Museum Art Versus Street Art

LOCATION:

London, England

 

This first stop in London was only for a few days, but I still managed to conquer many of the museums on my checklist. In one day I saw the British Museum, the National Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery. I don't have any good photos, but here is my quick take:

British Museum - really enjoyed this one. There were a ton of Egyptian and Greek artifacts, including the second largest collection of Parthenon relics (the first largest is in Athens, naturally). I also saw the Rosetta Stone, which - don't laugh - I never considered was anything other than DVDs to learn a language. The real stone contains the same text in three different scripts, and has been used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. Makes sense! My favorite part of the museum though was an exhibition on life and death. It sounds a little morbid, but it was fascinating to learn how people around the globe deal with illness, death, mourning, and celebrations of life.

National Gallery - to tell the truth, I skipped most of it, except for the 1800-1900 galleries. But the cool thing about museums in London is that they are free so I might go back in a few weeks during London part two. There are many impressive paintings here though, including Renoir's, Degas', Van Gogh's, Monet's, Rembrandt's, Picasso's and some Cezannes which I particularly enjoyed having just been through his hometown of Aix-en-Provence. This museum was challenging though - it was so crowded, and there were a lot of noisy schools kids on field trips so I ended up rushing through it. I definitely support kids going to museums, but maybe they could have an "adults only" hour or two every week?

National Portrait Gallery - my fave of the day! I had definitely been to the other two before while living in London, but I am pretty sure I never made it to this one. It was quick, but had a lot of really cool work! Most of it was by artists who are not that well known (to me at least - but that is not saying much!) but there were a lot of great portraits of people important to British society. I enjoyed the more modern stuff, including a painting of Dame Judi Dench, a video exhibit of David Beckham, a mod-style painting of Anna Wintour (the only portrait she ever sat for!) and the gallery's newest acquisition, a portrait of Her Royal Highness, Catherine, Duchess Of Cambridge - aka Kate.

My museum blitz did not include the Tate Modern, which I am really excited about, so it will be a priority for London part two in a few weeks. A newer style of art I keep finding myself drawn to though, is street art. I knew London's east-end neighborhoods were supposed to have quite a bit, so I signed up for a street art walk. After seeing the street art in Marseille, London definitely takes it to a whole different level.

While on the walk, our guide explained the fine line between graffiti and art, and there is actually a street art council in London who decides what can stay and what has to go. Though it is legal, most of the work is done at night and many artists prefer to remain anonymous. In contrast, however, several of the major pieces are commissioned by the city. The artists often don't get paid for commissioned works, but they kind of work like ads for the artists, and many get famous (and rich!) after experiencing success on the streets.

 

Some of my favorites were by an artist known as Stik. While living on the streets, Stik began painting these stick figures using only six lines. Each one is different, and our guide told us he takes a lot of time deciding where to place the eyes because they set the mood for each figure. Stik has now become pretty well known, and has even had work sold in auction at Christies.

This one is called "art thief"

 

This one incorporates the rope as a seventh line.

 

One of the largest ones.

 

Another artist that showed up a lot throughout the walk was Thierry Noir. He got his start while living in Berlin. His apartment looked out onto the Berlin Wall, and he started painting it one night to try and make light of the melancholy situation. His style evolved to the simple faces out of necessity - people were always interrupting him to ask if he was a spy, or who was paying him - so he learned to paint quickly. Pieces of the Berlin Wall with his art on it can now be found all over the world, and to many are a symbol of freedom and the reunification of Germany.

A restaurant door.

 

A commissioned collaboration between him and Stik.

 

I don't remember the details about a lot of what we saw, so here are just some of my favorites.

 

This portrait is more of a fine art style.

 

This was an artist from Barcelona, and is "Barcelona Happy" style.

 

This is by Banksy, one of the original street artists, and is now a protected landmark.

These are tiny "paste-ups" and the only paint is the shadows.

This artist uses blasts of spray paint to create almost a 3D effect.

 

This is painted on a piece of gum on the street.

Throughout the tour our guide kept pointing out mushrooms made of fiber glass and polyurethane, perched high on top of some buildings. Most of the time you would never know they were there unless you knew to look up. There have been about 300 created and installed, but only a handful remain because they were either stolen or taken down because they can be considered dangerous if they fall. The very last thing on the tour was one of these mushrooms, and while pointing it out our guide confessed he was actually the artist behind the mushrooms. Well played, tour guide!

The first mushroom we saw.

 

And another.

 

And another... next to a cool mural.

Though I was freezing by the end of the walk, I completely enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone with even a slight interest in non-traditional art. It really makes you think twice about what you see on walls, and about who put it there and why.

 

Posted with Blogsy