Results matching “paint”

A couple of weeks ago, American street artist NILS (Nils Westergard) painted the high-profile wall on Pedley Street off of Brick Lane. (The left half of the wall remains unpainted as street artist Hunto will be painting there, according the NILS' Facebook page). The artwork features a young woman with her hands covering her eyes, and this series along the same theme has been painted by the artist.

The artist is from the state of Virginia, and he's been creating street art for eight years. He has  painted in Europe and Australia, and social unrest is one subject that he paints about.

The painting of the woman with her hands over her eyes still shows her eyes drawn onto the back of her hand. To me, this signifies how people like to turn away from what they do not wish to see, but a part of them still may want to see and are impacted by what is around them.  

The artwork has a stark constrast with the white, grey, and black paint used. It's also simple in design. It is made using blocks of colour and zig-zag lines for the texture and shade. I think it is a stunning piece, and I hope it lasts awhile.

A little over a year ago, I went on a city break to Nuremberg, Germany. You may have already read my posts about Nuremberg Trials Courts and the museum at the former Nazi Rally Grounds. This post covers the main cathedral building in Nuremberg (St. Lorenz) and the National Museum. I spent nearly a day at the National Museum, and visiting St. Lorenz was done in about thirty minutes, but some people may wish to spend longer.

St. Lorenz is dedicated to St. Lawrence. It is a medieval cathedral and was damaged in World War 2. The building's artwork was donated by wealthy citizens and remains. The church can be visited daily from about 9:00am until 5:00pm with reduced hours on Sunday.  

If you are planning to visit the National Museum, I suggest picking the areas of the museum that you wish to visit first as it is not possible to see everything. You can make a day out of it, but it is a lot of walking and information overload. The museum is on several floors with some outdoor areas. I did walk through most of the museums, but there were some areas that did not interest me. The museum is built around a Carthusian Church. The collections range from paintings, musical instruments, armoury/weaponry, prehistory/ancient history, Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, science, medicine, fashion/clothing, everyday culture up to 1700, art, folk museum, middle ages, and toys.

I spent the most time in the prehistory and ancient history sections as I find it fascinating. These include ranges of pottery, stonework, and gold items buried in hoards, as well as items found in burials. After that, I did browse through the Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages and the Carthusian Church (which mainly contained sculptures). I am not really into religious artwork, but they did have a nice selection of books that were beautifully decorated and illustrated. One of the stars of the show was a gold ship.

I walked around the other exhibitions as well, including the art gallery and folk art. I enjoyed the folk museum section with its replica life-size German buildings filled with furniture. The art included everything to the modern day.

I didn't get to make it to the toys area, which is a separate building. The bloke was tired and the museum was a little bit like a maze; even with following the map, it wasn't clear where the exits to other exhibitions were. It took us a little longer than anticipated to find the way to the folk museum section, for example. However, this did mean that we were able to walk through most areas to get a flavour of the musuem. Of course, some areas I had zero interest in so could ignore them and spend my time in another area.

Have you been to Nuremberg and paid a visit to the museum or St. Lorenz cathedral? What did you think?

I've not posted many street art posts recently as I've been busy with other areas at the moment, but I have made a couple of trips to east London since the beginning of January, and I thought that it was due time to include some good street art in a round-up on my blog. Hopefully, I will be able to keep more up-to-date with the street art scene this year, but it's not as easy as it was before last year when I was working with the street art on my doorstep. I post it because I enjoy seeing it and street art is only around for a limited time before it is replaced. I also love learning about the artists and identifying their work.

Olivier Roubieu is a French artist currently based in London. He has been painting a series of portraits with a splash of paint colour on their faces. According to the artist, the splash of colour adds another dimension to the painting. I also saw some of the artist's work at last summer's Bristol Upfest, covered here.

Hunto is an Italian artist who continues to paint in London regularly. His work is abstract and often features amourous people. Additional work by the artist can be seen in my post here. 

