Street Art

1)      I found this piece of art near the Spitalfields Market in Shoreditch. From far away I thought it was just another example poster-like piece of street art reproduced from Kinkos. As I moved closer this “reproduced” street art was actually a carving into the wall. Somebody must have taken hours or even days to chisel away at the concrete wall. I feel that this graffiti enhanced the landscape of this area and resembles something that should be in an art gallery despite being surrounded by vandalistic graffiti. The expression in the man’s face and eyes provoked my thought as to what the artist inspiration was and if this symbolizes something.

2)      I also found this piece near the Spitalfields Market in Shoreditch. Again, this piece of street art did not diminish the landscape; rather it enhanced the feeling of public art in the area. In fact this was right across the street from the chiseled piece of art. I was really fascinated by the intricate detail and optical illusion effect of the winking woman, butterfly, and British flag. It all depends on how you look at the piece as which figure comes into the foreground. I’m not sure the meaning of the street art but the artist is sure brilliant in his/her illusionistic technique of painting.

3)      I found this piece of street art on the Portobello Road. I think this is my favorite example of street art because clearly doesn’t diminish the landscape and more or less just made me laugh. If this was not done high above a garage I feel this wouldn’t have had the same effect. Also, if the phrase “made you look” wasn’t done in scrabble letters it wouldn’t be as funny.

4)      This piece of graffiti was on Brick Lane in London’s east side. Again, I would not classify this as diminishing the streetscape because I expected vandalistic graffiti here. Although, I would not classify it as street art either. This work seems to be disjointed but yet also has an element of beauty. Overall I think this is a wall that has been worked on by many artists which could be the cause of its disjointedness and therefore exudes little beauty and more notions of vandalism.