Yesterday we here at London Calling Blog were up bright and early in order to catch the train from London to Birmingham in order to spend the day attending the City of Colours Street Art Festival in Digbeth, Birmingham.
Originally launched in 2014 with much success, sadly last year City of Colours was cancelled due to lack of finances, this year however the festival returned with funding and support from the Arts Council, Birmingham City Council and other sponsors and dedicated individuals. We have to say we had a fantastic time attending the event which really transformed this small section of Birmingham into a first class outdoor gallery, repurposing a whole host of walls and buildings, and featuring some 120 participating artists. Accompanying the mass exhibition of live painting, there was nine music stages dotted around the major area hubs, fifteen workshops, street performances, an art market and food stalls, all making for a true festival vibe. The festival was put on to not only brighten up the area of Digbeth to additionally raise funds for and awareness of Birmingham charity St. Basil’s who work across the midlands to prevent youth homelessness.
The atmosphere throughout the event was fantastic with everybody in attendance enjoying themselves and all accompanied by a real sense of energy permeating the entire weekend and leaving a superb body of works in its wake. It was an absolute pleasure to see so many regular faces on the scene in attendance, artist and fellow enthusiasts alike, but as always its a real treat to discover some talents previously unknown to us, and in a few cases we haven’t managed to get the names so if anyone knows who painted a piece credited to ‘???’, please let us know who the artist is.
Unfortunately a number of pieces that were shaping up superbly were not completed by the time we had to leave in the evening so we don’t have images of many finished images, however some of the artists have kindly agreed to send us some shots of the completed works to add to the review, so be sure to check back in a day or two. In the meantime here is a review of our tremendous time in Birmingham for City of Colours 2016, an event we thoroughly enjoyed and very much hope returns next year.
Jimmy C at work.
Jimmy C at work.
N4T4 at work.
Boaster at work.
Yu Baba at work.
SPZero76 at work.
Squirl at work.
Zabou at work.
Mr Cenz at work.
Graffoflarge at work.
Himbad at work.
Fanakapan at work.
The Real Dill at work.
Jim Vision at work.
Werdna & Itaewon of The Made You Look Collective at work.
Snub23 at work.
??? at work.
Cheba at work.
Philth at work.
The party atmosphere really underway in The Arena by late afternoon.
Himbad at work.
Tizer at work.
Inkie at work.
Ant Carver at work.
Hush at work.
Akse P19 at work.
Amara Por Dios at work.
Louis Masai at work.
–
The Finished Pieces.
Exceptional work from Phlegm, just incredible with so much to take in and appreciate. Certainly the highlight recent addition to the area.
Detail of work by Phlegm.
A second little piece from Phleghm in keeping with his main work.
Work by Sepr.
Works from Hoakser, Ink Fetish & Tizer.
Work by Hoakser.
Work by Ink Fetish.
Work by Tizer.
Delightful little stencil work by ???
Great work by My Dog Sighs.
Detail of work by My Dog Sighs.
Beautiful work from Jimmy C. A continuation from a piece also painted under a rail arch in Camden Town some 18 months ago.
Work by Jimmy C.
Work by Hull Graffiti.
Beautiful work by N4T4, very much one of the standout pieces we saw completed.
Detail of work by N4T4.
Work by Mose78.
Work by Kid30.
Work by Boaster.
Beautiful work by Yu Baba.
Detail of work by Yu Baba.
Work by Hush.
Work by ???
Excellent space themed work from the Lost Souls Crew; SPzero76, Captain Kris, Squirl & Si Mitchell and joined by Cheba adding that beautiful cosmic background. Always a treat to see work from these guys.
Work by SPZero76.
Detail of work by SPZero76.
Work by Captain Kris.
Work by Captain Kris & Squirl.
Work by Squirl.
Work by Si Mitchell.
Work by The Lost Souls & Cheba.
Work by Snub23.
Work by Snub23.
Great work by Zabou.
Detail of work by Zabou.
Work by Idiom.
Work by Hull Graffiti.
Work by ???
Excellent work from visiting Israeli artists Broken Fingaz, artists very much with a style and subjects of their own.
Work by Broken Fingaz.
Detail of work by Broken Fingaz.
Work by Broken Fingaz.
Detail of work by Broken Fingaz.
Work by Broken Fingaz.
Detail of work by Broken Fingaz.
Beautiful work by Mr Cenz.
Detail of work by Mr Cenz.
Excellent stencil work from Graffoflarge.
Work by Also…40hk, with Himbad at work above.
Work by The Real Dill.
Work by D7606.
Beautiful work by C3.
Work by Deeds.
Great work by Senor X.
Work by 0707.
Fantastic work from Louis Masai, with his patchwork depiction of Blue Fin Tuna. Photo kindly provided by Louis Masai.
Beautiful work by Ant Carver. Photo kindly provided by Ant Carver.
Excellent work by Akse P19, with his hyper-realistic depiction of Muhammad Ali. Photo kindly provided by Akse P19.
London Calling Blog 
Wow! Truly hot off the press. Lovely coverage and captures. Looks like it was a great day out.
Great blog from a great day…,you work fast man! The event was amazing, such a mixture of styles and artists (familiar and new). So much to see, even a day wasn’t long enough. Looking forward to seeing the finishes pieces.
Just bloody spectacular – I couldn’t make it which is a real pity, some fabulous works here. Seeing all this is just getting me more in the mood for Upfest. Will London Calling be dashing up the M4?
The artist credit for the charming small bird is by the German artist Eins92. There is also another small artwork by him showing the face of a man and woman with a hand over her eyes on another wall by a railway arch.