Southend City Jam

Posted on September 12, 2022 by JHiggott

Between 2nd at 4th September 2022 over 100 artists descended on Southend-on-Sea to take part in the first ever “Southend City Jam“. Great weather helped to bring out the crowds and the painting frenzy in and around the city’s High Street had a true festival feel. We only left ourselves a couple of hours to try and see as much of the street art as possible and missed a whole load but wow – what a great event! As well as a large number of works adorning existing buildings, there were specially erected temporary walls and hoardings to decorate. Along High Street itself a massive temporary wall had been erected, with artists working on both sides through the weekend.

With such a large number of artists from around the world the festival offered something for everyone. Many of the artists were familiar to us at The Street Art Directory and we have seen their works many times around the UK, artists including Woskerski, Spray Saint, Curtis Hylton, 616, Curiouser, Dan Kitchener and Aches. Others were new to us and we will be adding gallery pages on the website in due course.

The Southend jam has been facilitated by artists Ekto and Ster – the latter of which was immortalised in the impressive large mural by Voyder.

With the obvious success of this year’s event we hope that this will be the first of many paint jams in Southend.

Here’s a small selection of photos of this year’s art work. We’ve got LOADS more that we will add to the website at a later date.

*Voyder‘s portrait of Ster, who was one of the artists behind the Southend City Jam.*

*Woskerski busy completing on his excellent ostrich mural under the railway bridge on High Street.*

*Dan Leo’s huge crab mural – one of many pieces in Alexandra Street Car Park.*

*Detail from Curtis Hylton‘s awesome and very large owl piece on Royal Mews.*

*Yeko‘s mural off Elmer Approach (work in progress).*

*One of a couple of Spray Saint works completed for the Jam. This one under the railway bridge on High Street opposite Woskerski’s ostriches.*

*Lovely wall from Aches in Clarence Road Car Park, where you can also find pieces by Dan Kitchener and others.*

The Street Art Directory is an independent website showcasing contemporary street art from over 1500 artists from around the world. Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.

If you find The Street Art Directory is a useful resource and would like make a small donation to help with the costs of running and maintaining the website take a look here.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister – a reflection

Posted on September 11, 2022 by JHiggott

As the 32nd longest serving Prime Minister in UK history Boris Johnson certainly provided plenty of material to fuel the imaginations of street artists in his 3 years and 44 days in charge of the country. On 6 September 2022 Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson stepped down from the role and handed the metaphorical baton to Liz Truss. Now seems a good time to bring together a selection of the many and varied pasteups, murals and other artwork he inspired that has been shared on our streets over the last few years.

The Street Art Directory is an independent website showcasing contemporary street art from over 1500 artists from around the world. Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.

If you think The Street Art Directory is a useful resource and would like make a small donation to help with the costs of running and maintaining the website take a look here.

New galleries: Vlek, Voidnumber6, Wild Wonder Woman, Won ABC, Wilf Dessent

Posted on September 7, 2022 by JHiggott

Hot on the heels of our addition of new artists for the ‘Z’ section of The Street Art Directory we today bring you another selection of new artists. We bring you an excellent Vlek stencil from Bergen and Voidnumber6 and Wild Wonder Woman works from London. There’s also a Won ABC mural from Leicester and a series of colourful pieces by Wilf Dessent brightening up the Withington district of Manchester.

*Vlek mural on a street cabinet in Bergen, Norway.*

*Voidnumber6 sticker in London’s Ely’s Yard.*

*This Wild Wonder Woman pasteup appeared as part of the London International Pasteup Festival in Shoreditch at the end of 2021.*

*The partially obscured Won ABC mural in Leicester.*

*Shop shutter decorated by Wilf Dessent in for Withington Walls.*

The Street Art Directory is an independent website showcasing contemporary street art from around the world. Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.

New galleries: Zurdie, Zezão, Zone Two, Zippy

Posted on September 5, 2022 by JHiggott

We’ve been busy photographing art over recent months and it is now time to let some of these loose on the website. We have just added three new artist galleries which help flesh out the rather impoverished ‘Z‘ section of The Street Art Directory. Two of these – Zurdie and Zippy were snapped in Belfast earlier this year are works completed for the ‘Hit The North 2022’ street art festival. Alongside these we include Zezão‘s beautiful piece from under a bridge in Hackney Wick and a series of new pasteups from Shoreditch by Zone Two.

*Zurdie piece from Kent Street in Belfast.*

*Zezão mural in Hackney Wick, London, north of White Post Lane.*

*One of a series of Zone Two pasteups that we discovered around Bethnal Green Rd and Brick Lane in East London.*

New gallery: Aches

Posted on June 15, 2022 by JHiggott

On a recent visit to Merseyside and Northern Ireland we were really pleased to be able to admire three murals by the very talented Irish muralist Aches. Aches is based in Dublin and specialises in large scale murals and graffiti. Born in 1992, he graduated from the National College of Art and Design with a degree in Visual Communications since when he began to fuse his knowledge of graphic design and graffiti.

Aches uses computer software to help design his murals, with overlapping single-colour “CMYK” images merging to form a brightly coloured and dynamic visual display where the images and colours blend together.

