Street Art in Croydon's Arts Quarter Part 2

Rise Gallery has helped to create Croydon's Art Quarter by inviting street artists from around the world to brighten up the streets. The Arts Quarter extends to the surrounding streets that include Park Street, Katherine Street and Park Lane. 

DanK (Park Street)

Dan Kitchener aka DanK is a Street artist, painter, illustrator and animator. I have seen similar urban night -time scenes painted in acrylics in art galleries before but I love that this was done in spray paint. His 'liquid lights' pieces are dynamic and colourful.  He has painted similar pieces in Camden Town as well so if you're in the area check them out. He loves the scale of street graffiti and is inspired by comics, trains, watching the scenery and different moods. He has worked for Sir Paul McCartney, Kylie, Calvin Harris, Il Divo, Carlsberg, MTV, ITV and Ministry Of Sound.

 

View from across the street

Areo

Aero is a London graffiti artist. His interest in graffiti art started in the mid 90′s, discovering graffiti on his train journeys. There were full colour pieces on track-side walls inspired by the 80's graffiti phenomenon, bringing neglected surroundings to life. He is also involved in youth work, his company Aero Arts facilitate art programmes to help engage young people to be creative and encourage the community to take ownership of redundant spaces around them Below are two animal themed murals- I love the bright colours and imagery.

Park Street

St Georges Walk

Ink Fetish (Park Steet)

Ink Fetish aka Tom Blackford is a London illustrator, muralist and  painter. Ink Fetish refers to the times Blackford used to ink his own Japanese inspired comics when he was younger before he discovered graffiti art. His style consists of colourful cartoon, dream like murals. He has worked for Vanity Fair, Manga Entertainment, Microsoft and Nike.

SkyHigh (Park Street)

Skyhigh have been running urban art workshops across London and the south east since 2004, promoting graffiti as a positive art form. Skyhigh's style consist of intricate letters and cartoons, though the piece below has elements of realism.  The shark below fits right in with Fio Silva's snake and Aero's Owl on the same street.

  Morgazmik ( Katherine Street)

Morgazmik aka Morgan Davy is a painter, printer and poet from South London. His style combines geometric shapes with "techno-organic free flowing formations of curvaceous-linear marks that are prominent within nature" to "give a free-style colourful abstract outcome."

Eska ( Katherine Street)

Eska is a 3D graffiti artist who is based in London, UK. Originally he is from South Poland.  He is now known worldwide for his curved but sharp 3D graffiti.

Mr Cenz

Mr Cenz aka Julian Phethean is a London based graffiti artist and youth worker. He discovered graffiti in the 80's through hip hop culture and the book 'Subway Art.' He had his first commission at 11 years old to paint a primary school. After studying art university he qualified as a youth worker and used graffiti art as a tool for challenging behaviour. He set up Positive Arts’ in 1998 to empower and inspire young people through street art, working with local councils, probation services, hospitals, charities, youth centres, and schools. His artwork consists of layers of intricate and flowing letterforms shapes, photorealism and  illustration. His influences include graffiti artists Dondi and Mode 2 to abstract expressionist painters Paul Klee and Roger Hilton. Lately his work concentrates on female faces from portraits and fashion photography abstracted in a dynamic way. I am completely in love with his work which you can see on his website.

Park Lane

St Georges Walk

Tizer(id) (Park Lane)

Tizerid aka Ed Tizer is a London based graffiti artist, illustrator, experienced youth worker, DJ and owner of Intercity Decorators. He has been involved in graffiti since 1988 and writing as Tizer since 1996. Unfortunately he had to redo this mural after it was ruined by tagging  His original piece was over two walls but when I photographed this there was only one wall remaining but  you can see the full piece here taken by Alex Ellison.

Adam Green (Park Lane)

Adam Green replaced Tizer's mural.Green has used the 1920's art deco building as his influence for his mural. I think the building was a cinema but it's now boarded up. It's a nice touch having the couple on the bottom as it looks like they've just climbed up the stairs to the building. There's also a 70's deco inspired lampshade as the sun.  

Francesco Jacobello- Medusa  (Park Lane )

  

Francesco Jacobello was born in Militello in Val Di Catania, Sicily. He is influenced by the Italian Classics, but likes to give them " the urban feel of contemporary practices in the present art world." In the mural below he took inspiration from Greek Mythology for his modern day Medusa.

Street Art in South London Croydon Arts Quarter

 

Rise Gallery owner Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison is on a mission to turn the dilapidated outdoor shopping centre St Georges Walk into a cultural asset by transforming it into Croydon's Arts Quarter. With over 100 street art murals the Arts Quarter extends to the surrounding streets of  Park Street,  Katherine street and Park Lane. The murals are painted onto shop shutters, brick or rendered walls and wooden holdings.  Zuchowski-Morrison aims to change the murals every 3 months to keep up the interest and vibrancy of the area. The art works below are all located in St George's Walk in Croydon's city centre. There is a great variety of street art from realistic jellyfish to the  bright bold letters of  Lovepusher and Bonzai and abstract pieces from Soma, Eska and Morgazmik.

