Gallery exhibitions revolving around street art are sometimes a rarity, with artists often shying away due to qualms over the possible commercialisation of their trade- ‘selling out’, so to speak. Shoreditch is the notable exception within the UK. Here, this often ethereal, indeed ephemeral, medium is allowed to take centre stage with no real detriment to its authenticity. Why not elsewhere, then? Once again Shoreditch proves to be something of a creative counterpoint to London proper; only here was the development of these galleries pioneered by the artists themselves rather than an outsider looking to achieve a quick buck, and it is this we have to thank for the multitude of galleries exhibiting urban art within the area.
One shining example and a leading light within Shoreditch’s cutting-edge contemporary art scene is the StolenSpace gallery, innovatively set up by Dean Stockton in 2005. This prolific urban pop artist, better known under his alias of D*Face, is but one of many to frequent the gallery in recent years, his latest solo exhibition, New World Disorder, celebrating over a decade spent at the forefront of the Shoreditch street art scene before the gallery ups sticks to a new venue (whilst still maintaining its E1 postcode).
The exhibition itself, however, refuses to shrink in the face of the hype, the monumental sense of occasion that preceded it. Beyond the gallery’s paint-splattered, but still relatively nondescript, façade, Stockton’s labyrinthine studio overwhelms the senses with a maelstrom of sporting glory and wartime savagery, these combining to produce a thought-out exploration of the nature of pack mentality.
Bearing tribute in part to Pat Tillman (an American footballer turned soldier, whose life was tragically taken in an incident of friendly fire in 2004), the body of sculptural work reflects a damning cynicism with the militaristic style of global policing in the modern day- this cynicism
of Stockton’s shared by Tillman in the latter stages of his life. Bullet-riddled helmets are embellished with metal grills (akin to protective sporting gear), comically sized baseball bats pimped up with barbed wire. Still, Stockton’s perpetual desire to call into question society’s blind materialistic consumption permeates the work, menacing baseball bats plastered in the Coca-Cola logo his attempt to signify that ‘in today’s political climate…war equals brand invasion’. D*Face’s social commentary, then, remains much the same in the gallery as it does on the streets.
It is refreshing that Shoreditch can offer exhibitions centred around street art, whilst stlll maintaining the medium’s unparalleled authenticity.
Why not check out…
Urban Masters Exhibition
Situated in a former Victorian factory, now the Opera Gallery, this exhibition affords 33 contemporary urban artists (amongst them Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Blek le Rat and Rone)
the opportunity to pay homage to the ‘masters, masterpieces and muses’ that majorly influenced their work. On the exhibition’s opening night, attendees can meet some of the aforementioned artists during a poster giveaway and book signing.
9-18 November 2013 at Opera Gallery, Factory 7, Hearn Street, EC2A 3LS
Street Art London Tours
Weaving through the streets of Shoreditch and Brick Lane at some pace, these tours provide a real insider’s glimpse of the sub-culture, with the guides tending to know personally the artists themselves. As a result, they are fully appreciative of the diversity of the street art scene, not merely in its forms of expression- stencils, paste-ups, stickers, sculptures, mosaic tiles- but in its range of artists. Whilst the guides do acknowledge the need to cater to those who have not ventured beyond the recurrent Banksy headlines, they seek to deepen their understanding and reveal to them the lesser-known, up-and-coming artists.