Size92 and Mask collaborated on the blue and purple piece and the black and white pieces above. 

NoMoreLies created this postal stamp with endangered species. This is a part in their series, but I could not locate any additional work from them in London. This piece highlights the cave bear.

Neist and Asebueno are the artists who painted the high-profile wall on Hanbusy Street recently. The work is a grafitti-style and a slightly different take on what is normally painted on the wall.

Otto Schade is always a firm favourite and adds a lot to London's streets. For more of the artist's work, see my post here. Someone decided to turn the artwork into a peace symbol, which breaks the message a little bit. The message displays a never-ending story about war or killing and how it loops back to the beginning. The artist always uses the circle with typically orange or purple to get his political and social messages across.

Squirl painted these whimsical robotic creatures. The artist paints often in London, and I've covered some of the work previously here.

I'm not sure who created this little sculpture, which reminds me of the doctors from the black plague.

Annatomix painted the above running horse. I saw the artist at work during Upfest in Bristol last summer (click to see my coverage of the work here). She paints animals using shapes, and they end up looking like oragami creations.

Waleska painted the above mural near Old Street, and it is titled "spreading the love".

Anna Laurini, an artist who studied art in London, has spent the past three years covering London in colourful positive messages and street art. I originally covered her work when she started to paint the streets back in 2013, and you can read more about her here. The work on the shutter reads "live fully, love fully".

Richard Wilson's tribute to singer Josh Milan is painted above.

The above works are by Artista. I love her cute and colourful work. She paints a lot of abstract and floral symbols but has recently expanded to create toast with legs and bottles with legs. I have covered her work previously here.

Giusi Tomasello has been busy so far this year. This is her second mural on Blackall Street; a few weeks ago, she painted in a paint jam with an all-female group of street artists. I covered her work in that paint jam here. This time, she pays tribute to David Bowie.

Gary Alford created the above murals; he is an artist from Margate.

Kapesex and Bismer One created the above mural. I couldn't capture the whole mural as it covers several parts of scaffolding on Blackall Street.

Float and Pang collaborated on the above mural. The most recent mural that Pang collaborated with was one with Nagel on Hanbury Street, which I covered here.

Mutiny uses street art to draw attention to endanged species, and this mural draws attention to the golden-shouldered parrot. The artist painted another mural in the same spot earlier in January, which I covered here.

Gent48 

PrefID has painted in this area of London before, and his pieces are fun because they form a phrase or a couple of words that you need to spend time trying to make out in two-dimension. This one says "say hi from me". The colours and style of the text helps to pick it apart.

Greek street artist SER has painted in London before, and this recent and colourful piece appeared a few days ago. I have previously covered a different style of work by the artist before, which you can read about here.

Saturno The Creator created the above piece.

Zina painted the above piece, which spells out "recognize".

Elno was another female artist who painted in the all-female Blackall Street paint jam in January, covered in my post.

In addition to the above, Rioter painted a new mural after her contribution in January.

I came across Jim Vision finishing a new mural in the location where he had previously painted (but had not changed for a long while). London's streets have seen a lot of his work over the past several years.

London Gdansk painted the above graphical lines, which reminds me a little of the technique that Dan Kitchener uses for his city scenes.

Dave the Chimp painted the above mural on the Village Underground Wall. I walked by when it was in its very early stages of conception. The artist highlights the importance of education, particularly in Iran where certain groups of people do not have equal access to education. 

Tizer, who often paints a more urban and grafitti style in London, painted this birthday tribute. I've previously covered some of Tizer's work here.

The work above is a collaboration between Artista, who I covered above, and Attai. 

Attai paints bird houses, and I covered the artist's work previously. The artist has painted quite a lot in London over the past year.

Rolling People

Neoh is well-known for painting ballerinas. I've previously covered his work here. 

The below works were taken over the course of last year, and I've liked them enough to include them here.

