Undeniably one of the best cities for graffiti/street art/murals, whatever you want to call it, when in town for the UK blog awards I made sure to set aside a day to wander the ever changing streets of east London and take in the latest.

With guys like Borondo and Nick Kuszyk recently in town, along with exhibitions from the legendary (in this case, the use of the word ‘legendary’ is entirely deserved) Thierry Noir and Rone there was plenty to pack into 24 hours in the capital.

To give enough attention to some of my favourite pieces, I’ve split this post into 2 parts, this being the first.

Check out what I saw below, and as always comment, share, get in touch on Facebook, or tweet me @urbankulturblog.

London based James Cochrane aka Jimmy C had been getting about recently, before setting off for the In Situ Festival in Paris. These 2 more recent pieces are some of the best examples of his portrait style constructed from circular spraypaint spots or squiggles.

I like getting really close to his outdoor works to check out how they were put together, it makes the fuller picture all the more impressive when you step back, these close-ups hopefully give you a sense of the idea.

I was really excited to check out Borondo’s work and was completely blown away. Not only by the quality of the pieces (they are visually some of the most impressive on the street just now) but the fact that there were so many.

Below are just two of his latest walls, off Brick Lane and next to Rough Trade Record Store. Check out part 2 of this blog post for something completely different from the stupidly talented Spaniard.

Fin DAC’s portraits have also been gathering lots of attention lately. I interviewed him for UKB back in 2012, but this was the first of his pieces I’ve seen in the flesh since then. The Irishman making good use of this spot alongside work from Malarky.

There’ve been plenty of tribute pieces online lately, marking the death of ‘The Godfather of House Music’, Frankie Knuckles. Paul Don Smith’s art often takes inspiration from film and music luminaries, this one was no different. His work is quite unassuming, small scale, often tucked away in doorways. Brick Lane is home to a number of his stencils, this being one of the most current I spotted.

Lastly I caught a glimpse of this from Cranio on the way to grab a bagel! The indigenous characters of his native Brazil that feature frequently more often than not are the vehicle for his thought provoking stance on identity, consumerism and corrupt politicians…among other things!

Part 2 coming soon, featuring further work from Borondo, as well as Rone, Nick Kuszyk and more…

Steven
UKB