A Lot of Street Art!

Well, here I am continuing with the street art theme of the previous postings.

After this post I will move on to the rest of our stay in London before blogging about last weekend when we were once again in Devon.

The above street art of a Space Invader (remember them from the 1980's - I used to love that game)

 is by a street artist who calls himself "Invader". No-one knows who he is but his work started appearing in Paris in 1998.

Effectively, a tile is created to look like a Space Invader and then is discreetly (remember no-one knows who he is) glued onto a wall. No two tiles are the same.

There is probably a political spin to his artwork - it is an indictment against the heavily surveillanced society in which we live in with CCTV cameras everywhere.

These tiles tell us to remember that we are being watched most of the time!

Another "Invader" tile.

Some more from "Roa" - see previous posts for more of his work.

The work of "Stik" - again see other posts for more of his work.

The owls are the work of "Dscreet". There is some more of his work later in this post.

This is the work of James Cochran aka JimmyC.

Our tour guide showed us this small door at the bottom of the art work of the man's face above and said that he had seen many little doors appearing "on the street" recently. He thought it may be a students school / college project but didn't know for sure!

As we walked past a disused piece of land we saw some street artists taking a break from the art work that they had started - see above. Even the spray cans are there as proof!

I don't know what this one is about but it was near to where the street artists referred to above were.

Another "Stik". Is it a comment on the "unheard people" in our society - the homeless, the drug addicts, the poor, the vulnerable. Those who want to shout but are not heard. Does the door signify people locked out of society?

Another artist who creates tile like sculptures and places them on walls. We were told his name but I can't remember - sorry!

Another "Invader" tile - Britain you're being watched!

Another "Roa" and just at the bottom right you can see another street art work which is further down this posting.

Remember Sesame Street! Pure nostalgia for me seeing this one!

Some more "Dscreet". This one is a collaboration with another artist whose name I have now forgotten.

There was so much to see. It would be impossible to recall every artists name.

This one is by Mr. Penfold and Malarky and if you look ever so carefully you can just about see - bottom left - another small door!

In case you missed it - I had taken a photo of it! Looks like a prison cell door.

Another piece by "Stik". I don't know why but it is controversial. It shouldn't be but it had a lot of people on the tour talking about it. Is "Stik" commenting on our prejudices and that we are really all the same.

This one was towards the end of our tour and I have forgotten who this one was by too!

This was the last street art that we saw. It is by "Mobstr" who is well known for his humourous turn of phrase.

Another of his work is the phrase:-

"EXPRESSION IS NATURAL

CONCRETE IS NOT".

A comment on our botoxed society as well as on freedom of speech by street artists!

Well, finally we have reached the end of the street art tour. I found it very exciting - something new on virtually every street corner. I enjoyed myself immensely and the walking did me a world of good! 

At the end of the tour having walked for miles we caught a taxi back to our hotel. We bathed and showered our tired limbs before catching another taxi to take us to go and see "War Horse" at the theatre. 

"War Horse" was FANTASTIC.

When we left the theatre we quickly grabbed a taxi and when we got back to the hotel we ordered Room Service as with our busy day we hadn't had time to eat!

The following morning after breakfast we made our way to the Natural History Museum. It was very crowded. I don't really do big crowds. We saw the dinosaurs and some birds before taking the decision to abandon the museum. The crowds were pushing you along so you couldn't really enjoy anything and you certainly couldn't take your time! We upped and left and went to Buckingham Palace and St. James's Park as Our Daughter said "Please, please can we go there - I want to see the squirrels again!"

The squirrels in St. James's Park have featured previously on this blog!

And soon will again!

Until next time.

June.