 

Gnasher Jellyfish 

David Nash or "Gnasher" became involved in the graffiti scene around 1985 when he started seeing well known graffiti artists in his hometown of Harlow in Essex. Initially he concentrated on letters and words but then became inspired by graffiti that had characters with the words and developed his hyper real style of spray can art. He later went on to study art and graphic design, and this became his focus as he abandoned graffiti in favour of graphic design and travelling the world Djing. Then one fateful day in 2009 a friend bought some spray cans and invited him out for the day which reignited  his love of graffiti art. You can see more of his work on his website.

 

Rest of the Second Shutter

 Soma

Soma aka Tony Driver is based in Surrey in the UK.  He started out as a graffiti writer after discovering the book 'Subway Art' alongside the documentary 'Style Wars' in 1984. Initially influenced by Dondi and Futura 2000 he later found his own style. The techniques he learnt from' straight letter graffiti would lead to a more abstract style with overlapping shapes and forms. You can see more of his work over at Saatchi Art.

Data

Data aka Rob Wass is a London based mixed media artist. His art ranges from pen and paper inked pictures of cityscapes and flocks of birds to spray painted bright abstract work such as this stained glass effect mural below. His work is amazing- check out his website and facebook .

VanDali

Kriss Vandali is a graffiti writer from Poland. He began aged 12 taking inspiration from artwork around the world. He describes his work as " a surreal vision of Universal Consciousness. My artistic expression is created from images in my mind. I draw universe speaking to humanity 'unleash , uncover your true potential !!!" He has commissioned work for Barclays, Fashion Finest and Seven Stars Agency. You can see more of his work on VanDali's flickr page  and facebook.. Unfortunately someone tagged one of the pieces. The black, brown and green piece is painted on the doorway of an old office block next to the shopping centre of St Geroges Walk.

Synce83 : Lovely Bug

and the IC Shop

Love Pusher: Jesus

Love Pusher is a graffiti artist from London and he specialises in large scale 3D work with a Christian message. He got into graffiti after seeing a large New York style mural near his school. Later on in life while he was on a path of self destruction  he managed to turn his life around in a short space of time. He credits God with having helped him during this time. So to thank God and to give back he decided to use his "graffiti talents to spread a positive message in the form of 'Remember Jesus.'  "He decided on a new tag- Love Pusher  "‘Love’ represented Jesus and the love I have for Him in my life and the word ‘pusher’ represented me as an individual, pushing (spreading) the Love (Word)." His 3D style was influenced by London graffiti artist Insa. Since 2007 his works include a 'lovepusher glow' or an angelic highlight. You can see this on  his website and  find out more about him in his interview for  Source Synesthesia.

Bonzai

Dave Bonzai is from the south coast of the UK but is now based in London. He was introduced to  graffiti with the first wave of hip hop that hit the UK, but it wasn't until he was 14 or 15 and saw the photos in the classic book 'Subway Art' that he picked up a spray can and began to paint. Catch more of his work on instagram and facebook . Below are his amazing 3D letters that I could imagine being on the walls of a swanky club.

     

Morgazmik & Eska Collaboration



 

Morgazmik

Morgazmik aka Morgan Davy is a painter, printer and poet from south London. His style combines geometric shapes with "techno-organic free flowing formations of . He has worked with Espirit clothing, guitar company Fender, the Troxy theatre, T4 on the beach, LDN Youth games, as well as Leeds festival.  Go and check out his colourful art on his website Morgan Davy and on instagram.

 

 

                                                                                Eska

Eska is a 3D graffiti artist who is based in London, UK. Originally he is from South Poland. He got into graffiti art when he was 13 by reading Polish and Foreign graffiti magazines and has been spray painting since 1994. He is now known worldwide for his curved but sharp 3D graffiti. He admits  that he "was drawing 3d on paper for about 5 years before I decided I was good enough to move on to walls."  If you want to see more of his art go to his flickr page and  instagram.



Decolife

Andre Ruiz De Freitas aka DecoLife is a street and fine artist from a small city in Brazil's San palo countryside. As a child he would paint on rocks and stones, graduating to skate parks as a teenager. When he was 13 years old he started painting under the name Decolife. Raised in a Christian monastery, his faith is still important to him and he describes himself as a missionary keen to brighten places with his colourful pieces and his travels enable him to learn about different religions, culture and folklore. He is inspired by dreams, the imaginary world, nature, places, the different culture acquired from his travels and Brazilian popular culture. He admits that many of his paintings are self portraits of his experiences. To see more of his work check out his blog and facebook page.

