wonderful graffiti

Woebot

Well-known member
back in 2000 in the days before ambitious graphic designers used graffiti as a way to get column inches in style mags (stand up Bansky u twat) there was an artist who used to adorn my local streets around clerkenwell. his boundary was faringdon road on the west, city road to the north and east and old street to the south. a really tiny square mile:

<img alt="area.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/area.jpg" width="500" height="334" border="0" />


i just loved this guys work. so much so that i took photos of my favorite pieces, all of which have subsequently been destroyed in our areas perpetual gentrification. i know very little about this guy. three anecdotes only:

1) my old friend mike dfuse had one of pictures on the wall.

2) this was from a "happening" that the dude arranged. the little alleyway that runs between dallington street and compton street was, for one day, filled with pieces of his work. and the rule was you were only allowed to take one home. sadly i found out about this about a month too late (bloody typical!)

3) the guy who used to work downstairs from mike at the artomatic printers lab (artomatic was NEVER going to work out) knew the bloke.

check these pictures out. me, i think theyre divine.

<img alt="01.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/01.jpg" width="500" height="748" border="0" />

<img alt="02.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/02.jpg" width="500" height="340" border="0" />

<img alt="03.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/03.jpg" width="500" height="775" border="0" />

<img alt="04.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/04.jpg" width="500" height="757" border="0" />

<img alt="05.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/05.jpg" width="500" height="764" border="0" />

anyway, the other night i was staggering home, feeling quite subjective after a few too many pints and

HEY PRESTO!

there on the traffic light by the faringdon road, a few metres from where the monkey graphic was four years ago was this sticker. now correct me if i'm wrong, but that looks like its the same guy's work?!?

<img alt="06.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/graffiti/06.jpg" width="500" height="662" border="0" />

who is this masked genius? why has he switched to stickers? whats the dealio?
 

originaldrum

from start till done
great post wobot, his work is awesome and very innocent

many writers have turned to stickers nowadays , easier and quicker, specially when your getting a little long in the tooth and want to stay out of the clink (but still get the fame)

any more pics greatly appreciated
 

gff

Active member
where would you get a hold of a usps label in the uk?? certainly adds another layer to the (imagined) story. great great stuff in any case.
 

robin

Well-known member
could it be pete fowler,the guy who designs the super furry animals covers?
have a look at radiator era single covers,very similar style...
 

Woebot

Well-known member
robin said:
could it be pete fowler,the guy who designs the super furry animals covers?
have a look at radiator era single covers,very similar style...
good suggestion robin but, nah, it's not him. he's very much a clerkenwell geezer though.

fowler has a slightly baroque twist to his stuff which to be honest i've never been that fond of, a bit, "look i can draw!" you're right about this sfa one though, very pared down.
 

jd_

Well-known member
Somebody in Toronto's been tagging "Val Kilmer" and pasting up his head shots in alleys. I don't know what it's about but they're funny to see around the place.
 

DavidD

can't be stopped
hmm yeah I have a bunch of pictures i've taken somewhere on my computer; i'll look through and see if i can find some really great ones. Chicago used to be a huge graf city and it still is to a degree but once they illegalized the sale of spray paint w/in chicago's city limits it slowed things considerably.

Here are a couple i already have uploaded though:

paintwall.jpg

DSCF0108.jpg

DSCF0124.jpg




More memories - in high school a bunch of ppl i knew were really into it. They called themselves "1up" and i saw their tags everywhere. Only a couple of them were actually any good as artists, but i do remember it being really big at my high school. I remember my friend ernesto positioning me to block him from view when he tagged up a bus stop. THe woman across the street, a tall, commanding looking black woman would catch them doing it sometimes and she would step out on her front porch and yell at them to ruin their own damn neighborhoods. In my memory I picture her holding a rolling pin but that's probably just my 'magination.

Here's a couple more; i took these around my neighborhood in summer 2003, i think most of them have since been painted over.

aaa.jpg

aac.jpg

aag.jpg
 
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DavidD

can't be stopped
I hope I didn't derail the thread there. I'm interestd in how graf is so different in europe from the u.s., like an entirely different tradition.
 

Woebot

Well-known member
DavidD said:
I hope I didn't derail the thread there. I'm interestd in how graf is so different in europe from the u.s., like an entirely different tradition.

no dave this stuff rocks. no such thing as a derailed thread in my book.
 

monkeysblood

born to cry
nice

that monkey and the matchstick bods are excellent. i don't know what it is that gets me so excited about this type of stuff. the lines are like perfect. were they done with brush and paint or aerosol. looks like brushed on the scans. quite a buzz running round with yr paint pots at night i reckon.
 

notoriousJ.I.M

Well-known member
Spotted these pieces in and around Sonar (Barcelona) last June. They bear some stylistic similarities to the first photos posted.
web1.jpg
web2.jpg
web4.jpg
 

sufi

lala
jus a heads up!

iraqi grafitti is apparently resurgent since Saddam's demise
i posted up a load last night on "iraqi resistance" thread, as it's mostly not so graphic as what's here

some of is extremely funny, tho:
BUSH THE FATHER LIBERATED KUWAIT. BUSH THE SON LIBERATED IRAQ, THEN SYRIA, THEN IRAN. BUSH THE GRANDSON WILL LIBERATE THE WHOLE WORLD!
:D
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
did anyone see phil sherburne's piece on barcelona grafitti in xlr8r a while ago. i was actually with phil, wandering round the city when he took quite a few of the shots? they are great, so i'll try to scan some and post them maybe tomorrow.
 
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