Next up in our look back at 2018 we thought we would be take a look back at what we have proactively organised and been up to about London this year. So where to begin really, Street Art and Blog wise it’s been by and large another fantastic and fun year for us here at London Calling Blog. Its certainly been a busy year for us here starting the first weekend of the new year and running until the very end of the year we are exceptionally privileged to have been able to have been involved in organizing so much art around the city. Starting with the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam which saw some 26 artists come celebrate three years of the blog with us and in the process paint some 30 spots around the our home town of Penge. It was fantastic to be able to celebrate the Blog’s third anniversary in conjunction with our SprayExhibition20 community project in Penge which has really gained momentum beyond our wildest expectations over the last three years and most satisfyingly consumed much of our free time – this is why are behind on our wider blog updates. In 2016 we were able to facilitate some 19 works across 16 spaces around the town, and over the course of 2017 we have managed to paint a further 94 works across some 88 spots around town, for 2018 we are proud to have been able to put together a further 71 new artworks across 61 spaces.
Work by JXC in Penge with Molly the projects official mascot on modelling duties.
In addition to all the artworks we able to help facilitate in Penge, we were also delighted to continue work on some spots we run in Stockwell. We have also been privileged to have been asked to embark on another community led initiative to brighten up the local area, on this occassion in Selhurst in a project with local residents CASSA and Network Rail which is seeing the area behind Selhurst Station undergoing a massive transformation which the locals seem to be loving based on the overwhelmingly positive response we have had from the residents thus far.
It hasn’t all been fun though this year we have had our share of disgust and anger with a most enraging and disappointing turn of events in May this year when the corporate world and shady charities decided to rip off a load of artists’ intellectual property rights in an advertising campaign from events we organised in 2017. You may have seen some adverts for multi-million clothing company Boohoo either online or whilst traveling around London. What is different about this advertising campaign and probably the only reason the average street art fan would of even noticed these adverts, is that the models are photographed in front of artworks from some 16 artists – 14 of whom painted for us, alongside many other artists for London Calling Blog’s paint jams. The two paint jams were organised as closed events and access to the space on both occasions was facilitated through Artista – an artist we have worked with extensively. Each of these artists then found themselves unwillingly caught up in this advertising campaign for clothing line Boohoo in conjunction with England Footballer Dele – scheduled to coincide with the upcoming World Cup. All of the affected artists WERE NOT ASKED if there intellectual property could be used to promote this line, they were not offered payment to be associated with this corporate brand or product line and neither were they even given the courtesy of having their artwork credited. Instead they have been exploited in a transparent attempt by Boohoo to make their product look trendy at the expense of the artists intellectual property rights. Something Boohoo have still shamefully not apologised for or compensated the affected artists for…You can view our write up on this story (covered here) as well as the BBC article on the story (covered here).
Artwork featured by SPZero76 and painted for the ‘Brokedown Palace’ Paint Jam celebrating 2 years of London Calling Blog in Soho displayed in this advert at Angel Underground Station in May 2018.
One notable thing this year is that no one called the police on us in 2018 which is an improvement, we also had immense fun with being provided the chance to further contribute to the Community Magazine SE20 – which has helped spread the word and resulted in people getting in touch to support the project with spaces. We also did our second ever street art tour for the Penge Art Trail this summer as well as another shorter tour for Penge Day which was both free as they should be and immense fun, a real pleasure to be involved with and have so many people from about town and further afield come out to learn about the town’s selection of fantastic artworks.
Our second Free Street Art Tour of Penge for the annual Penge Art Trail with a wonderful turn out of 29 attendees, as seen here viewing ‘Fat Cat’ by Trust.iCON. Great fun and much respect to all that made it the full 4 and half hours in the sunshine to see all of what Penge’s gallery has to currently offer.