The Simpsons in Shoreditch

John Lennon 

El Jerrino

Rich Mix

Unknown

Misterpiro 

Goms

Mark Airbourne

Leo el Duende

I was keen to see the recent Donald Trump artwork by Furia (whose work I previously covered here), but that has been painted over now.

One street artist who was very active in the London street art scene last year is Mr. Cenz, and I previously covered this artist's work here. The newest mural by the artist was painted in Soho last autumn, and managed to photograph it last month. The work features the portrait of a woman in the artist's trademark grafitti-style with the use of abstract angles and bright colours. The green woman appears with blue sky in the background and covers quite a large wall.

In addition, I have used this post to show other photographs of Mr. Cenz's work to have appeared over the past year that I've not yet posted. The murals below appear were on the same wall on Curtain Road and replaced with a fresh piece (the top image). 

Off Brick Lane, the artist painted this beautiful green and purple lady with whimsical angles and shapes.

My favourite piece is one on a building near Shoreditch High Street Station that the artist refreshes now and again. The green portrait has an almost-cyborg resemblance with the woman's eye. This is a stunning work.

Another road off of Brick Lane also has a wall where the artist refreshes his work. 

I also discovered an early mural near Bethnal Green station.

The artist has also painted on scaffolding a lot last year, and I managed to capture the two images below before they were painted over.

I will be posting more work by Mr. Cenz when I find them on the streets of London.

Last Sunday, a new mural appeared in Knightsbridge by street artist Banksy. The artwork was painted up on scaffolding on the side of a building and was available for all to see until it was boarded up in the afternoon. The artwork was removed later this week, so I was not able to see it to get a photograph. The mural was painted to highlight the issues in Calais in France with gas being used on the migrants/refugees. It was painted outside the French embassy. A QR code goes to a website about the situation in Calais. The subject of the mural is Cosette from 'Les Miserables' (with a French flag) and cloud of smoke coming from a can. Banksy's work normally display subjects of an important political statement.

Banksy mural - photograph from Telegraph

Having this mural boarded up and then removed is such a shame because others are not able to enjoy it.

At the beginning of this month, street artist Dan Kitchener (whose previous work I covered here and his work at Upfest can be seen here) painted a mural called "Downtown" off of Brick Lane. It took him approximately five hours to paint this mural, which features street scenes of Tokyo. Much of his work features scenes of busy streets with cars and shilouettes of people at night with the glowing lights. Below is a close-up of the wall.

The full wall can be seen below.

Toward the end of last year, the artist also returned to one of his works on Brick Lane and touched up a panel on the door underneath one of his Japanese female / geisha portraits.

I am looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings for street art.

Earlier this month, I took a visit to Blackall Street in order to check out the street art scene. Over a year ago, the buildings here started to come down and scaffolding has been placed up that has been reclaimed by street and grafitti artists. Blackall Street was always one of the destinations that I'd go to see street art even before the buildings came down. This month, a group of all-female street artists banded together to paint up the scaffolding here. The photographs can be seen below.

Pyklops

Mutiny (Jane Laurie)

Giusi Tomasello

Elno

Mondi

Nerone

New Art Rioter

Mondi

When I visited, street artist Kaes (covered here) was also creating a new piece between the work that the girls painted. You can see how the artist paints in his unique style with panels of colour before adding the fine details and highlights of colour. Contrast the piece directly below with the green portrait underneath it, which is finished.

Every time I visit Blackall Street, there is something new to look at. 

I visited all thirty of the illuminated art installations in the Lumiere London exhibition last night. Lumiere London is a free-to-visit four-day event held in four main locations in the city of London (Westminster, Soho, Mayfair, and King's Cross). The exhibition started on Thursday night (the 14th of January) and continues until the 17th; Sunday is your last night to see the lights. The lights switch on at 6:30pm and switch off at 10:30pm. Quite a few of these were mesmorising, and I encourage you to see it. However, prepare to dress warmly with gloves and warm coats and comfortable walking shoes as it was so cold on Thursday night and is due to get even colder. Also be prepared for crowds. Thursday night was busy but manageable.

