Street Art Tour, east end of London - summer 2017

I took part in a walking tour on street art and graffiti in London's east end. This was the second time I took this tour. The last time was in 2015. The company I chose both times was Free Tours by Foot. They offer tours on many topics in London (and other cities worldwide). Professional guides lead you interesting places. For their work you pay as much or little as you like at the end of the tour. Our leader this time was Colin. He was highly energetic and entertaining as he led us around the east end looking at art on the street. He was very knowledgeable about the subject.

On the tour we learned about the many forms of art on the street and the various methods involved in making the art. There are works that are painted using spray cans, paint rollers and stencils. Other forms of art involve small and large sculptures made of bronze, plaster or polyurethane, for example. Vinyl stickers are sometimes slapped on surfaces (even street signs). "Paste-ups" are often posters made at home and pasted on surfaces. Sometimes real objects are used, such as the famous cars of the artists D*Face and Banksy near the old Truman brewery. 

In this post I will show you the highlights of our tour. Most of the art I saw this year was different from the art I saw in 2015. That is not surprising. Street art is very temporary. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see a few pieces that are still around from 2015. This post focuses on the new art I found this year.

This is a photo of a mural on Hanbury Street, off of Brick Lane, in the east end of London. The artist is Sam Worthington, aka "Wasp Elder". He is from Cardiff and is now based in Berlin. He comes back to the UK to make street art and occasionally has solo shows in art galleries. This piece is called "Manufacturing Consent" and is obviously influenced by Noah Chomsky's book of the same name. Both Chomsky's book and Wasp Elder's mural are a commentary on mass media. Wasp Elder took 3 images from the news media about recent protests in the Ukraine and created this pastiche of characters for this mural. Wasp Elder's solo gallery exhibit from April 2017 in London ( called "Victims of Circumstances") contains the individual paintings of these three characters. From what I have seen on the Internet, Wasp Elder gravitates towards political themes in his works. His work is thought provoking. His website is www.waspelder.com

Another politically-based street art commentary is seen in this next "paste-up" on Spital Street. A "paste-up" is street art that is created at home and pasted on an outside surface. The inspiration for this piece came from Barack Obama's presidential campaign poster from 2008, designed by artist Shepard Fairey. The campaign poster was a drawing of Obama's head and the word "hope". In 2010 during the U.K.'s general election the British newspaper the "Sun" came out with the image of conservative leader David Cameron's head and the word "hope", borrowed obviously from the Obama campaign. The artist in the street art below is spoofing the Cameron poster by superimposing Cameron's head on Obama's head and writing "no hope".  This is in reaction to Cameron's departure as prime minister after the pro-Brexit vote won in 2016. He was clearly for remaining in the European Union.

"Un Kolor Distinto" is the name of the Chilean duo street artists Sammy ("Jekse") Espinoza and Cynthia ("Cines") Aguilera. They are based in Valparaiso, Chile and have been commissioned by the local government to create public works of art in that city. Their works have spread to other cities in Chile as well as international locations. Their tools are spray cans. The style is very "distinct" with bright colors (hence the duo's name "Un Kolor Distinto"). The figures represented in this art have been called by some as reminiscent of those in surrealistic art. More information about the artists can be found by doing an Internet search (though much is in Spanish with little or no English translations).

Jose Sabate (aka "el Pez") from Barcelona has a very distinctive artist signature on his street art - a smiling fish. The fish signature has overtaken many of his pieces of art. The fish figure evolved from a drawing of the letters "Pez" (fish in Spanish) to a combination of those letters and a fish-shaped figure. Eventually the fish figure survived on its own without the word "Pez". The artist wanted to spread happiness so he made the smiling fish. In addition to fish, the artist has incorporated monsters, demons and other creatures into his work. He is known internationally. This work below was created in 2015 for a project to beautify east London. It is located off of Brick Lane, in a cul-de-sac area called "Seven Stars Yard". Note the crossed out word "peace", replaced by "Pez". Also the words "Montana Colors" in the upper left hand corner refer to the artist's preferred brand of spray paint from a Barcelona-based company.

