Recently in art Category

When I visited Brussels in February, I spent a couple of hours in The Design Museum, which was included in the cost of the visit to the great exhibition structure Atomium (see my post about the Atomium here) and is a few hundred yards away from it. The Design Museum has a huge exhibition on plastics and different types of plastic. It features on different designs of furniture, homewears, and objects made of plastic, which was a popular material in the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibition discussed the different types of plastic (something which I never really considered) and how it is made. It also discussed sustainability and the environment. There was a large element of plastic used in modern design to contrast with the traditional, and I spent some time looking through the exhibition. 

There was also a large area for reserves of plastic items and to keep the plastic in good condition.

How many different designs of chairs can you make in plastic?

Plastic isn't my choice of material for furnishings or anything, but this material has changed the world when it became mass-produced and is used in so many products.

Dan Kitchener (Dank) is a London-based street artist who often paints walls in east London. Commercial Road in one spot that he has been painting a lot recently, and there is another spot on Brick Lane that often includes a mural by him. The artist is known for painting night scenes and usually features Japanese city streets and sometimes female figures.

The first mural of 2024 is "Tokyo Alleys", which was painted at the beginning of March.

The following work was completed in autumn of 2023 on Brick Lane.

The other two were painted on Brick Lane and Commercial Street again sometime last summer.

For more work by Dan Kitchener (DANK) featured in this blog, please read the following links:

Dank Kitchener 'Arcade' Street Art on Commercial Street
Dan Kitchener "Tokyo Dreams" Murals in Evelina Road, Penge
Round-up of Dan Kitchener Street Art in East London and Camden
Dan Kitchener Paints "London Colours" at NYX Hotel Holborn, Southampton Row
Dan Kitchener Addition to "East London Geisha" on Commercial Road
Dan Kitchener Paints "Midnight Drive" on Hanbury Street
Street art by Dan Kitchener in Summer 2020
Dan Kitchen Returns to Clifton Street with "Tokyo Graffiti" Mural
Latest Street Art by Dan Kitchener
Dan Kitchener Paints 'Ghost Cities' on Pedley Street
Dank Paints 'Ghost Cities - Bristol' for Upfest 2018
Dan Kitchener Paints "Meeting of Styles"
'Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts'
Dank "London Rush"
Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More
Street Art: Dan Kitchener
"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener
Goswell Road

When I was in Brussels last month, I came across these bronze sculptures of "Le Cat" character that stars in a comic series. The sculptures were located in Parc de Brussels in the centre of the city and confined to one area to view. They depict the character in different roles or in different settings, such as a doctor, golfer, eating ice cream, lifting weights, and so on. The bronze sculptures are based upon illustrations from the comic. There are eighteen in total to see, and there is also an app available to download about them, which was advertised. The app tells about the sculptures and how the scuptures were made.

I was not familiar with the comic series "Le Cat" before I visited Brussels. The comic seems to be cultured obervations about life and society.

Street artist ALO has been painting London's walls since early in 2013, and I loved the work I saw. It takes me back to a good time when I worked on Brick Lane and explored the street art. ALO is Italian-born and does visit London to add more murals. The artist was back in the city earlier this year and left a couple of new murals around Redchurch Street and the surrounding area. 

Additional work by ALO featured on this blog:

New Street Art by ALO in East London (2020/2021)
New Street Art in London by ALO
ALO paints new street art near Brick Lane
ALO returns to London and paints abstract portraits (2015)
ALO: 2013
'ALO Part 2'
'ALO part 3'
'ALO Part 4'

Late last year, I came across a nice piece of street art collaboration by Choots and Jem Finger Lickin (also known as Jem Stone). I have previously seen street art by Choots around London, and some other posts on this blog of his work are listed at the bottom. He is known for creating smile character art with a strong graphic design illustration style and bold colours. Jem Stone's work is similar in style with illustration and the graphic design influence. As a duo, the work is complementary and exciting. I do hope to see more from the artists in London.

More street art from Choots in this blog can be seen below:

Street Art by Choots and Ten Hun

In 2023, I came across a couple of walls of street art at Allen Gardens off Brick Lane in London. The street art is signed, but I cannot read who the artist is. I really like the street art, so if anyone can help identify the street artist, I would be very happy to know who the artist is. The work reminded me a little of Lora Zombie's work, but I know it's not hers.

