Same Wall Different Street Artist #1: Restaurant Kinkoa, Pedley Street (Shoreditch)

One of the reasons for starting this blog was to share my photos of fabulous street art with you. By now my computer is filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of such photos. I have them organised in various folders: by artist, by location, by date and by event or trip abroad. Going through my archive recently inspired me to start a new blog post series: Same Wall, Different Street Artist. As the name suggests, this series will show you how exactly the same wall is transformed by different artists over time.

Let’s kick off this series with murals on Thai restaurant Kinkao on Pedley Street in Shoreditch, one of the spots I always visit on my street art wanderings around Brick Lane. I wrote down the dates I took the photos on and they go back as far as November 2013.

3 November 2013: Cranio

I remember various murals by Brazilian artist Cranio on exactly this same wall, but can’t seem to find these other photos (despite my meticulous archiving system!). The blue natives from the Amazonian jungle are typical of Cranio’s works. As always they are influenced by western capitalism (note the sneakers, McDonald’s sweatband, bag of money and smartphone).

8 November 2013: Beau Stanton

Just a few days after taking the previous photo, the wall had been completely transformed by New York-based artist Beau Stanton. I don’t recall seeing any other works in London by this artist, which is a shame as this mural was a real beauty.

12 April 2014: Fanakapan

Half a year after Beau Stanton’s mural, it was replaced by Fanakapan‘s exquisite 3D balloon animals. It was one of the first works I saw by him, but now they are popping up everywhere and seem to get better and more extraordinary each time.

29 May 2014: Gomez

In May 2014 Italian-based (born in Venezuela) artist Gômez caused a stir in the London street art scene. His excellent works, inspired by classical paintings, didn’t only appear on London walls, but also on social media where they were liked and shared like mad.

27 September 2014: BSF (Bicicleta Sem Freio)

After the rather dark mural by Gomez, the wall was brightened up with this colourful work by Bicicleta Sem Freio (Bicycle without Brakes) an illustrator duo from Brazil. Here’s my attempt of taking a panorama photo.

6 April 2015: Hannah Adamszek & Guido Zimmerman collaboration

The wild and bright mural by BSF was replaced by this serene piece by artists Hannah Adamszek and Guido Zimmerman. I had seen many of Hannah Adamszek’s works before (mostly her signature portraits of a native American bohemian looking woman), but this was the first time I encountered Guido Zimmerman’s work. Within a few days after completing this mural, someone thought it was necessary to write their comment right across it saying beautiful art belongs in galleries and not in the street. I beg to disagree, but what do you think?

16 May 2015: Mr. Degrì

After the above mural was defaced by a protestor against pretty street art, Italian-born and self-taught artist Mr.Degrì painted over it entirely. You can still see a bit of the previous art peeking out on the right in the photo below. Mr.Degrì’s work shows two skulls and a pigeon walking over some kind of bridge between the two objects. Quite a different theme compared to the previous serene depiction! But this is what makes street art so wonderful to me: you have a constant flow of new and diverse artworks all for free and convenient to admire. I haven’t seen that much art by Mr.Degrì in the streets, but I’m sure he left his mark around London. I’ve spotted his smaller pigeon work on Cambridge Heath Road for months on my way to the gym and he also made a huge black and white portrait of David Lynch on Grimsby Street just off Brick Lane.

8 July 2015: RallitoX & Mauro 149 (Truly Design)

It’s sure great to see that each artist has an own voice and style. This is especially true for the works below. The work on the left called ‘You Are Much Better Than You’ is by RallitoX, an artist whose works go far beyond street art. Have a look at his website and view some of his videos to get an idea of his conceptual art.

On the right you can see work by Italian artist Mauro149 of the Truly Design crew.

Detail of the RallitoX piece. Try to find his self-portrait in it and also his depiction of IKEA, Angela Merkel David Cameron. I especially like the line ‘Sorry for not painting nicer and with more colors but I had a troublesome childhood.’

16 July 2015: Ana Marietta

Right after I first saw the great work by Ana Marietta in the ‘Summer Time!’ exhibition at JUSTKIDS gallery (see my post about this here), she took over this wall in Shoreditch. It’s one of my personal favourites in this series and it’s too bad it disappeared again very quickly, but guess that’s all part of the ever changing street art game.

15 August 2015: Telmo Miel

How fitting to end this first series with the current mural made by artistic duo Telmo Miel from the Netherlands. I had only seen one of their works in real life before (a few years ago near EYE film museum in Amsterdam) and have followed them online ever since. Despite my virtual stalking I completely missed the fact that they were in London last month and the chance of meeting them. At least we’ll always have the photos…

Stay tuned for additions to this street art photo series!

If you have such photo series, I would love you to post them online and share them with me! I started the hashtag #samewalldifferentartists on Instagram and Twitter last year so I suggest you to use the same one and who knows it will be a trending topic one day! 😀

If you liked this post, you might also be interested in the following articles:

In Search of New Street Art with Camden Street Art Tour

Walthamstow Street Art Trail with Wood Street Walls

Street Art Museum Amsterdam