Carrying on from part 1 of the virtual street art tour of east London, which ended at the north end of Brick Lane, I meander my way back from Hanbury Street, cross back over Shoreditch High street and catch a few really nice walls on my way back to my initial starting point on Scrutton street, picking up a new favourite in Francisco de Pajaro along the way. More on that shortly…

To recap, we’ve had work from Alexis Diaz, Matt Adnate and C215 among others, but not to be outdone, this concluding part of the tour takes in some equally impressive art.

Cheshire Street…

Art is Trash. Art is Rubbish. Art is Garbage. This is anti-art. This is Francisco de Pajaro, and I absolutely love it. His statement on his website, although badly translated via an online tool, can’t help but keep the fire of the original text.

“Art is Trash rebels against all of you, to all of you who look the other way, toward walking poisoned with eyes glued to a mobile phone and to those who prefer to look at the windows of a fashion store, or admire the abhorrent architectures of large cities.”

His description of his work as being “an anti-art aesthetic weapon of mass destruction to human savagery, ignorance and intolerance in our society” can’t help but get a reaction. Created from the rubbish that is discarded on the streets, his work appears to be a comment perhaps on a global society increasingly prone to disposing of the imperfect without a second thought.

Dray Walk…

Carrying on down the main artery of East London’s street art scene, I veered off towards Rough Trade Records for a dig about their store. Last time I was down there Paul ‘Don’ Smith had just completed a really cool piece nearby as a tribute to the Godfather of House Music – Frankie Knuckles.

Another legend of music has sadly passed away since then. He paid his respects in the same spot by producing this portrait of the Bobby Womack.

More recently the suicide of Robin Williams highlighted the often taboo subject of depression that affects many today. A character whose work is still some of the finest in the business was appreciated by Smith by painting his character ‘Mork’ (from the TV programme, Mork and Mindy) on the same pillar.

Hanbury Street…

I pulled myself away from Rough Trade Records and rejoined Brick Lane briefly before nipping off onto Hanbury Street to catch this from Sheffield’s Phlegm completed, making great use of the slightly unusual space available.

His incredible, and slightly creepy monochrome wooden characters are always great to get up close to and see how they are put together.

Spinning round I caught this older shutter work from Dscreet, whose electrified owls only appear, fittingly, in the evenings and early mornings when this shop is closed – for nocturnal eyes only.

Behind this shutter lies work from Borondo, a window painted white and scratched away to create a really impressive effect. Take a look at Borondo’s work from this post earlier in the year.

This street is something of a hotspot, only a few yards down from Dscreet is this from NDA – an artist I’m not overly familiar with, but I’m definitely excited to see and find out more about.

Leonard Street…

Swedish artist and designer Amara por Dios, now living in London, created this just across from one of my favourite spots in this part of town, the Book Club. Her designs are great, her t-shirts I particularly like, with that vibrant Incan/Aztec inspiration bubbling just beneath the surface.

You should definitely check out more of her work.

Ravey Street…

What can been said about Ben Eine’s work that hasn’t been said before. A former graffiti writer whose lettering adorned many a wall and train in the past (illegally), now creates legal artworks in the main, not too dissimilar to this example. Iconic stuff.

New North Place…

Scrutton Street, and the end of the tour, is just around the corner, but what a way to finish. Roes’ wall just along the road from what appeared to be Boiler Room HQ – at least that’s what the gleaning metallic sign suggested – blew me away a bit! A surreal masterpiece, whose colours burst out against the backdrop of dirty brick walls.

And that was that – my super speedy tour around some of the finest art on the streets of this section of east London right now. Chances are by the time you’re reading this at least one will have disappeared (probably Francis de Pajaro’s Art is Trash installation), but if you get the chance to retrace my steps and check out at least a few of these, you’ll not be disappointed. And you’ll probably pick up a few new pieces along the way…

Steven
UKB