Across The Tracks and Through The Looking Glass

I came up to Plaistow Hall of Fame, East London to meet Keen One with the intention of spending a sunny day drinking beer and maybe putting a little something up myself…

Keen one is an awesome style-writer active for near on 25 years and is easily one of the most prolific, original and technically accomplished painters around. Keen has just come back from Amsterdam where he painted three top notch pieces, and is out painting world class burners each and every weekend. You can see his unique and groundbreaking work at Keen’s Flickr page.

I decided to do a small stick-up which took me all of ten minutes. When that was done I enjoyed the sun, chatted with passers-by and actually got to watch the others paint something I rarely get a chance to do as I’m normally painting myself. I wasn’t disappointed and saw a few tricks, styles, techniques that are new to me, it’s always good to watch others paint.

By the time I had arrived Japher, Skore and Keen had already got this far… 

Japher A.W.E 

The legendary Skore has been around since the mid eighties too and is one of London’s most respected for good reason indeed check out his Flickr page.

This guy in the red shirt is called Bino . He paints using both spraycan and brushes and uses diverse materials such as wallpaper and silver foil in his work, which is very different from the norm and visually and texturally stunning and easily some of the most moving and original art I’ve seen for a long time.

This is by King Trev who has been painting graffiti for well over twenty years. He remembered me from the old days and we shared a lot of memories. He spends each weekend touring various halls of fame painting his simple but delightful graffiti often using car paint. He has a very individual and distinctive style. The work of both artists is very reminiscent of tribal painting to me. Trev did three pieces, this one reminds me of something that you would see under a microscope, his style is very distinctive, and he is the self declared inventor of the ‘root style’ due I imagine to the tendril like growths around the letters.

He is around various ‘Halls of Fame’ out painting every weekend, and is one truly dedicated writer and a very nice bloke… 

 TSCT by Trev next to Bino and Japher…

King Trev with finished ‘Trev’ piece, the fill-in on this is done by light quick blasts from a can using a ‘soft-fat’ cap I think. Thanks very much for giving me permission to use this photo in my blog Trev

Finished Bino piece, the strips of foil are vertical stripes either side, between the red dots with black circles around them, and in a few other strategic points. They reflect the light which gives the grid of lines a multi layered effect which seems to hover at varying levels above the wall.

There were pieces of wallpaper in the mix too, check out these close-ups…

 

 Meanwhile Keen One, ‘Alphabet Killer K’ was getting to grips with the outline around his ‘Keen’ One’ piece.

An acknowledged style master, doing things with the letter-form that most consider supernatural, it’s not hard to see why.

Lovely spot for painting this, very atmospheric, great for watching trains, not that there’s anything much on them anymore just the occasional Tox or Flash tag.

 

 

Finishing with a ‘Keen One’ tag in the true graffiti writers style.

Trev getting up.

 

My blue-fade stick-up with a drop shadow and flash…. Canary Wharf in the distance.

I couldn’t resist one of these.

  Thanks for putting me up …

This is everything that got done on the big wall that day. King Trev, Bino, Japher, Skore and Keen One. Many thanks to all.