In the Wirral the excellent New Brighton Street Art project funded by Rockpoint Leisure which has been brightening up the town’s Victoria Quarter as part of the town’s regeneration. Aches’s fabulous “Guide Dogs” mural was is one of several large-scale works to be found on Virginia Road in New Brighton on the northeast tip of the peninsula.

‘Hit The North’ is Northern Ireland’s largest street art festival. The recently completed 2022 iteration, coordinated by Seedhead Arts & Hennessy, covers Union Street and Kent Street in the Cathedral Quarter with murals from local and international artists, and there’s a couple of works by Aches to see.

The first one we saw sits at the west end Union Street which is thick with street art. This baseball cap-clad face sits part hidden in a derelict yard behind locked gates. Bristol artist Inkie has added an ‘Aches’ label to the work on an adjacent wall.

Walking east along Union Street then taking a left up Kent Street you come to the Kent Street Car Park. Overlooking the car park is another imposing multicoloured CMYK face. We have not yet identified the subjects of these murals but will update this post with more information as and when we get it.

As well as Aches gallery on The Street Art Directory you can also find him on Instagram at @achesdub and visit his website.

New galleries: Alaa Satir, Agit8d1, Abraham.o1, Uhoh, Canevil, Bilag, Beirdo, Bee, Beart11, Bates, Balloon Boy, 8bit, 3DUK?, 2TailDog

Posted on April 21, 2022 by JHiggott

In the first update to The Street Art Directory for a while we have added a selection of new artist galleries. From our recent visit to Norway we include Canevil, Bilag, Beart11 and Bee who were all snapped around Bergen. We also include Uhoh and Bates with murals we found in Leicester last year. The remaining artists – Alaa Satir, Agit8d1, Abraham.o1, Beirdo, Ballooon Boy, 8bit, 3DUK?, 2TailDog – are all included based on works from the walls of East London.

Canivil’s take on Maria from The Sound of Music by the harbour in Bergen, Norway. Facing the water this of one of a couple of great stencils that can be seen well from the hotels on the opposite shore

*A small piece by Bilag on a street cabinet in Bergen.*

*This chimpanzee by Beart11 in a rustic frame sits amongst many artworks on the wall along Kong Oscars Gate in Bergen.*

*These green electric scooters are ubiquitous around Bergen and it is no surprise to see an artist embrace one in a stencil – this one by Bee.*

*One of a couple of works by Uhoh side by side in a wall in Leicester.*

*This large smurf-related mural in Leicester by Bates makes quite a statement.*

*Large monochrome paste-up by Alaa Satir off Brick Lane in London.*

*Agit8d1’s Oscar Wilde paste-up from the London International Pasteup Festival.*

*Detailed and very well observed Abraham.o1 mural in Allen Gardens.*

*Beirdo putting the finishing touches to a street piece.*

*Some of the Ballooon Boy pasteups which we have found in the Brick Lane area of London.*

*Banksy-inspired stencillist 3DUK?’s piece in Star Yard, London.*

*A charming mosaic owl in London by 8bit.*

*2TailDog has recently installed some expressionist dog pasteups around Brick Lane.*

Dan Kitchener updates

Posted on March 30, 2022 by JHiggott

We’ve just completed and overhaul of Dan Kitchener‘s gallery page on The Street Art Directory. Showcasing his amazing mural works with photos going back to 2015 we have now arranged the photos by year and to bring it right up to date have included Dan’s painting in Colchester, Essex, which was completed just a few days ago.

*A town pretty much devoid of street art, this new piece by Dan is hopefully the start of good things happening on the walls of Colchester.*

As well as Dan’s gallery page you can also find him on Instagram at @dankitchener and visit his website.

New gallery: TAXED

Posted on March 19, 2022 by JHiggott

Having collected a decent stash of photos of pasteups by TAXED we are now pleased to be able to publish a gallery page of street works. TAXED a London based street artist who is influenced by abstract contemporary & pop art and started hitting the streets in 2020.

Visit Taxed‘s gallery in The Street Art Directory.

You can find Taxed on Instagram at @taxedtaxedtaxed.

Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.

New gallery: Alicedalilart

Posted on January 29, 2022 by JHiggott

We have just added Alicedalilart to The Street Art Directory. Alicedalilart is a London-based Italian artist who was born in Milan.

Her art focuses primarily on characters set in a world of blue shades, combining colours that inspire a peaceful atmosphere and invigorate a sense of calm and wellbeing. She uses a variety of techniques to create her artwork and tries to make use of eco-friendly materials and fabrics.

Visit Alicedalilart‘s gallery in The Street Art Directory.

You can find Alicedalilart on Instagram at @alicedalilart and he also visit her website.

Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.

New gallery: Ztenzila

Posted on January 15, 2022 by JHiggott

The next new addition to The Street Art Directory is Ztenzila who hails from East London. He describes himself as “a struggling cartoonist, film maker, graffiti artist, so called fighter, skater, toy maker and merchandiser trying to make ends meet.”

Visit Ztenzila‘s gallery in The Street Art Directory.

You can find Ztenzila on Instagram at @ztenzila and he also has a website.

Get updates to The Street Art Directory direct to your mailbox by signing up here.