Femme Fiece Street Art in Croydon Part 2

Femme Fierce, the all female street art collective were invited by Rise Gallery to brighten up Croydon's town centre. Their canvases were shop shutters, walls and wooden holdings. This post focuses on the street art that can be seen on Park Street. If you missed my earlier post on Femme Fierce Street Art you can find it here.

 

 Artista The Cronx

Kayleigh Doughy aka Artista is an illustrator and muralist from south London. Her name Artista refers to being an artist (since the age of 4 when she won a design a Christmas card competition) as well as to her start in graffiti when she tagged as Asta. She progressed from type to characters and now paints a triangle character to represent an A.  The piece below is called The Cronx. Her style is fun with pastel colours and cartoon characters. She often uses food images such as her signature slice of toast. Recently she collaborated with Break Bike to hand paint a limited edition bike which you can buy here. She has designed laptop skins and has her own clothing line as well. In 2007 she was asked to design a skate ramp, which she spray painted. She has also won the Young Tate Prize and has had her work exhibited in the Tate Modern in 2009 and 2013. You can check out or buy her work over on her website.

Fio Silva

Fio Silva is from Hurlington outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. She's creating a storm in the street art scene after winning Spring Project's international talent search to travel and paint in some of the worlds top locations. Her dynamic images of nature and animals in bright colours impressed the judges.  Fio loves "to paint animals in fusion with organic things like leaves, branches, trees … I love to paint things that are moving, they are not static things, they mutate to become that change.” She began to paint after her boyfriend died to cope with the loss. Spring Projects founder Bri Patty said  “Little by little the beautiful consolidating power of nature that she put on walls started to restore not only Fio but also the streets in her little village Hurlingham.” On her success Fio said " the sadness of why I started painting finally is transforming into dreams for better times.” You can see more of her work on her blog and in the Spring Project's Youtube video .  

  

Giusi Tomasello

Giusi Tomasello is a London based artist, print and textile designer. She was born in Sicily to an Italian Father and Polish mother. She studied art and completed an MA in Industrial Design in Milan. Her style is very much fashion portraiture. She is influenced by pop culture (Michael Caine and The Kinks), fashion (Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn), fairy tales (Red Riding Hood and Alice in Wonderland), legends (Lady Godiva) and Greek mythology. There are three similar pieces in London, based on the Greek goddesses, Athena (below),  Demeter (Paradise Row, Bethnal Green) and Artemis (on Leake Street.) You can see more of her work on her website. She currently works as a graphic designer for luxury fashion labels that have included Gucci and Haute. Her print designs have been included in Calvin Klein, Donna Karen, Guess, Gap, Victoria Secret, Abercrombie and Asos collections. 

 

Illuzina

Illuzina, or Zina for short,  is a Norwegian street artist and illustrator based in London. She began spray painting four years ago after finishing her illustration degree in south west England. Her work often features realistic blue-scale portraits of black women and children. She is influenced by different ethnic cultures and music, often spraying to the beat of the music she's listening to. If you like her work pop over to her website. She has painted a mural for Brixton's Save the Arches campaign as well as creating murals for gym walls across the country. 

 

Bethan Bertrand

Bertrand is an fine artist based in Ascot, England. She studied at The Royal Academy, The Slade and Chelsea College of Art and Design. Her work is on permanent display in these places as well as the University of Sheffield and Focus Martial arts. Her style varies from simple cartoon characters to detailed realistic pictures of horses, which you can see on her website.

 

Croydon Arts Quarter- Femme Fierce Take Over Croydon

Femme Fierce is the world's largest female street art competition with over 150 international and UK artists. ( This year the festival was held at Leake Street Tunnel in Waterloo, London.) Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison from Rise Gallery invited the artists from this group to brighten up the neglected sixties shopping centre St Georges Walk in Croydon. Rise Gallery has been behind the initiative to create Croydon's Art Quarter in St Georges Walk and surrounding streets. The murals are painted onto shop shutters, brick or rendered walls and wooden holdings.  As this post is so picture heavy I've decided to split it into two parts. The street art in this post is located in and around St Georges Walk. Part two will be up on Friday.

 

Vlong- Harmony

 

Vlong aka Vanesa Longchamp is a London based artist. All of her street art pieces are painted with spray cans by freehand (rather than stencils.) Her signature style is painting female characters with long flowing hair. These "introvert, graceful female characters always face inwards, safely cocooned inside their winding locks of long hair. Born from a personal process of catharsis, they express emotional healing and balance." This piece is called 'Harmony.' Longchamp has painted at the City of Colours Festival in Birmingham and The Gloucester Paint Jam, as well as for group show exhibitions in the Ben Oakley Gallery and No Format Gallery in East London. You can see her other work on her website.