East London based street artist Jim Rockwell, aka "Jim Vision", has produced some wonderful art mostly based on the world of fantasy. In 2015 when my husband and I did a street art walking tour of the east end of London we were shown a huge tribute mural to the British fantasy writer Terry Pratchett. Unfortunately the work has been painted over, as happens to most street art. My guide this year showed me a smaller work by the same artist. The subject is an owl. I have seen many pieces with owls done by this artist. He must like that bird!

Jim Vision heads an artist collective called "End of the Line". Among some of their activities they paint huge murals for businesses who want outdoor advertising. Jim also heads up an annual art festival in the east end of London called "The Meeting of Styles", where artists of all sorts come together and create art. 

The east London street artist "Stik" has created a unique stick figure of 6 lines and 2 dots to convey messages of unity during troubling times in communities around London and the world. He is based in Shoreditch, an area in the east end of London. He started making street art in 2002. For a period of about 10 years he was homeless and living on the streets or in homeless shelters in east London. His works range from smaller pieces to murals - some authorized to be painted, others not. He leaves us with social commentary about the state of local communities. It is amazing how he can express so much with a simple stick figure. He is the social conscience of the community.  With his art he has spoken out in support of public health services, the preservation of communities in the face of urban development and other topics. This piece of Stik art is located on Princelet street in the east end of London. I am not clear what the topic is. I can guess it may be unity in diversity. I think someone added the elephant in the piece, as I have seen photos of this work without the elephant. For more information on the artist do a search on the Internet.

On Hanbury Street in the east end of London are several murals, including the first one I wrote about by Wasp Elder. Here is another by "Senzart 911", South African artist Senzo Nhlapo. There is little information about him on the internet. He has a Facebook page (Senzart 911) and blog on Wordpress.

His art is very colorful and African-influenced.

Another artist with work on Hanbury Street is the Brazilian Alex Senna. He is known for drawing black and white silhouette figures. He often portrays the neglected in society and shows their humanity in scenes of love and solitude. His work appears worldwide on streets and in art galleries. Here is a solitary figure and his shadow on Hanbury Street. There is more information on the artist and his art online.

The London artist "Stedhead" (aka Meagan Hindley) has a background in illustration. She is inspired by body contour and motion. In this street art in the Seven Stars Yard area off of Brick Lane she shows her love of those things plus music. Her art is seen all over - on walls, in shows and festivals, and even on bodies as tattoos. More information about her is on Facebook under "Stedhead Art".

The British born Ghanaian artist Neequaye Dreph Dsane (aka "Dreph") is based in London. He has just completed a series of 10 large scale outdoor portraits of notable local African/Caribbean women who are making significant contributions to improve the lives of the young and underrepresented. The portraits are in various locations around London. This particular portrait below is of Myvanwy Evans from Shoreditch. She helps mentor young disadvantaged people in the area. This portrait is also in the cul-de-sac Seven Stars Yard, off of Brick Lane. The series of paintings is called "You are enough". All of the ladies featured have shown remarkable courage in helping others.

"Mr. Cenz" is a London-based artist. He paints in several styles -from graffiti style letters to human forms. His latest projects have been women's heads. He paints in an abstract and flowing manner.

This piece below is on a garage door in Seven Star Yards cul-de-sac off of Brick Lane, east end of London. His other portrayals of women are in a similar style.

If you look up on the top of buildings in London, Los Angeles, Queens NY, Cracow or even Berlin, you might find a colorful mushroom perched on the roof. That is the work of South African Christiaan Nagel. He is based in London and travels worldwide to spread his mushrooms. They are made of polyurethane ("surfboard foam"), fiberglass and stainless steel. Christiaan spent a lot of time surfing as a kid, so he was familiar with polyurethane.The mushrooms come in bright colors- blue, yellow and pink. He came upon the form of a mushroom while he was experimenting with those materials. He noticed the materials made a fine mushroom cap. Christiaan started putting up mushrooms on his own (in the middle of the night). He now receives commissions for many of his mushrooms. This mushroom I photographed is on Brick Lane in the east end of London.