The first one shows a female police officer and a female robber with bags of money. The gun being pointed has a flag on it, and it is painted on a pink background.

The second mural shows a woman blowing bubblegum with tattoo arms and wearing an ammunition belt. Unfortunately, it has been tagged over so I cannot see the full image.

Yorgos is a street artist who grew up in Germany to Greek parents. The artist moved to London to study art and works in London as a graphic designer. The artist is known for the illustrated characters that are inspired by the complexities of personalities and being human and triggering such emotional responses in gender, racial, and social situations. 

Above are some of the street art from Yorgos that I have photographed in London over the past few years.

From the 30th of January to 3rd February, St. Martin-in-the-Fields church hosted an immersive sound and light installation celebrating the world we live in. The installation is called "Life" and is made up of projections inside the crypt, main part of the church, and outside on the buildings. Last year, a similar immersive show took place, and it was "Space", but I did not have a chance to visit it. I did visit "Life" on an evening after work.

The projections started outside on the building opposite the church and the church itself as I waited. The building opposite depicted some machinery-inspired imagery with the Earth. 

After going inside, I walked through the crypt, which was lit up with soothing ambience audio and colourful floral imagery in two of the rooms. This looked stunning with the arches.

After the crypt, the main experience was held inside the church with a fifteen-minute immersive show covering the walls and ceiling of the church. It covered all aspects of life from small organisms to oceans, jungles, the insect world, and birds. The show transformed the church, and it was very beautiful.

After the experience in the church, I went outside to see the projection on the side of the church. I could not really see this before as I was at the front of the queue and the sky was not dark enough. The projection on the side of the church was more of a human and cultural theme with different patterns and cultural imagery.

Overall, this was a good experience, but I felt that it was much too busy. Some people had tickets for later but turned up early, so this could be one reason why I felt that it was over-crowded, and I did not feel that it was best-managed nor organised from this view, which meant that I felt on edge thinking I was standing in everyone's way and did not get to fully enjoy it. Other than that, it was amazing, and I enjoyed the transformation.

When I was in east London earlier this year, I came across new Otto Schade street are on the "Bull in A China Shop" cafe near Shoreditch High Street station. Otto Schade has previously painted on the side of this cafe, and an older artwork of his remains on the side. The cafe now contains additional work by the artist. The artwork contains a bull's head, beer bottle, and ribbon designs. 

In addition to the new mural, I am also posting an image of the ape face that is painted on the side of a corner shop on Brick Lane. This wall is always obscured now, so it is difficult to get any photograph unless visiting very early or very late.

I also saw this mural, which I don't seem to have posted yet. It features the artist's silhouette style with two children playing a game with an apple logo during a war.

Another mural has been repainted as it was looking very faded, and this is located on the side of The Viaduct bar in Shoreditch and features a royal guard.

I've previously posted about Otto Schade's street art in the following posts:

Otto Schade - The Viaduct and Other
Otto Schade on Farnshaw Street - Eva's Green Apple
New Snoopy Street Art and Other Street Art by Otto Schade in East London
Otto Schade Paints Donna Summer on "Bull In A China Shop" in Shoreditch and Others
Otto Schade Murals on Kingsland Road
Long Street - Otto Schade, CodeFC, The Krah
Street Art by Otto Schade
Otto Schade Paints "The Lady Don't Protest Enough" Mural on Bateman's Row
Otto Schade "Jack the Ripper 2040" Street Art
Otto Schade 'The Believers' and 'WTF'
'Bull in a China Shop', 'Osch-car' and 'Flies Around Sh*t'
Otto Schade 'Peace and Love on the Streets'
Street Artist Otto Schade Paints Southampton 'Zany Zebra' for Charity (and other work)
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015
Otto Schade's New Street Art (Meerkats, Portraits, & More) in East London
New Street Art from Horror Crew, Swoon, Otto Schade, HIN, and others
Street Art: Otto Schade

Street artist David Speed has been painting bright pink neon portraits of people and animals across London over the past few years, and his work is so common that I am photographing a new one nearly each time I visit east London. I've covered his work many times on this blog. Below is a section of street art from David Speed that I have photographed over the past few months.

More posts by David Speed on this blog:

Street Art: David Speed