LOVEHEARTS PASTE-UPS

As a long-time resident of Shoreditch it was long overdue for me to make my own contribution to the local, vibrant street-art scene. While galleries can feel like cold and uninviting spaces, adding art to the street strips away all layers of snobbery and makes it accessible and something to be enjoyed by everyone walking past. Street art is made for its own sake, and is a cheap and cheerful way to brighten up a neighbourhood when done well and with care and consideration.

I’ve started creating paste-ups of my LOVEHEARTS series, thus bringing the ‘graffiti of the forest’ to the city. These carved hearts on the trees are in themselves a form of well intended but misguided vandalism. I ‘revandalise’ in the best sense of the word by pasting my photographs of them in the areas of my neighbourhood that are already established hotspots for graffiti and paste-ups. There is a double meaning to them in that respect, something ‘meta’. Humans love to leave a mark and ‘shout about their love from the rooftops’ or in this case, the tree trunks.

Giclée prints will be sporadically available via my email newsletter.

The location photos are from The Graffiti Tunnel at Leake Street, and Fournier Street and Princelet Street off Brick Lane.