Christiaan also paints pictures and his works have appeared in exhibitions. 

D*Face, aka Dean Stockton, is a London-born artist. He has a background in illustration. He grew up riding skateboards and was interested in the stickers pasted on skateboards. He was introduced to subway graffiti in NYC by looking at pictures in publications. His art is influenced by pop culture. He is a fierce critic of the evils in the modern world, such as consumerism. The Stolen Space Gallery in London often features his solo shows. His art has been featured all over the world in shows. Below is one of his street art pieces, located off of Brick Lane near the old Truman Brewery. The round head with wings is apparently his artist's signature. It appears on many of his works.

Clet Abraham is a French artist, trained in sculpture and oil painting, who lives in Florence Italy. He is known all over Europe and Japan for his stickers that he applies to street signs. These stickers provide an amusing modification of the sign without defacing the sign. He wants to draw more attention to the traffic signs. They are often overlooked and ignored by drivers.

This sign is on Brick Lane. 

Clet has received mixed reactions from local authorities over his stickers. Some go along with it and even collaborate with him on further projects. Others find it inappropriate. His main opposition came in Japan, where his girlfriend was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned for helping post Clet's stickers in Japan.She was picked up by local Japanese authorities after he had left town. She was eventually released. He has been fined in the past for "defacing" street signs.

"Jonesy" is a Welsh artist based in London. He is a multi-faceted artist with activities in sculpture, painting, jewelry and musical instrument making. He is an environmental activist. That is often reflected in his art. In London some of his contributions to street art comes in the form of small bronze sculptures placed high on top of street signs or on walls. Here is an example of a decorated sign post in the east end of London.

Gregos, a French artist, has been plastering his image on walls worldwide for quite a while. He makes a 3D cast of his face with various expressions and puts them up all around. Some are big. Others are small. Some have a tongue sticking out. Others don't. Happy, sad. You name it. He is a self-taught artist. He experimented in different mediums before coming to sculpting. He encourages you to send him selfies with his sculpted masks. See his Facebook page for that activity. Below is an example of a Gregos mask from the east end of London. It does tend to startle you the first time you see one!

This concludes my blog post on street art from the tour in August 2017. I plan on taking this tour many times as there is always something new to see and a new artist to discover. I highly recommend this tour and this tour company, Free Tours by Foot. 

Victoria and Albert Museum - Britain 1760-1900

From 1760-90 in Britain there was a revival of Greek and Roman influences on architecture and design. Many call this " neo-classicism". Architects not only designed the outside of buildings. They also designed many interior elements of buildings, including carpets, furniture, door handles, kitchen utensils and vases. The vase collection is extensive in this part of the museum. Here are some Wedgwood vases designed by Josiah Wedgwood.

Here are some vases decorated with Ancient Greek themes.

This elaborate Persian style candle vase (1771) came from a noble's house in London.

There are display cases of dining rooms from 1760-1830. The French influenced the style with silver dinner service and porcelain dishes.

The textile printing industry thrived from the 1760-1840. Furniture and clothing reflected this. Here are material for chair backs and cloth for clothes.

Fancy objects in your home was all the rage. Here is an out of focus music stand from 1810. At least you can see the crescent shape, based on the shape of a Greek leather shield.

Alas styles and tastes change and move in a different direction. The Roccoco style came in vogue the early 19th century.  Chinese and Indian influences crept into architecture and interior design during this time as well. A prime example is the willow pattern on plates (that blue and white depiction of a Chinese legend that you still see on grandma's plates). The Brits developed the design. A Gothic revival started in the late 18th century. It was regarded as a "morally superior style" as it was "British and Christian" and not "foreign and pagan". This Gothic style was seen in the rebuilt Palace of Westminster (parliament building) after it burned down in 1834. New designs were made for the chairs and wallpaper of parliament (from 1847-51).

