glass clowns. Alex Senna also returned to London after a couple of years and painted a few new murals ahead of his exhibition and on Bacon and Hanbury Street.
Zabou painted a stunning piece, Frida 2, on Broadway Market.
Cosmo Sarson, who painted a breakdancing Jesus figure in Bristol, also visited east London and painted a breakdancing man on Pedley Street.
'Meeting of the Styles', which paints in Nomadic Community Gardens and off Brick Lane, returned later this year to refresh the walls in the garden. Airbourne Mark painted a series called "Origami Riots, and Fanakapan painted a tribute to Manchester after the terrorist attack at a concert.
Lora Zombie visited London and painted some wonderful street art, but it did not last long before it was removed and replaced.
With the sadness of the fire at Grenfell Tower, Ben Eine returned to London and painted a fitting tribute based on a poem that had been written in relation to the event.
Some of the most stunning murals this year throughout London came from London-based street artist Dreph (the last mural in the series is here). He paints portraits of women who have contributed to society. These appeared throughout the year, and I absolutely love this series "You Are Enough". The women who are the subjects are heroes for sure, and we need more heroes today.
FalkoOne painted a herd of elephants across London.
Street artist Samer also painted at least a couple of walls in Shoreditch; both featured colourful birds. In Pedley Street, Samer painted a series of birds and a peacock was painted in New Inn Yard.
Australian-born street artist Ketones6000 also painted quite a few walls in London during the summer with bees and flowers. The bees were very detailed, and he painted a series of these.
Banksy made the news this year, and ahead of the Basquiat tour, work was created near the Barbican as a tribute in Basquiat's style merged with his own. I also visited the Basquiat exhibition this month with a work colleague, and it was an excellent exhibition giving tribute to the New York City street artist and musician. An older piece of Banksy's work (the snorting copper) also was rediscovered and repaired off Curtain Road.
In time for the beginning of autumn and Halloween, I was happy to see that Zabou updated her wall on The Bell pub. In fact, I kept walking past sure that she would be updating it, and it appeared overnight. This time, it features 'Alice in Wonderland'.
The best time of the year was in October when many artists were visiting for the Monkier Art Fair on Brick Lane, so several new pieces appeared. Ben Slow, TelmoMiel, and Dulk were a few of the artists who painted.
London-based Jim Vision was probably the busiest street artist in Shoreditch this year as he returned multiple times to brighten the walls. He created some stunning work across the area on many of the walls, and he also tried to repair the hedgehog by ROA off Chance Street with his native fighters, but the whole piece was destroyed beyond repair a few months later and painted over.
Belgian artist Juane created his stencil-based sanitation workers and put them up in Brick Lane where they interacted with the items already in place.
Fleur De Lis street became the scene of a paint jam, and artists are now regularly using these walls to paint on.
What did you think about Shoreditch's street art this year? What were your favourite pieces?
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