Lumiere London is produced by Artichoke and supported by Mayor of London. Artichoke started Lumiere by bringing it to Durham in 2009; it runs every other year and attendance grows each time. In 2013, it travelled to Londonderry for its City of Culture year. This is the first year it has come to London. It is a welcome event for this time as year as the holiday season has come to an end and there's a lack of colour. I've read somewhere that it's also considered the most depressing time of the year, so an event like this is perfect.

The Light of the Spirit by Patrice Warrener

The Light of the Spirit by Patrice Warrener

My first stop was to Westminster Abbey where I waited as I arrived early. This projection onto the abbey facade illuminates the beautiful architecture that we often do not notice. The colours of the statues are design was constant, but the colours of the abbey on both sides changed from solid colours to different sections in colour, and some of the examples can be seen above. Varying shades of green, blue, pink, purple, red, orange, yellow, and white were projectd onto the abbey and each colour faded into the next.

Plastic Islands by Luzinterruptus

This installation is inspired by the large floating area of debris in the ocean where the ocean's currents have pushed it together. The fountain at Trafalgar Square is transformed into an illuminated floating plastic bottle bin. I think this piece highlights that we need to recycle plastic and consume less.

Neon Dogs by Deepa Mann-Kler

This installation features neon lights in the shape of balloon dogs and bones. It was inspired by the balloons at children's parties and is meant to bring a smile to the viewer's face. I loved the piece, but I was disappointed in the set-up inside the unwashed windows of Coutts Bank on the Strand. The neon dogs were each in one of five panel windows and difficult to see all together. Above is one of the separate panels.

Centre Point Lights

These lights have been removed from the top of the Centre Point building at Tottenham Court Road. People (myself included) have often used this building and those lights to know their location or direction in the city. The lights have only been temporarily removed to show at this exhibition while work is being completed on the building.

Garden of Lights by TILT

This illuminated garden featuring giant flowers and plants of different colours and shapes transforms Leicester Square into a glowing paradise. The reeds around Shakespeare's statue seem like it is a swamp area, and the warm glow of the lights makes winter seem far away. I loved this installation, but the square was so busy and it is difficult to take photographs to show how beautiful it was and how it felt to be there.

Elephantastic! by Topla-design 

This fantastic installation shows an elephant in the archways high above the buildings on the southern end of Regent Street. The elephant moves, stomps to bring dust up, swishes its tail, and raises its trunk to  trumpet. There are additional jungle sounds and sounds of the elephant moving and stomping. On the opposite side of the archway, the back of the elephant can be seen. This projection made it appear that there really was an elephant high up in the archway.

Les Luminéoles by Porté par le vent

Piccadilly Street came to live with these illuminated floating and glowing fish-like creatures. As the three fish were raised and lowered by their handlers, their fins swirled behind them in the air. Glowing lanters also blocked off the area where they could float in the sky. The fish also changed colour from gold to purple to blue to green. In addition, sound was also played along this stretch of the street to set the atmosphere for these luminous creatures. Unfortunately, they were a pain to photograph due to the sheer volume of visitors, street furniture, cables, and the way they moved. I'm sure I could have gotten better photographs if I hung around and waited for the right moment, used other camera settings, and found the right place, though. 

195 Piccadilly by NOVAK

195 Piccadilly by NOVAK

This mural is projected onto the BAFTA building on Piccadilly Street. It features footage of all genres found in the archives. The building was originally the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters, so the animation between images of the actors are done in an artistic way. Sometimes, blocks of colour appear to be 'thrown' onto the canvas that is the building, and these colours 'drip' down, or appear to be painted across the building in long strokes. This is all set to classical music. The above is a small selection of the artwork projected, and this artwork was constantly changing with new 'strokes' being added with new portraits and shapes appearing.

I haven't changed my mind in a thousand years by Beth J. Ross

The text on both sides of the arcade was taken from a book of proverbs that the artist discovered in Durham Cathedral. She had her son rewrite these words before transforming them into neon lights. 

Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne

These illuminated human sculptures are located all around St. James' Square. Some are perched on the rooftops of the buildings in the square and others are suspended in mid-air while others appear to be floating or falling from tree branches. I was told by one of the guides that there are eleven of these sculptures to be discovered in the square; I only managed to locate ten. This work encourages visitors to look around them to try to find the illuminated beings.

Aquarium by Benedetto Bufalino & Benoit Deseille

The iconic red telephone box has been transformed into an aquarium. The artists wish us to dream about exotic locations to escape everyday lives. 

Spinning Night in Living Colour by Elaine Buckholtz

This piece is inspired by taking Van Gogh's All Night Café painting and spinning it. Video and light and sound is used to encourage visitors to sit down and look at the colours glow. The installation includes an original sound score by Floor van de Velde and Elaine Buckholtz, and this is based on a slowed-down version of Béla Bartók's Romanian Folk Dance no.3.

Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker for LBO LichtBankObjekte

The concept of this installation is to create a conversation piece to bring people together. The typical bench and light are combined to create the illuminated bench. The bench changes colour gradually to other colours, such as blue, red, purple, and yellow.

Brothers & Sisters by Ron Haselden

This installation was created based on images of school children from the Isle of Dogs, London. The work grows as it travels to new places and other children are encouraged to contribute it.

Dissect I and Dissect II by Sarah Blood

These illuminated cubes show off the form and space and invite the viewer to climb the stairs to take a look at other illuminated works.

Sanctuary by Sarah Blood

There are twelve of these illuminated birdhouses, from which bird sounds emit. The sounds appear to 'speak' between the different houses. The bird sounds ('caw caw') are created by humans, and the sounds did create some laughter with some other visitors.

Keyframes by Group LAPS

These dancing stick men have a story to tell, and music is used while they climb up and somersault down the facade of the building. They seem to chase each other around the building as they tell their story. This iteration consisted of a little stick man at the bottom jumping up to touch the others and make them disappear, as in a video game, and video game music and noises were included. This was very fun to watch and the crowd seemed pleased.

 
Shaida Walking 2015 by Julian Opie

This new artwork was created to premiere at London Lumiere, and it features a woman walking. The glowing woman is on a pedestal like a statue that appears to move. This work is similar to neon signs but makes the subject appear to be one of us.

London by Janet Echelman 

This is a beautiful installation strung between buildings at Oxford Circus. The net-like sculpture floats above the streets and moves slightly in the breeze, always changing shape slightly. The sculpture also appears completely different from different angles, and it gradually changes colour. This piece was created based on the Japanese tsunami and is built on the model reprsented from NASA data about how Earth's rotation was sped up and how that day was shortened by 1.8 microseconds. The structure is also inspired based on fishing nets used in India. Visitors are encouraged to play with the colours projected onto the piece using technology when they are at the artwork by going to a special WiFi network and typing in a website address.

Platonic Spin by Nathaniel Rackowe

This animated cube animates in three sections. One at a time, each pane lights up until the whole form is lit. It is suspended in mid-air.

Joining the Dots by Cleary Connolly

This illuminated projection actually symbolises the human form as a series of dots showing where the joints would be. The dots move around the building. These are based on actors doing tasks such as running, walking, swimming, and dancing. The viewer is encouraged to determine if they are male or female, young or old. 

IFO (Unidentified Flying Object) by Jacques Rival

IFO (Unidentified Flying Object) by Jacques Rival

This giant birdcage is lit all the way around, and the neon colours gradually circle around and change. Viewers are encouraged to walk inside where there is a swing to swing on. This is a permanent installation. It was initially meant to be raised in the sky on a crane, but it will rest permanently in this square at King's Cross and act as an urban playing area.

Pipette by Miriam Sleeman, Tom Sloan, Allies & Morrison, Spiers + Major

This installation is a permanent one at King's Cross, which is currently being redeveloped. Colours are projected onto an illuminated wall. 

