We’ve having wonderful summer weather in London and it has motivated me to get out and about. One Sunday afternoon, I went on the Street Art London walking tour which traipses around the areas of Old Street, Shoreditch, Hoxton and Hackney.
These Street Art London guys have a good network with local street artists, are familiar with their signature styles and keep up with the ever-changing scene. A lot of street art gets cleaned up by the council and what is around one week is gone several weeks hence. It’s a tough old world unless you’re Banksy.
My favourite piece on the walk is The Wasp at the Old Street roundabout. I already knew it but didn’t know its story. It was made by the artist Zadok one Friday night and he finished to a round of applause. The building owner loved it, and there it stays, preserved. Because of course, graffiti of this kind is illegal.
Big well-known pieces in a public area attract other artists and therefore, you tend to find the art occurring in clusters. Increasingly, however, street art and graffiti are becoming accepted art forms and some of the pieces we saw were commissioned.
As you would walking around a museum, I liked some pieces and I didn’t like others. I can’t possibly describe everything I saw – and it would take the fun out of your tour – but there were two that I found especially fascinating. One was Ben Wilson’s colourful works on chewing gum that’s been permanently embedded into the pavement. And the other was the Mexican-born Pablo Delgado whose humorous miniature paper scenes are elusive to the un-trained eye. You have to get down and dirty on the pavement to spot them.
Note though, the tour is 4 hours and includes a lunch break at the halfway point. I went on a hot day and flagged in afternoon sun in the last half hour of so. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and at £15, great value for money.
Enjoy the pictures.
~ Spotted Cow
Wandering Cows 
You must be logged in to post a comment.