Street Art

This street art is located just outside the Spitalfields Market area, kind of to the back in a parking lot. When I first saw this, I had to debate whether I actually thought it "enhanced the space" or not. I was kind of leaning toward "not," just because it's so chaotic and rather strange, but then I really thought about where I was. The Spitalfields Market is a fun, "young" area, with lots of art and antiques and vintage fashion and other crazy objects for sale, perused by young, artistic and fashion-forward type people. It's gone a long way from being the city's vegetable market. When I consider the context, the winged wrecking ball smushing a white car on top of a Dumpster with a cactus nearby seems to just kind of fit. And I'm pretty sure that's one of "Space Invader"'s installations in black and white above it.

For my second space-enhancing bit of street art, I had to look a lot harder. I just wasn't finding anything that I actually liked. There were a few things I thought of writing about just because they seemed to be more intricate than the usual sort of vandalism, but my heart really wasn't in it. Then yesterday, as I was coming home on the Tube after a lovely day at Kew Gardens, I saw it. There was a brick wall near the Tube tracks, covered with graffiti and tags and all sorts of meaningless vandalism. The spray paint was all different colors, especially red, black, and yellow, but on top of the squiggly tags was a true work of art. Some enterprising individual had painted a perfect pink Foxglove plant over the chaos. The plant was executed with perfect precision, with every detail being true to life. Whoever had done that had either had extensive botanical knowledge or a very accurate picture to follow. I didn't see any other words painted, but I wonder if the artist knew about the plant's hidden attributes. If he had gone to the trouble of painting a perfectly realistic Digitalis, I would assume he did. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), has been used for ages as a poison. In small doses, it will speed up the heart's beats, making it a valuable medicine, but in a larger dose, it speeds up the heart till it gives out. It is an extremely deadly poison, capable of killing with just a little leaf. I really enjoyed seeing this beautiful piece of street art, especially coming home from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Whoever the artist was, they obviously put thought and care into this piece. Because I was on the Tube, not expecting to need my camera, I unfortunately did not get a picture of this beautiful artwork. The posted picture is of one of my own Foxglove plants at home, the same type and color of the one painted on the wall.

Walking with Professor Mackey through the East End, I happened upon this sticker on a stop sign. I decided I really don't actually like Shepard Fairy's Andre the Giant image. It just seems sort of silly that this one artist took another man's iconic image and stuck this cartoonish face up everywhere. It feels more like a branding scheme than a true art movement. Because the image is never significantly altered, its purpose seems to be more about promoting Shepard Fairy than promoting some artistic idea. Obviously Fairy has artistic talent (his Obama-Hope portrait proves this) but this particualr campaign seems to me to be more about the artist than the art.

Sticker somewhere around the Brick Lane area

I saw the image again on the way to and from our trip to Bath

I saw this piece on the side of a wall in Brick Lane. Obviously, the artist put some serious work into it, and I would definitely say that it is a step above graffiti or vandalism, but I just don't think it does anything productive. To me, it just seems too busy and too chaotic. Something about it just makes me not like it. I also don't get it. "After Lives"? What do those words have to do with the little green sketchy men with bad teeth and checkerboards? The artist apparently was proud of this work, though, since he signed it. Sorry, Nathan Bowen, but I just don't get "Movement."