Three new murals by street artist Shepard Fairey appeared in London toward the end of 2019. Shepard Fairey is one of the world's highest profile illustrators and street artists, and some of his work was used in campaigns and made the cover of magazines; his work is shown in art galleries today. One of the famous series of artwork is "Obey", which started as a symbol and gained popularity and has since been referenced a lot in the artist's work. In early 2013, I captured some of the artist's work that was located around east London. Today, I think only one of those pieces remain high above on Grey Eagle Street (Street Art: Shepard Fairey). In the autumn of 2019, Shepard Fairey returned to London to host an exhibition "Facing the Giant" in Shoreditch, and at this time, three new murals appeared around east London.
The first mural is located on Whitby Road, but at the time of publishing this post, the mural has just recently been painted over. It uses the bold illustration style of the artist with red, cream, black, and the introduction of blue patterns. On one side of the mural is a portrait of a woman. It is painted along two walls of a building.
The second mural is located on Hanbury Street and is another portait with a heavily-stylized graphical representation using black, yellow, pink, and blue colours as a minimum.
The third piece is one that I'd finally just been able to visit recently and is probably my favourite of the three murals. It is representative of the artist's previous work in London and shows a floral pattern with the words "Humanity is worth fighting for" and "We shape the future". It is a symbol of hope with a rose in the middle, bars, and a chain. The mural is located on Mare Street around the corner from London Fields and just off Hackney Road.
For more artwork by Shepard Fairey on this blog, see:
Leave a comment