Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Exploring the Street Art of Camden

An area of London that we love is Camden - it's a truly eclectic mix of people and fashions. On Saturday we did a walking tour with Camden street art tours for two hours and got great insight into the street art world.

The first artwork was probably the one that excited me the most. Ben Wilson is an artist I read about years ago - he paints on discarded chewing gum on the sidewalks and I'd always hoped I would see one. As they are under foot the art doesn't last forever and this one is a little worn.  The picture is a street scene and is probably the size of a 20 cent coin (Australian coin).




Another feature of Camden is that Amy Winehouse lived there so there are several tributes to her.




Amy Winehouses favourite pub was the Hawley Arms - those who know me will know why I find that interesting. In fact it's a bit like Hawley town as several of the streets have this name as well.




The art is wonderful, all sizes and so many different styles. Here's just a few to give you a sense of the variety.








Not all the art is large, and not all is painted onto the space. One of the different styles is by Chinagirl who attaches ceramic to the surface - her pieces appear in countries far and wide, and not always in urban spaces.



As you can see from the picture below, when another artist painted the wall they did it without covering Chinagirl's work.


Gregos is a French artist who creates face masks and then attaches them to a surface. You can order a mask from his website, decorate it, then send it back for Gregos to install in Paris - here's the LINK to his website in case you're interested.


The next two pieces are by the artist Irony - both are amazing and so realistic.



One of the quirkiest art works was wooden blocks that you could twist around to make different combinations of girls - note the first girl has three breasts.




It was really nice to see bits of Camden that we don't normally, going off the main drag. Here's a few shots of the area.




Here's a few more pictures of street art - I took too many pictures to include them all here.







It was such a good way to see and learn more about street art - Nelly, our guide, is incredibly knowledgeable on the subject and really made the art come alive.

Below are two shots showing the main street in Camden and a gorgeously funky shop sign.



When we got back to Euston we went across the road to the Quaker meeting rooms to rehydrate as Saturday was a lovely 31 degrees. Whilst there we discovered that they had a free art exhibition by a husband and wife who paint the Yorkshire Moors - the art was beautiful. (The bathroom even warranted a photo which I haven't done for a while).

Ken admiring the art

Hope you enjoyed this look at Camden street art and if you're ever in the area I would definitely recommend you do one of these tours.

Until next time, stay safe, be happy, and do something that restores your soul.

Pamela and Ken
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Final picture is a campervan with a great slogan on the back - "Born to camp, forced to work"


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