London becomes a canvas of colour

COVID-19 might be stopping international travel for the moment but it doesn’t have to stop you enjoying international events - albeit from the comfort of your chair. 

The inaugural London Mural Festival is taking place this month and Landscape Architecture Aotearoa has spared no expense in ensuring you all get a taste of it.

Mr.Cenz - 233 Holmesdale Rd, South Norwood. Mr Cenz has been scribbling on surfaces since 1988 when he first discovered hip-hop culture and graffiti art.

The festival uses London as a giant canvas, featuring more than 150 international and local artists painting suburban houses to city centres and cultural hubs.

The artist of the above work, Mr Cenz, has been a street artist since the 80s when he discovered hip-hop culture and graffiti art.

He soon became obsessed with this new and exciting art form, and after a few brushes with the law he decided to find ways of developing his skills legally.

Since his first commissioned mural at 11yrs old he has continued progressing and experimenting with his art through college and university. This has led to a career as a professional graffiti artist with several solo shows and high profile commissions internationally.

Dale Grimshaw - 92 White Post Ln, Hackney Wick.

Dale Grimshaw was born in Lancashire, in the North of England. During a difficult childhood his drawing and painting became extremely important to him. He developed his skills at college, firstly with an Art Foundation course at Blackburn College and later he studied fine art to degree level at Middlesex University in London.

Dale has a successful gallery career. He’s had five solo shows in Signal Gallery in London and numerous group shows including those in Berlin, Paris, New York, Stockholm and Rome.

More recently he has been devoting time to murals and has been widely recognised as one of the most powerful and talented street artists in that scene. Over the past five years he has been invited to festivals across the world as well as painting many iconic walls across London.

Dale’s work is boldly figurative and is inspired by his strongly held humanitarian beliefs. However this political message is always achieved by an emphasis on powerful direct emotions and a deep empathy for his subjects.

As one of the few cultural activities not shut down by the pandemic in the UK, street art is proving really popular. 

The festival showcases work from artists including Camille Walala, Dale Grimshaw, Marija Tiurina, Gary Stranger, Mr. Cenz, Mad C Pref, Zabou, Seb Lester and New Zealand’s own Captain Kris.

Camille Walala - Rich Mix, Redchurch Street, Shoreditch.

Camille Walala is purveyor of positivity, expressed through vibrant colour and bold pattern. Her work, from the micro to the macro, harnesses optimistic typography and exuberant geometries to create environments that stimulate the senses and inspire joy.

A graduate in textile design from the University of Brighton, she established her namesake brand in East London in 2009, and continues to live and work there today. Her practice has taken her all over the world to transform homes and workspaces with her signature tribal-pop style.

Drawing on influences including the Memphis Movement, the Ndebele tribe and op-art master Victor Vasarely, Walala has an irrepressible enthusiasm for playful, graphic patterns that invoke a smile in all who view them.

Recent years have seen her progress from her popular textile-based work to encompass art direction and interior design. Finding that her style translates powerfully to larger surfaces and installations, she is now working with greater scope and at greater scale than ever before, with an overriding ambition to imbue the world’s urban landscapes with eye-popping colour and soul stirring energy.

Camille Walala - Adams Plaza Bridge, Canary Wharf. Photo credit : Sean Pollock.

Camille Walala says London is an “exciting” public gallery for street art. “Designers are getting more confident with colour here.

“That’s why, with so many things being cancelled and postponed, I am very happy to see the first London Mural Festival is still going ahead.”

Woskerski - Toynbee street, Tower Hamlets

Lee Bofkin, CEO and Co-Founder of Global Street Art, the organisation behind the London Mural Festival says: "LMF is about increasing the amount of public art in London and giving artists a canvas to showcase their work in public. 

“It has been a huge task to make LMF happen this year and we are proud to deliver one of the world's biggest celebrations of muralism. We hope to foster a sense of pride in our streets and to bring positivity, unity and colour to London.”

1Up - Carpenters & Docklands Centre, 98 Gibbins Rd, Stratford

One United Power, better known under their almost Super Mario-esque abbreviation 1UP is an enigmatic group of graffiti artists based in Berlin. Neither the exact number of group members nor their age or education is known, what is known though, is the almost superhuman scope of their art. It can be viewed on thousands of surfaces in the city of Berlin and beyond.

One of the biggest events of the London festival will be the 100-artist hoarding jam taking place at International Quarter London (IQL), Stratford, east London, in partnership with the developers LCR and Lendlease.

The collective artwork will stretch over 500m in length and will close the festival on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October.

Katrina Adams - Electric Barge, Grand Union Canal, adjacent to Sheldon Square, Paddington Central.

Pref - 22 Wembley Park Boulevard, Wembley Park. Photo Credit Chris Winter.

Pref started his career nearly 20 years ago as a graffiti artist before studying graphic design at art college and going on to work as an Art Director at his own design company in east London.

Pref has always strived to look for new ideas and ways of executing graffiti and graphic design, pushing people’s perceptions by challenging the way we construct and view traditional letter forms.

Today his artwork is a heavy mix of his graffiti and graphic design, striving to create a unique visual language that is a graphic solution to the layered multiple word graffiti pieces he paints on walls.