Sep 13 2012

London Street Art: Pearly Whites at the Heygate Estate

Mighty Mo, Malarky, Sweet Toof (of course)… have been painting lots of big old teeth in all varieties on the walls of London’s abandoned Heygate Estate lately, judging by Alex Ellison‘s latest additions to the Flickr pool. I haven’t been since my Elephant & Castle walk, but here’s a few photos (All from Alex, all at the Heygate!):

Malarky, Mighty Mo, Gold Peg & Sweet Toof

Malarky

Gold Peg, Rowdy

Malarky

Paul Insect, Sweet Toof, Gold Peg

Mighty Mo

Mighty Mo, Rowdy

It’s hard to choose but I think the stairs and the one using garage doors for teeth are my favourites. So creative. You?

Apr 29 2012

Some Rugged Bits of London

Loving Fred255‘s contributions to the Flickr pool while I was away last week. Something different to share with you. I’ve left his descriptions beneath each one.

Not all of the London Dock area have been redeveloped yet, but it not far off. The site is on the south bank opposite Canary Wharf.

This sad looking Victorian warehouse now awaiting it’s fate, either demolition or conversion into posh flats. Was once owned by Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse, father of the late comedian Bob Monkhouse.

Monkhouse’s father was a prosperous Methodist businessman who owned Monk and Glass, which made custard powder.

While looking around this building the urbexer in me came out, I was desperate to find a way inside. I caught the attention of more than one security camera. I gave up, trying to get in and decided to use my fish eye lens to create this imposing view of this once great building.

Fire exit to a wine bar in London.

Looks like this boat has had a nasty fire. It was moored on The River Thames near Chelsea bridge.

Taken about the same time as this one was taken.

Here we see old Thames barges, used for moving and selling goods up and down the Thames. Behind Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf is a major business district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. Rivalling London’s traditional financial centre, the City of London, Canary Wharf contains many of the United Kingdom’s premier office spaces and tallest buildings

Dedicated to Ronnie, a reminder of the good times. They will be back.

On the side of the A102 one of the major roads in and out of London. Taken on a trip with my good friend Ronnie (Badgerrat 1) This was one of the few times that day I managed to wrestle my fish eye lens away from Ronnie.

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If you have have photos of London to share, add them to the LLO Flickr pool for a chance to be featured.

Oct 17 2010

London Art Spot: Rachel Gadsden

Fragility, the human condition, disability, hope, decay. These are some of the topics that drive Rachel Gadsden to create the pieces that mark her stunning abstract collection with a sometimes chilling, raw connection to reality that comes from a close look at the psychology of the human mind. The narrative paintings often seem scrawled with a nearly unconscious reaction to her experiences that comes out in layers of paint, found objects and some other unique materials.

Rachel has spent time as Artist-in-Residence at Hampton Court. Her work has led her to explore the derelict North Wales Asylum in Denbigh North Wales and Cane Hill Asylum in Surrey. It has taken her to far away places where hope is a part of everyday life, to Ethiopia and Colombia.

For this week’s London Art Spot, Rachel gives us some insight into the heavy themes that inspire her art, talks about her proudest moments as an artist and lets us in on the most unusual material that has made an appearance in her paintings.