In 1851 was the Great Exhibition of goods from England and her empire. It was a world fair. Queen Victoria especially liked the new Majolica glazes (of tin) on ceramics. Here is an example on a wine cooler. The queen called it " the Victoria wine cooler". She ordered some for her palace. 

Trade increased between Britain and her colonies in the mid 19th century. Importing and exporting happened more frequently with the aid of rail and steamships. As Japan opened its ports in 1850 to American and European powers, new design ideas crept into Britain. Nature themes and simplicity of form were elements taken from Japanese design. In 1870 a movement called "aestheticism" came and combined Japanese and Greek/Roman elements. 

These rooms are only a few of many interesting ones on design in art.  I leave you with a more contemporary piece that was hanging near a stairwell. I did not make it downstairs to see who it was by. The subject matter (of smashed brass instruments) is curious.

No comment....

British Museum - Mesopotamia area, 6000-539 BC

This museum covers ancient history from many parts of the world - Africa, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. I would recommend going on one of the free "eye-opener tours" that focus on a particular section of the museum. This is such a huge museum. If you are not headed towards a specific item or area in the museum and are overwhelmed by all that is offered here, it is a great idea to start with a tour.

Be prepared to wait in line to get in the museum, to get an audio guide and to get food. This is a popular place.

I took the tour called "Ancient Iraq" (although "Iraq" did not exist at that point). Rather it was the area called Mesopotamia, between the Tigres and Euphrates rivers, where this tour began. Some of the cities mentioned were Ur (in current southern Iraq), Nineveh and Babylon. 

The photo below of a lion is from the throne room of King Nebudchanezzar II, who reigned from 605-562 BC in Babylon. He said the lion represented himself. What an ego! He had a palace, walled city, a gate called " Ishtar" and a royal processional walkway. The city of Babylon was thriving then. The top of the wall was wide enough to allow 2 chariots to pass each other and was the fastest way to get around the city.

In the part of the museum about the city of Ur you find information about the development of writing, a popular board game and the Royal cemetery. Writing was first done with pictures drawn on clay tablets. Later symbols developed that represented sounds or abstract ideas (called "cuneiform"). I did not take pictures of the clay tablets as they were small and very detailed. Popular drawings represented items such as beer and barley (for bread making). These clay tablets were often receipts of goods bought or received. 

The popular board game "The Royal game of Ur" was around for about 3,000 years. It spread from this area to India and China. It involves 2 players moving game pieces around the board as efficiently as possible to finish first. In this photo you can see the game board, playing pieces (buttons) and 4 sided die. I think stick die too. The rule book for the game was written on the clay tablet.

Rumor had it that 2 bored guardsmen at a gate etched a game board on the base of a monument so they could play in their spare time!

A royal cemetery was found and archeologists were surprised to find luxury items in it, such as this silver lyre.

 This was rebuilt, as some of the wood on it had deteriorated. Much of it was made of silver, including the original pegs lying at the foot of the lyre. This instrument is from 2500 BC. 

Here is a text describing what archeologists found at the dig site of the Royal cemetery.

I guess the royals believed you had to take everything and everyone with them into the grave.

On to the area of Assyria and the city of Nineveh where King Ashurbanipal ( 668-630 BC) collected a library of texts from all over the area. It is the world's first library. The king asked everyone to make copies of texts from all over the empire and bring them to his library. Any subject was accepted. The texts were mostly copied on clay tablets. When a fire swept through the library in 612 BC, many of the clay tablets survived. The tablets in the photo below discuss rituals/protocol for a substitute king and queen if they had to suddenly come to power and the rituals/procedure for rebuilding a temple.

The library could have looked like this.

Some of the texts have been translated and can be found at http://oracc.org/asbp 

These were only highlights of the Mesopotamia area of the museum. The tour really helped make sense of what I was seeing. The audio guide helped also. I would recommend both. 

Pace yourself in this museum. Much to see here. 

Wimbledon -All England Lawn Tennis Club tour 2017

I visited the site of the Wimbledon tennis tournament for the third time and it never gets old. I always learn something new here. 

