When out the other day around Brick Lane we were delighted to sight amid the recent influx of paste-up works that have bombarded Brick Lane of late a pair of paste-up works from Ant Carver, an artist whose portraiture work we have long admired and all the more delighted to see two new subjects, one male and one female, to brighten up the streets. Ant Carver’s style is very distinct, comprising the colourful background taking an abstract form paying homage to his Graffiti roots. It is on this platform that Ant Carver sets to paint the detailed portraiture by brush with acrylic paints on the street. His grey-scale realistic portraits sit so well on the fluid and colourful base he composes, creating that striking effect of the beauty to be seen among the chaos. What we love most is how with many of the pieces, the eyes on the subject appear to be looking directly at you as you stand before the work, creating that sense of connection between viewer and subject.
The boy’s face in particular is breathtakingly beautiful.