Saturday, September 30, 2006

Grafitti tour of London

Well today I decided to see how many pieces of work by Banksy I could find. Along the way I came across some other similar stuff, some of which I've posted here. Plenty of pics, enjoy!
(I can't be arsed putting them in order so apologies for the disjointed sequence)

Here's the first behind Waterloo station and its faded quite badly, hope they're not all like this.

This is more like it, on a road that runs under Waterloo station.

The first of the rat army found along the river behind St. Thomas hospital.

Another south bank rat army.

Around Waterloo station on a storage bin outside a newsagents.

On the south bank opposite the London Aquarium.

Under Waterloo bridge

Found at Waterloo bridge, I'm assuming the B indicates "Banksy"

Near Gabriel's Wharf

Near Blackfriars bridge, not sure its a Banksy though.

Along the South Bank

Along the river near the London Eye.

Couldn't find the one at Embankment station, did find this however.

This is perhaps too faint to see but its a series of gravestones with a war message next to Blackfriars Bridge.

Near Borough Market, stenciled but perhaps not a Banksy piece.

Somewhere in Aldgate. The bit in the bottom right is very similar to the B seen earlier.

More faded pieces near Blackfriars.

and another.

Definitely not a Banksy but amusing none the less. Near Brick Lane.

Banksy's ghost car, near Brick Lane.

I think the kid holding the rabbit is an Eine piece.

This is a Faile piece.

another Faile, most of these are in the Brick Lane area.

No idea who this belongs to.

Or this.

Headless business man on Brick Lane.

This used to say "call Banksy" but Eine has gotten to it. On Brick Lane.

Near the Brick Lane area.

This has the B symbol so assuming its Banksy again. This is on a street off Brick Lane that is covered in grafitti.

Like this one.

and this.

Even Peter Andre gets a look in.

Pretty decent Ghandi stencil, it had been used several times along this road.

Is that de Niro?

As well as the stencilled stuff there is also some more colourful pieces.

Filling up most of this bit of the wall.

This has to Banksy but I'll probably be wrong there.

Another Brick Lane piece.


Faile stencil.

Grafitti can be topical too! I like this piece.

More colourful stuff.

No idea what this is supposed to be.

Sclater street in Shoreditch is covered in this really cool stuff.




Nice comic book style to some of it.



I haven't a clue who did this.

More stencilling in shoreditch, this one in Japanese, it would appear.

I didn't get this either.

Close to Sclater street, even the road signs are open to elaboration.

More Faile comic book stuff.

This one looks like me aged 12.

Faile again?

I thought this was a Banksy piece but its MTV trying to get their ads to fit in with the area.


Bolt cutters on Commerical Road Shoreditch.

Bender! But not a Banksy!

More around Shoreditch

There were several of these around around Shoreditch and Brick Lane but this was the only one where other artists hadn't tried to paint a head on.

Around Liverpool Street station.

Quite a nice piece opposite the Foxton's in Shoreditch.

Behind Liverpool street but I suspect not a Banksy. Looks like the girl from Twin Peaks.

Faile again.

Woohoo! Classic Banksy behind Liverpool Street. It's quite faded though, but a nice find.

Nope, haven't a clue.

Someone decides to get political. I remember seeing something similar in Venice.

More around Liverpool Street station. I think this area had been chosen as part of some sort of grafitti bombing campaign as there were quite a lot of pieces dated 2006.

Now that's not very nice is it?

This is probably the same guy who did the + - piece earlier, this looks incomplete though.

If parking your bike in Hackney, do it properly or this might happen.

Faile.

I thought this was a Banksy but apparently its not. Still it is rather nice. Its close to Old Street Station.

Faile again.

The biggest Banksy piece I could find, close to Old Street station. I almost missed this one as it was hidden behind a fence. I took this pic reaching the camera over the top.

More Faile.

This is around the corner from Oscar, its celebrating some local gig that happened in 2004.

Not grafitti, just a campaign from a jealous ex. I certainly wouldn't want to cross her. This wasn't the only one of these I saw, they were in Hackney too. This one is in Hoxton Square.

Local pub finds the best way to advertise in a grafitti hit area.

Also near Oscar.

This is by El Chivo and differs from Banksy in that he uses 2 colours on his stencils. I really like this stuff. This is around Liverpool Street.

Hoxton Square, no idea who this is by though.

Another El Chivo piece in an alleyway in Shoreditch.

This is close by.

As is this, and this is a Banksy.

Not sure who did this one.

Or this, they're all in the same area though.

Can anyone tell me who this is?

Banksy is being very generous with his picnic areas, unfortunately if you followed the arrow you'd be lead to a dead end alleyway with an abandoned car in it.

Roses similar to the Foxton's piece.

A random enough quote to be Banksy but not sure it is.

This definitely isn't him, and I hope its not true!

Overly pretentious twats clearly thought up the name of this place.

Rubbish stenciling.

This is just along from the Comedy Cafe under a railway bridge.

In Shoreditch, the eyes and smile are a giveaway for Mr Scruff.

This is in the pub garden bit of the pub just along from the Comedy Cafe. I think this has been comissioned rather than done illegally. All of the walls here are covered with some really decent grafitti.


This is one piece in the garden.

And another, I'm pretty certain the HMV centrepiece is Banksy.

Another nice piece.

and this is Faile.
This is out in Hackney.

I saw a couple of these but I don't know who's responsible for them.

Hackney airs there views on The Turner Prize. Note the Mr Scruff houses below.

Another kid cuddling a rabbit, but no idea who its by.

This is in Hackney.

No idea what this is about but its in Hackney, is it someone famous?

A really nice piece in Hackney.

There were at one time loads of the parachuting rats in London but I think this was the only one I found today.

Hackney monkey.

I think there used to be a Banksy piece on this wall in Hackney but it got painted over and this guy got to it first, nice use of colour.

Definitely lock your bikes up properly in Hackney.

The third and final El Chivo piece I found today.

The piece on the left was a Banksy but has faded away to almost nothing. I like how someone has outlined it and put the RIP beside.

This is on the same wall.

On the edge of a housing estate in Hackney.

This one is close by at a newsagents down the road.

Found this one on the way up to Angel. Its opposite Shoreditch park.

Arguably Banksy's most famous piece in Hackney.

Round the back of the Greenpeace offices near Angel.

The same piece is replicated close by.

Not grafitti but made me laugh none the less.

This was in Angel and I found it whilst looking for one of Banksy's Guantanmo prisoners, which I couldn't find (I think it's been removed as its life sized)

This is near Pentonville Road and is by D-Base.

Random grafitti close by.

This is in Islington.

Another Faile.

Near Moorfields.

This is at Moorfields Eye Hospital. I guess most visitors would miss it haha!

This is outside Jamie Oliver's 15 restaurant.

This isn't grafitti but its the most colourful piece of the day.

This one and a few others are in Clerkenwell, its cool that the owners of the building have clearly repainted the building but left the rats in place.

This one is near the Barbican, not much left of this one.

Another of the Clerkenwell crew.

and another.

On the Barbican.

After these I failed to find the ones in Marylebone and Marble Arch, as had happened around the Houses of Parliament earlier in the day. I didn't find them all and might go out again, but I won't be spending all day doing it as I did today. 10 hours and 25 miles later I barely made it home and my legs are now completely shot. Hopefully they'll be OK tomorrow.

Was fun though, and I did get to see a lot of London.

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