Light Graffiti by Floating Pictures

This interactive artwork combines different colours of light and visitors can 'draw' in the light using a special torch, which acts as a spray can. 

binaryWaves by LAB[au]

This installation is a group of several panels which uses electromagnetic waves from mobile phones and cars to create light out of these waves around us that we normally would not see. The lights continuously change.

Litre of Light by Mick Stephenson

This installation discusses the importance of light and how light can change lives. In developing and war-torn countries, this is a solution that has helped the disadvantage. Creating light using water, a plastic bottle, and a drop of bleach helps to refract the light. This installation shows this in action with members of the team speaking to the visitors about this solution in more detail.

Spectra-3 by FIELD.io

This is a moving installation that combines light and sound. The satellite dish moves 360 degrees, and the mirrors are attached to the front where light is reflected and creates shapes on visitors and the walls and ceiling.

Diver by Ron Haselden

This illuminated diver was inspired by the work of schoolchildren who were asked to draw the Olympic games. The diver takes on different poses before plunging into the pond below. Each pose is lit up as the diver nears the ground, and all figures are illuminated at the end.

Circus of Light by Ocubo

A circus is performed on the side of a building at King's Cross, and the architecture of the building is often used in the circus performance. This piece really made me feel that I was at the circus.

Dresses by Tae Gon Kim

A series of illuminated dresses were placed around Soho and King's Cross. Each one is unique, and they all gradually change colour. Unfortunately, I kept capturing the blue colour, but I saw the dresses appear in all other colours, and they looked stunning.

Candy floss (cotton candy) light sticks were given out for visitors who saw all of the illuminations at King's Cross. Be sure to pick up a paper at the visitor centre. At each attraction, the visitor asks for a stamp so they can claim the free glowing candy floss. I actually did not know about this until I asked someone with one where they got the candy floss from, and they told me. I then convinced the lady inside the centre that I had been to all illuminations at King's Cross (which I had), so I was able to go inside a rave tent where people were dancing and where a lady dressed all in pink was creating the candy floss light sticks. 

I recommend visiting Lumiere London over the next three days. You can also separate the walk into two sections in order to cut down the miles walked and do the walking at a more leisurely pace. You can quite easily see all in an evening, though. If you do want to break it up into two nights, you could see all of the ones in King's Cross on one night and all the ones in Soho/Westminster/Mayfair on another night. All locations have some brilliant not-to-miss pieces. Hopefully this guide can allow you to determine which ones you particularly wish to see.

'Colour the Capital' and 'Spray for Pray' were two street art events in London at the end of last year. The work featured in this post is from artists Pez and Vova Zomb, whose work can often be seen in the city of London. Spanish street artist Pez ('fish') has been to London a few times and always paints his smiling 'fish' characters. The artist started to paint in Barcelona in 1999. Vova Zomb is a Russian illustrator who lives in London.

'Smile or Die' was a series of murals created by Pez around London. In addition, he also made 'don't worry, I'm happy'.

Following the second attacks in Paris, 'Spray and Pray' was born. Vova Zomb created his character illustrations in Star Yard next to Pez's piece, and the mural appears to mimic stained glass and a religious theme. 

The works are colourful and I think they do create their objective of bringing more colour to the streets of London.

Early last year, I posted about Mexican street artist collective Lapiztola and the mural they painted off of Brick Lane. I really liked the work that they created, and I was happy to see that the collective were back in London torward the end of last year with the other Mexican artists. Lapiztola were formed (as a group of graphic designers) in 2006 in Oaxaca in Mexico, and their work is produced with stencils and often features political and social views. Originally, they were put together to highlight these struggles in their hometown before focusing on further afield. 

In fact, the name 'Lapiztola' actually translates into 'pencil' and 'pistol' because they are inspired to try to make the world a better place through their art. Many of their creations feature children as the innocents caught up in horrible struggles. The young boy in this image appears in a state of shock or upset while the flowers pour around him.