As is always the case we couldn’t do what we do here without the help we receive from the good friends we have made along the way and this last year was truer than ever with the invaluable help some people selflessly provided to do whatever it took to make Street Art appear around London and often don’t get the credit they deserve. Thank you to everyone involved in the project so far, artists business owners and residents, Penge, Stockwell and Selhurt wouldn’t be looking so good without all your trust, support and time. Thank You to New Art Rioter for all the help with ‘everything’. Thank you to all the businesses as well as to all the residents for providing us with spaces to let the artists work their magic around Penge and to Roz with CASSA in Selhurst for starting a superb project that has already proved amazing to do and is going to be fantastic fun to continue. Of course a big thank you to E at Network Rail for all his help in bringing more spaces for artists to paint this year. Equally thank you to all the artists for coming down to paint spaces big and small to brighten up the area. Big thank you to Kevin for all the help with ladders, buffing and running around Penge and South London so that walls can be painted and people can enjoy it, a lot of what has been achieved about Penge and Selhurst this last year has been made possible and so much easier through Kevin’s selfless help to the project! Thank you to Community Magazine SE20 for allowing us to share the Art of Penge with the town in their superb publication – which has led to people providing us more spaces to paint around town and elsewhere in London. Big shout out to Street Art Atlas for all the help throughout the year from buffing walls to driving us and artists around town, and to M_Frenchi for helping buff walls in the cold before the paint jam last January, as well as Spike_ML, Tanya Nash and everyone else that helped with buffing walls around London and all the other little tasks that need to occur behind the scenes in order to make this all happen. Your help is immensely appreciated and its only fair to say that a few pockets of South London are looking all the much better for all your help. Thank you to Portrait Per Day for helping out with Eins.92 visiting while we out of town. We would also like to add a big thanks to Lawrence & Ben for providing ladders around to help out around Penge. To Joseph at the Alexandra, Antonella at the Penge Cafe in the High Street and the lovely family at the Himalayan Kitchen for feeding us and the artists when we have been in their corner of town, not to forget Pistoja who whilst visiting the London came to Penge during the Blog’s Paint Jam and left the artists with a load of delicious Swiss chocolate. As well as thank you to everyone who lives local to some walls we have organised art on or has visited Penge, Stockwell or Selhurst for taking the time to come and share some of the work we have been doing in our various projects to the wider world. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time whilst the artists have been about painting to take the time to say something nice about the art they create for us to enjoy and for even on occasion bringing the artists treats such as mince pies and shortbread. Thank you to Jane for sharing the story of Gordon Gibbens with us (covered here). Of course a big thank you to the BBC and everyone who shared the Boohoo story or took the time to leave comments about the shameful issue- utmost respect to Face The Strange for his views on this matter! Thank you all most sincerely from us here at London Calling Blog, lets see what we can all make happen together next year about town! We really can’t begin to pick favourites from the selection of works below, but we would love to know what yours are in the comments. So without any further ado here is a look back at a year of London Calling Blog in 2018.
Work by Mr Cenz for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Aero for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Jane Mutiny for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Skeleton Cardboard for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Itaewon for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Roo for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Gums & Tongue crew: The Real Dill, Alex Amery, Dahkoh & Agwa for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Morgazmik & Frankie Strand for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Toas for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Dotmasters for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Dotmasters for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Skeleton Cardboard for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Dotmasters for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Giusi Tomasello for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Gary Alford for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Skeleton Cardboard for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Dotmasters for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by JXC for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Ant Carver for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam in Penge.
Work by Dope for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by DRT for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Woskerski for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
‘Heart of Mine’ by Airborne Mark for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Nolij for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by DRT & Harpo for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Aspire for the ‘Bring It On Home’ Paint Jam.
Work by Aero in Sydenham.
Work by Decolife in Penge.
Work by Artista in Penge.
Work by Irony in Stockwell.
Work by Airborne Mark in Penge.
Work by Lost Souls members; Captain Kris, SPZero76 and Squirl, in Penge.
Work by SPZero76 in Penge.
Work by Anthea Missy in Penge.
Work by Aspire in Croydon.
Work by Airborne Mark in Penge.
Work by Airborne Mark in Penge.
Work by Dotmaster in Penge.
Work by Irony in Penge.
Work by Maikel Walkman in Penge.
Work by Ante in Penge.
Work by James Chuter in Penge.
Work by Airborne Mark in Penge.
Work by Artista in Penge.
Work by Airborne Mark in Penge.
Work by Aspire in Penge.
Work by Itaewon in Penge.
Work by Nick Wakeling in Penge.
Work by Hunto in Penge.
Work by Aspire in Penge.
Work by Dotmaster in Penge.
Work by Dotmaster in Penge.
Work by Dotmaster in Penge.
Work by Nerone in Penge.
Work by Attai in Penge.
“Oh, Hello Molly!” by Sr. X in Penge.
“The Delivery” by SPZero76 in Stockwell.
Work by Aspire in Stockwell.
Work by Core246 in Stockwell.
Work by Hunto in Stockwell.
‘Undergrowth’ by Rocket01 in Penge.
‘The Worm-o-holo!’ by Sr. X in Penge.
Work by Eins92 in Penge.
Work by Tizer & Bronk HRC in Stockwell.
“Welcome to the Jungle” (Part 1) with work from Aspire, Irony, Woskerski & Artista in Selhurst.
“Welcome to the Jungle” (Part 2) with work from Irony, Candie Bandita. Aspire & Artista in Selhurst.
“Welcome to the Jungle” (Part 3) with work from Artista, Core246 Aspire & Irony in Selhurst.
“Welcome to the Jungle” (Part 4) with work from Artista in Selhurst.
Work by Airborne Mark in Selhurst,
Work by Elno in Selhurst.
Work by Derry Perier in Selhurst.
Work by Candie in Selhurst.
Work by Autone in Penge.
Work by Autone in Stockwell.
Work by Glor in Penge.
Work by Glor in Penge.
Work by Glor & Mr Aces in Stockwell.
Work by Ante in Stockwell.
Work by Aspire in Penge.
‘The Fourth Eye’ by Sr. X in Penge.
Work by Tuis in Stockwell.
Work by Nick Wakeling in Penge.
Work by Rocket01 in Stockwell.
Work by DRT in Stockwell.
Work by DRT in Stockwell.
Work by DRT in Penge.
Work by Aspire in Penge.
‘Double Trouble’ by Aspire in Penge.
Work by Core246, Tizer, Shucks, Lours & Cazer in Selhurst.
Work by SkyHigh & Irony in Selhurst.
Work by Louis Masai in Penge.
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