Legal or illegal, subversive or sponsored
The transformation of Shoreditch from run-down to hip began in the 1980s, when artists set up studios in vacant commercial properties. Cool bars and nightclubs followed in their wake, and start-ups from the IT sector clustered around Old Street. As rents rose in the new millennium, many artists moved further east, and in recent years sleek new buildings have appeared. For the time being, Shoreditch remains a zone of transition between the City and points east, a place of galleries, unconventional designer shops and creative street art.
To the east of Shoreditch High Street, artists from all over the world have made their mark on walls and doors. On some streets, almost every available space has been pasted, painted freehand, sprayed using templates or adorned with little sculptures. Internationally known street artists have worked here: Banksy inevitably, Space Invader and Roa, who paints outsized animals – in Shoreditch a bird four storeys high. Some operate with the permission of the house owners, others illegally. Some studied at art school, others emerged self-taught from the graffiti scene. Some are sponsored by galleries that use attention-grabbing street art as publicity for their exhibitions, others oppose the art business on principle. One sprayer receives a lucrative commission, another is summoned for a court appearance.
Info
Address Between Shoreditch High Street and Brick Lane, E1 | Public Transport Liverpool Street (Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan Line) | Tip Not hip, but never out of fashion: excellent traditional fish & chips at Poppies, 6–8 Hanbury St., Mon–Thu 11am–11pm, Fri–Sat 11am–11.30pm, Sun 11–10.30pm.
Street art is a wildly creative cosmos of humorous, political or poetic work that is constantly renewed. Some works are quickly ruined by tags and low-grade graffiti, then painted over within a few weeks. The painting on the right, juxtaposing a British ultra-nationalist with a Muslim preacher of hate, has already disappeared. Work by respected artists may stay untouched for a long time, or even be repaired by supporters if it is defaced. And when all of Shoreditch becomes chic, street art will enliven another part of London.
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