Hopefully there will be some new information for you too. I don't want to repeat myself with the same old stuff from my other Wimbledon posts. 

New to me-

The playing season for tennis at the club is from May through September on the outer courts (all the courts except for center, 1 and 2). The grass is re-seeded in October every year.

The center court and courts 1 and 2 are re-seeded in August, shortly after the tournament ends. They are played on less frequently. The center court grass was planted last week and it is already growing! The desired length of the grass is 8 mm on all courts. Here is center court with growing grass.

Center court has had a retractable roof since 2009. If the roof is closed for or during a match, it will not be re-opened during that match. Too much of a hassle. On court #1 they are putting on a retractable roof. Work on it stops around matches. It will be completed in 2019. Here they are resuming work on it.

The company IBM is responsible for all IT related issues, including keeping track of tournament statistics. Here is their nerve center.

Rufus the hawk and his hawk buddies are trained to fly around the tennis court and scare off the birds that are messing up the grass. I did not see him personally, but saw him on video. Watch out!

The BBC has the largest tv studio at the tournament. It costs a lot to broadcast the tournament. Other tv companies shell out lots of money to do so. Here is the BBC's studio you often see on tv during the tournament.

Tickets to the tournament are reserved seating for a whole day on a particular court for center court and courts 1 and 2. A ballot system is used to determine who is eligible to buy those tickets. Otherwise you stand in line on the day of the matches and buy a general admission ticket that will get you into any of the outer courts. Seating there is limited, so you have to run to your favorite court and nab a seat. Do not leave that seat ever or you will lose it to another person. No bathroom or food break for you!

In 1909 the Wimbledon colors of white, green and blue were established. White represents the official uniform color of the club. Green is for the grass. Purple...no idea. You see these colors all around the area and especially in the main interview room. Players are required to speak to the media after a match. If they don't, they will get fined. Here is that room.

The players enter through these doors for the tournament. They check in and go on their way from here.

The court with seating in the photo below is court #2. Surrounding it are outer courts.

All of the players at the tournament get paid prize money for participating. Of course the winners receive more money. This office is an important place.

There are 380 full members of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. They pay 100 GPB annually to belong. The process to become a member is lengthy, including being nominated and vetted. The club wants to know if you will fit into their expectations and participate in their social activities (as well as follow their dress rules to play tennis there). At the end of each year you are evaluated to see how you did. If you fail to meet the club's expectations, you will be denied membership forever more.

Former tournament players (around 100) are invited to be honorary members free of charge. They are often foreigners. If they are ever in London, they can play tennis there for free.

Our tour guide spoke about "designated debenture tickets". Not sure I completely understand what that is. I understand that you can buy a reserved ticket for the tournament that is good for 5 years. Costs a pretty penny!

250 ball boys and girls are chosen among local kids by application. There is a rigorous training involved with tests on fitness, standing still, bouncing the ball correctly, manners and rules of the game.

Here is a photo of the score of this year's men's finals on center court.

As you enter the club, the scores are also posted.

The Wingfield cafe serves delicious food, including strawberries and cream (a Wimbledon favorite).

The museum is worth visiting. New this year is a virtual reality experience complete with head gear. A movie is shown in 3D and a 360 degree view about the tournament and features clips from the 2016 men's and women's singles finals. It feels like you are on court with the players.

A lot of history is covered about the game of tennis. The balls used to be filled with hair, sand, wool and cloth and was covered by leather. It did not bounce well.

This fancy girl's dress was from a fancy dance party in Simla India in 1893. It is based on a badminton outfit. That game was played in India and brought to England by a British officer.

Of course there is a lot shown about the history of the tournament. These photos show the recent domination of certain players since the year 2000.

This is a sign a fan made that anticipated Roger Federer's win this year at the tournament - making it his 19th grand slam title.

The trophies are kept by the museum. All the winners' names from past tournaments are engraved on them. The recent winners' names are engraved on a new bottom part of the trophy as there is no room for any more names on the cup.

Definitely worth a half day visit to this hallowed ground of tennis!