east london street chic

shop front in brick lane

It kind of crept up on me, my love of street art.

It’s not a genre I’d ever thought much about before moving to East London. But living here means that you pass it all the time, on the bus, walking along, caught in the corner of your eye. And whilst some graffiti is undoubtedly rubbish, I love that moment on the bus, say, when you see something quite different and extraordinary, and physically sit up to get a proper look. It’s definitely a thrill for me and an ‘I love London’ kick. It’s just so darn cool.

brick lane wall cartoons

I remember only just spotting a life-size fox stencil in Stoke Newington, poised as if it were about to sneak into a house. It wasn’t that obvious, and I was whizzing by on the bus, so almost missed it. It looks very much like a Stewy, as it’s identical to other foxes I’ve seen as part of his alphabet of 26 British animals series.

possible stewy fox in stoke newington

When I used to get the bus to work, there would be certain pieces of street art that I would look forward to spotting every day and the flip-side is the horror when you see someone has painted over or tried to remove them. That happens quite a lot but I guess it’s all part of the genre in some ways.

The other weekend, I went down to Redchurch Street for the first time in a while, and was saddened to see my favourite Roa work of the giant squirrel on Club Row gone, and a handsome Native American Indian gracing the wall where he once was.

the squirrel that once was

I was heartened though to see an enormous Roa hedgehog round the corner on Chance Street, almost as if to make up for it.

Roa is one of my favourite street artists. I love how unashamedly massive his animals are. You can’t argue with the amazing crane on Hanbury Street.

I enjoyed seeing some new street art up, and I particularly liked this girl crouching down to take a photo (in a clever mirror image of me… see what they’ve done there), and the brilliantly creepy little man just to the right.

look for the creepy ghost-like man

I long to spot a Pablo Delgado work but it’s tricky as they are so tiny. Check out some of his brilliant mini figures with big personalities here and here.

Here are some others shots I took. I don’t know who did them – please let me know if you do!