ValentinaHave you ever seen a British Royal Guard performing the breakdance? If the answer is no and you’d like to see one, check out Hanbury Street in East London.
Hanbury Street is the only place in London where you will see a guard with his bearskin cap on, dancing upside down, side to side to a huge crane! What am I talking about? I am talking about two fabulous pieces of street art. Yes, because London is one of the world’s most famous centres of street art.
If like me, you are new to the street art universe, I suggest that you go for a street art walking tour. There are so many pieces of work out there that is a good idea to have an expert in the field to guide you!
WHICH IS THE BEST STREET ART TOUR IN LONDON?
There is a lot of choices but most of the tours charge you between 12 £and 14 £. I think it’s not fair to make you pay that much for something that you can actually see by walking along the streets. So, I would recommend you to opt for a free tour. I found this one, “London graffiti and street art tour”, on https://freetoursbyfoot.com/london-tours/, led by an actual street art artist Gregory Simpson.
The meeting point is at the Exmouth Coffee Shop, ranked number 3 on TripAdvisor, just outside Algate East underground station. The food looks very tempting. It could be a convenient option for lunch if you book the tour at 2 pm, or for breakfast if you go for the morning tour.
STREET ART TOUR: WHAT WILL YOU SEE?
I did this tour in November 2018. We started the tour from a work of Pleghm in Heneage Street just off Brick Lane. This huge work took him three days to paint. In black and white, he uses the colours of the wall as a background for his painting and stylized shapes. I personally believe that his work is truly original and the human figures seem characters come out from a fairy tale.
STREET ART TOUR: HANBURY STREET
We walked towards Hanbury street, once associated with the murders of Jack the Ripper. Today it’s one of the most famous sights where you can easily spot some of the most exciting works such as the huge crane by ROA, a Belgian artist. His murals are usually in black and white and are focused on animals. Besides the crane, there is what seems to be a Royal Guard, a man wearing a bearskin cap dancing the breakdance. This work is created by the Argentinian Painter Martin Ron. The crane has been there for years, despite the fact the street art is continuously evolving and changing from one day to the other.
On the opposite side of the road, there is another beautiful piece signed by Mr. Cenz, a London-based Graffiti Artist. His peculiarity is to paint female portraits, usually very colourful with plenty of movement.
Take this tour and you might have the chance to see two pieces of Banksy London’s street artist par excellence. Just to make this clear, he is the artist of the Girl with the balloon, which according to a survey commissioned for the launch of a Samsung television, is the UK’s favourite work of art, beating Constable with The Hay Wain, which comes second.
Go to 81 Rivington Street to see the policeman with a poodle.
Moving to Ely’s Yard you will see the explosive Concrete sculpture of Vhils, a Portuguese artist, that represents a woman’s face. I say explosive because he used small quantities of dynamite to create the face in this block of concrete!
Proceed towards Shoreditch and you will encounter lots of graffiti on your way. Among these, there is Bambi artwork, considered the female counterpart of Bansky with “don’t shoot”. If you spot some simple stick figures, you are watching the distinctive feature by Stick. His murals are always somehow related to his community. According to our guide, he is a great man, who paints in collaboration with hospitals or homeless associations, in order to help the community.
Our tour street art tour ended in Shoreditch not too far from Old Street station, in front of a building completely painted and covered with colourful drawings. One of them was signed again by Mr Cenz, portraying a lady who holds in her hands a globe. The tour should last approximately 2 hours and a half, so make sure to feed and pee before that as there will be no stops!
If you want to enter the street art universe and discover a different London, this is the tour for you, and it’s for free! Optional tips for the guide are welcome though : ). Don’t be surprised if you’ll find different murals from those I have just described as street artists never sleep and new murals and graffiti bloom overnight!
