When I was photographing graffiti at Trellick Tower last week, I ran into a guy who asked me if I'd seen the graffiti walls beneath the elevated highway known as the A40, or Westway, which runs near our neighborhood. I hadn't, so he gave me rough directions, and on Thursday I set out to find them.
It turned out not to be all that difficult. The area is easily accessible by sidewalk, and most of it is paved and serves as the entrance to a large recreation center. And the graffiti was pretty great, so I'm glad he filled me in.
There's more than graffiti under the Westway -- there are also horses, stables and the distinct odor of manure.
Maybe the animals are connected to the nearby recreation center. In any case, they seem urban and edgy, surrounded by all that concrete, traffic and graffiti!
I love your graffiti shots -- it looks like street art in London is very similar to that in Los Angeles. I wonder whether it changes, city to city -- do you know?
ReplyDeleteEvery town has its own graffiti writers, but there are some who go from city to city. I've seen artists here whose work I've also seen in New York -- and I saw your photo of Shepard Fairey's stuff in L.A., and he's been up in New York and elsewhere. (That tendency to roam might be more true of "street art" types as opposed to old-school graffiti types, if you believe in those kinds of divisions!)
ReplyDeleteOh, and in terms of style, I'm sure some aficionados could point out regional differences -- but I don't see 'em. I think there's so much visual sharing now on the Internet that styles have blended.
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