We’ve had a busy month here at Global Street Art! SPEAR and LUNA travelled to London to paint the last few walls with our first Art for Estates project in Chalk Farm, OUST and our good friends The LOST SOULS CREW made art in East London, and we got the low-down on street art culture in cities across the world, from Tallinn to Taiwan! Read on!
Art For Estates
Art for Estates is a public art programme we’ve been working on for a little over a year now. The pilot estate in Chalk Farm, London, was completed this month by artists Spear and Luna. The Ferdinand estate was featured on The Londonist, the Evening Standard and even on ITV London News, including a snippet from artists Jo and Ed Hicks! Watch the feature here:
Spear travelled from Belgium to paint one of the final doors on the Ferdinand estate in Chalk Farm. Unfazed by the bitter cold snow, he spent the day painting this portrait of a friend from Columbia and spoke to us about travelling in South America, painting portraits of homeless and his first foray into tattooing! Play the video below for more of Spear’s wise words:
Swiss artist LUNA spent some time with us this month painting in Shoreditch and finishing off the last few doors on the Ferdinand estate, as well as doing a sketch for us in the GSA blackbook!
Keep an eye out on our YouTube channel and Instagram for videos of Luna painting this month!
Meet the Wallriors: street art in Taiwan
In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, The Wallriors festival invited artists from across the globe to paint all sorts of murals and installations. We featured work by artists such as Okuda, Sliks, Cloakwork and others on the blog with some amazing photography by @kevintsg!
See more artworks from The Wallriors Festival here
The Walls Project continues!
This month we had another chance to film Spzero76, Squirl and Si Mitchell and Kid Crayon (just one Captain Kris short of the Lost Souls Crew) in action, adding some of their signature quirky characters to the hoardings on Great Eastern Street as part of our #WallsProject:
Oust in Hoxton
Graffiti writer Oust was busy painting some inspired typography for this month’s Hoxton Window Project in collaboration with the arts education charity Children & the Arts. Watch his process below (and go check it out if you are passing through Hoxton Square!)
Estonia’s colourful street culture festival
Our eyes on the ground in Estonia, Merilin Ülem, took us on a virtual tour of Tallinn’s street art with her review of the Street Art Jam festival. Here she speaks about the cultural significance of Bonar‘s mural:
“The artist [Bonar] was inspired by the Estonian epic poem of Kalevipoeg, a vengeful giant who battles enemies of the nation and who is historically our national hero. The artist draws a parallel between Estonia’s history and the challenges which Kalevipoeg had to encounter in the epic poem. For Bonar, Kalevipoeg is the protector of Estonia and the symbol of strength.”
Read the full article here!
Just a few of the artworks featured in our review of the Street Art Jam in Tallinn, Estonia
What are the Wild Benches?
Finally, we discovered how and why Leon van de Vendel’s Wild Benches have been popping up all over Europe:
“Leon went out with chairs and benches cut in half and used a stencil to spray dotted lines behind the walls, now functioning as a seat back. Soon Leon was installing Wild Benches across his city, and people started to recognise them because of their funny and functional character. The social aspect of the Benches was a bonus; people conversed, ate and saw their city from a different vantage point by sitting on these benches.”
Read more about the Wild Benches project right here!
So that’s it for this month; which has been your favourite artwork? Keep an eye on our YouTube channel for more videos and expect to see new work from Hunto, Rafael Gindt, Amara por Dios, Captain Kris and loads more!
GLOBAL STREET ART 