Dolk follow up

In a previous post I wrote about the trial to cut out a Dolk work from a wall in Bergen, but the the piece was bombed and destroyed before the extraction was finnished. Seems like Dolk him self followed this up and is cashing in himself from the incident.

The bombed Dolk piece to the left and a new stencil piece saluting to the right (artist unknown)

Dolk him self made a new "Bombed boy soldier" on canvas that is now exhibited on Kode 4 (Bergen Art Museum). If you got about 30 000 us dollars or 22 000 euros you can buy the artwork. It seems like it's Dolk that can laugh all the way to the bank now.

The canvas piece for sale to the left, and the original street art piece to the right

London Calling II

On a few square meeters you'll find works of Invader, Donklondon, Otto Schade, Roa, Phlegm and more

When it comes to street art, nowhere else is like London. I just love to walk around in the eastern part and look. And every time I come, there is something new, something fresh in the streets. The street art scene is renewing it self continuously.

Murals by Faith47, Ian Stevenson and Rone

I walk around for hours, visiting places and spots I've been before, and check out new spots. East London is probably the most popular place in the world when it comes to street art, both for famous artists and new talents, and street art photographers, as my self, which try to follow the devolopment.
 

Dale Grimshaw

'Rat looking out' by Roa

 Miss Van and Ciro Schu

The streets of London have become an important outdoor exhibition scene for artists that promotes their work and activities in their studios, galleries and on internet. Making a living of their work. Thousands of bloggers, facebookers and instagrammers post their art directly from the streets every day, and thereby gives the artists free and valuable publicity.

Murals by Alexis Diaz, Martin Ron and Roa

Hhuge Shepard Fairey "Obey Giant" mural

In addition street art in London have become part of the tourist industri. Official and commercial intersts use street art as part of huge advertising campaigns to attract tourists. A numerous of agencies offer guided 'Street Art Tours'. Street art in London is big business. Good sites for updated info about street art in london are Street Art London, Inspiring City, LDN Graffiti, Alternative London and Global Street Art.

Osch aka Otto Schade: Experimenting in The Streets

"I'm motivated by the idea of producing something interesting, different 

and unique, experimenting with shapes and materials" 

(Otto Schade).

Osch aka Otto Schade  is a multicreative artist with a successful career as an architect and a surreal painter and sculptor, so what the hell is he doing vandalizing the streets of London with graffiti?

Otto Schade, a german sounding name, is born in Chile in 1971 and live and works in London. I've only seen his work in the streets of London, and yes, he have an unique style developed over years and his stencils, somtimes simplistic and sometimes so complicated, both in shapes and colours. He uses warm and bright colours, and therefore easy to spot and recognize.

Surreal street art

A simple and small, but great stencil found in London

 So why do a relative aknowledged and award-winning artist work in the streets? The reason may be in his combined background as architect, painter and skulptor, doing public installations. Doing street art is an environmental act, transforming the the city aesthetics and challenge our minds. Doing street art nowadays is also a great way to get publicity as an artist. In Shade's words "I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I think the path is the exciting thing and not knowing where my work is going makes me happy. I think recognition from people is an important thing I am looking for,...." On my last trip to London, I found several of his more simple, but ingenious circle formed stencil works which I will call "The Innocence and the man made danger" series of some I post below:

Please visit Otto Shade's website here!

Barrow Gurney : The abandoned asylum

The hospital area from above (Cropped from google maps)

I first saw photos from Barrow Gurney on instagram and my interest for street art and urbex was awakened. I had to go! At arrival only two of the original buildings left, but enough to explore.

In order to prevent over crowding at the existing asylums in Somerset in the 1930s it was decided to build a new mental hospital in Barrow Gurney. Work began in 1934, finnished in 1937 and opened in 1938. The Bristol architect Sir George Oatley designed the the hospital made of red bricks.

In the 60's the hospital's population peaked at 453 patients but numbers began to fall as more provision was made for care at home or by community support workers. 

The abandoned Barrow Gurney Hospital left to decay

Long corridors on several floors to explore

The hospital is not well secured and I had to be careful walking inside

A JPS piece : Freddy

JPS piece with clear reference to Banksy's 'Balloon girl' and of course Stephen King

By 1970 there were about 200 patients in care at the hospital and the number progressively declined until in the 1990s. In 2005 a national survey of NHS hospitals was carried out and Barrow Gurney became famous for being the notorious 'Dirtiest hospital in Britain'. Barrow hospital had particular poor standards of hygiene with "an unacceptably dirty environment". This harsh criticism led to the closure of the hospital. Two of the remaining wards were shut down immediately, and by 2006 the last ward closed it's doors and Barrow Hospital was left to decay.

Difficult to trespass sometimes

Parts of the indoor areas are very dark

Madness and horror (Work by JPS)

JPS (Jamie Paul Scanlon) have during time made several stencils in an on the Barrow Hospital buildings. Some where left when I arrived. Many believes the place is haunted. Jamie have contributed with illustrations that underpin the the creepyness of the place. JPS is based in Weston-Super-Mare near Bristol. JPS have made several street art works similar or inspired by Banksy. In an Interview about the works in Barrow Gurney JPS told "I did not have permission to paint at Barrow however i knew it was going to be demolished and security there very weak so it was a perfect place to make sure I got my work looking right although they still get painted in a very short amount of time I never had any problems although it’s pretty dangerous there. The Settings in which I paint my work is very important to me everything has a place in my eyes." 

I explored Barrow Gurney alone and took in the creepyness and horror of the present and the past and left Barrow Gurney when it was about to get dark.

Good Bye (stencil by JPS)