 

 

 

 Miss Hazard

 

Harriet Wood aka Miss Hazard is a UK graffiti artist, illustrator and designer based in Bristol. She studied at Leeds College of Art and has a degree in Graphic Design from the University of The West of England. She started out in the graffiti art scene by working in a graffiti art shop that sold spray paint and that also held exhibitions. From there she was recommended for a job as a Bristol's Street Art Tour guide. Her work is influenced by tribal and communal art from around the globe and her love for hip-hop and punk culture. She is also inspired by the differences between cultures and aims to create a bold yet peaceful and thought-provoking atmosphere in her work which you can see on her website and Tumblr blog. She been voted one of the top 10 female street artists by the Guardian and was included in the Top 25 Female Graffiti Artists in the world by The Huffington Post.

 

 

 

Thieu- Coeur d'artichaut

 

Stephanie T. aka Thieu is a French graphic designer, illustrator and muralist based in London. She is know for her brightly coloured portraits and her hybrid animals such as the peafrog and searaffe. She began painting street art because she wanted to support friends who were going through a tough time " I would spread some messages along the places where he would often go, to inspire his “routine” like 'you are the hero of your own story' or ' be the change that you want to see in the world.' " She was influenced by C215 to paint with bright colours and admires graffiti artists Etam Crew, Swoon and mainstream artists Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo and Paul Gauguin. In the piece below " Je crois que vous avez un Coeur d'artichaut" translates as  I think you have an artichoke heart, meaning that I think you are fickle in Love. You can see the steps Thieu took to create her piece and her other work on her website here.

 

Elno- Balance

 

Elno is a Spanish artist based in London. She paints characters in her street art, saying "I fuse the human characters with animals. " These characters are both urban and free-spirited, harnessing their instincts in a childhood simplicity. Her mural below is a lot calmer and harmonious that her other work which seems to be more playful and surreal, mixing light and dark elements, which you can see for yourself over at her website.

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 Pixie

 

Pixie is a muralist who is originally from Peterborough but is now London based. She is also part of Girls On Top Crew which consists of over 100 female street artists. Recently she got involved with Sonority Turner's 'Look Out For Hope' project to spread the message of hope to people, which can be such a powerful message and is such a  positive project. Using Posca Pens on glass their piece can be seen in the window of Body Soul Charity in Rosebery Avenue, Central London. Unfortunately when I went to photograph her piece someone had tagged on her work. However you can se more of her work and latest projects at her website .

 

 

 Neonita

 

Nicky Le Sueur aka Neonita is an artist and illustrator based in south London. She completed a Fine Arts degree at Kingston University and she is also part of the Girls On Top female muralist crew. The name Neonita refers to the bright neon paints she uses in her work and 'ita' was added after being inspired during her travels to South America, and chosen to express her femininity in the male dominated graffiti industry. Using neon also provides an opportunity to use UV light to change the nature of the work according to the light source. She is inspired by Japanese prints because she is drawn to the asymmetric compositions, colour and themes as well as African masks and sculpture She loves the rebellious nature of graffiti and the fact that its so accessible for everyone to see. She tries to portray strange worlds or ideas that run alongside reality. This often tends to manifest as strange creatures that incorporate things we deal with in life but in much more fantastical situations. Visit her website to see more of her work. 

 

 

Roo

 

Roo is a UK illustrator and muralist whose bright comic book style has been influenced by her love of comics. It started when she used to visit her dad's flat in Paris and read his vast collection of comic books and later entertain herself by drawing her own comics. When her brother discovered graffiti she also became interested in lettering before coming back to character design. Since very few kids in her area painted graffiti it wasn't until she was in her late 20's that she got into graffiti again, inspired by her brother who was then tagging as Mylz. She won Graffiti Artist of The Day for her piece at the 2014 Femme Fierce festival which you can see here. In the pieces below she collobrated with Skyhigh. I love the fact that they used an image of the Croydon tram in the second one. Take a look at rest of Roo's work on her instagram page.

 

 

 

 

Adriana Doi

 

Adriana Doi is a UK based painter, graffiti artist and web iIlustrator from Romania. She studied at The Art University in Timisoara, Romania, though her current love is graffiti. Her work below uses simple lines compared to her detailed graffiti paste ups which you can see on her instagram page. I also like this piece here.

 

 

 

LisArt

 

Lisa Richer aka LisArt uses stencils for her pieces such as the Kate Moss below. The supermodel Kate Moss actually hails from Croydon which was probably why she was chosen as the subject. Richer is influenced by pop culture and has included Laurel and Hardy and Twiggy in her designs (Brick Lame, London.) Her latest work was completed by free hand (instead of by stencils) and uses a cartoon stick character hugging a heart. You can see the different stages of the Kate Moss piece and catch up with her recent work on Facebook here.