The Tallest Piece of Street Art in the UK is Highly Political

The renowned street artist Stik has completed the tallest piece of street art in the UK: a 125-foot mural covering the side façade of a soon-to-be demolished block of council flats in the London area of Acton. The enormous work is “aimed at raising awareness about the lack of social housing in the area,” the Independent reports.

The piece, entitled Big Mother, depicts a mother and child in Stik’s signature stickman drawing style. It took a year of planning and one month of painting to execute, much of which Stik spent perched on a crane, 38 meters (125 feet) above the ground.

“The mother and child symbol are a representation of the families that live in this block,” Stik told the Independent. “The figures that I have painted are looking down sadly at their neighborhood which is being developed with luxury apartments and this building is being demolished.”

The mural can be viewed across west London, and is visible from planes departing and arriving at Heathrow Airport. “It’s great that as people arrive in the country they can see the mother and child looking across the expanse of private development,” the artist remarked.

Stik painted Big Mother for free, as part of a project “to get local street artists to brighten up the area,” explained Rachel Pepper, project manager for Acton Arts Forum. “There are some dark and dingy parts on the estate and we now have about 15 or 16 pieces of artwork that people come to see especially,” she told the Independent.

Visit Stik for more info

Culled From artnet

View Original

A Mechanical Shark Mural by ‘Phlegm’

Sheffield-based muralist and artist Phlegm just unveiled this awesome mechanical shark mural for PangeaSeed’s Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival in San Diego. The piece is done in Phlegm’s signature black and white illustrative style that often depicts shady masked figures manning the controls of unwieldy machines or contraptions. The Murals for Oceans project involves a collaboration with internationally renowned artists in an attempt to focus attention on major environmental issues involving the ocean. You can see many more pieces by Phlegm spanning the last few months on his blog. (via StreetArtNews)

View Original Article Here

The Best Art-Related Guiness World Records for Guinness World Record Day

13th of November apparently, is the official Guinness World Record Day, and people are celebrating accordingly. As per to the Daily Mail, various record-setting attempts took place on thursday, including those for the farthest backwards basketball shot and the most people eating breakfast in bed. Kicking off the festivities thursday night near London’s Tower Bridge was a gathering of the largest-ever crowd of people in penguin costumes. As for records in the visual arts? We had you covered with a round-up of the best art-related Guinness World Records.

Syrian artist Moaffak Makhoul and his team pose in Damascus with Guinness World Records award for the largest recycled material mural, March 31, 2014. The mural, seen behind them, measures 7,750 feet. Photo: Louai Beshara, courtesy Agence France-Presse.

Largest Mural of Recycled Materials
Moaffak Makhou
Earlier this year, Guinness officially recognized this gorgeous Damascus mural, a 7,750 foot-long marvel created by Makhou and his team from bicycle parts, mirrors, cooking utensils, soda cans, and ceramic shards (see “In Syria, Mural Sets New World Record“).

Menahem Asher Silva Vargas with part of his Guinness World Record-holding Harry Potter memorabilia. Photo: Rebecca Blackwell, courtesy AP Photo.

Largest Collection of Harry Potter Memorabilia
Menahem Asher Silva Vargas
Based in Mexico City, Silva Vargas shattered the old record of 807 with his 3,097 pieces of merchandise related to the Harry Potter book and film series (see “Guinness Honors World’s Largest Harry Potter Collection“). Though a world record is rewarding, the cost of collecting on such a scale adds up quickly: “My salary, my bonuses…it all ended up here,” he told the AP.

Graffiti from CBLOXX in London’s Leake Street Tunnel is part of Femme Fierce’s record breaking mural.
Photo: Street Art Utopia.

Largest Spray-Painted Mural By Multiple Artists
UK female street art collective Femme Fierce
This March, to celebrate International Women’s Day 100 female street artists, hailing from the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Europe, took over London’s Leake Street Tunnel. Femme Fierce transformed the street, a legal home to graffiti famously tagged by Banksy, into the world’s longest spray-painted mural by multiple artists (see “Women Street Artists Set New Guinness Record for Largest Mural“).

Map of the “World’s Longest Painting” route in Ann Arbor
Photo: Courtesy http://www.artistsingh.com/

World’s Longest Painting By an Individual
SinGh
The Transcendental, an 11,300-foot long painting the Kalamazoo-based artist SinGh, was created for the 2013 edition of ArtPrize. The record, however, came with a price for SinGh: a lifetime ban from the popular Michigan art show (see “Artist Banned From ArtPrize Forever“).

Month-Old Banksy Mural Removed and Headed to Auction

Banksy‘s Art Buff (2014) in Folkestone, England
Photo: Street Art News

Art Buff, the mural that Banksy painted in the coastal town of Folkestone, just over a month ago (see “Fresh Banksy Appears in Folkestone, England“), has been removed and is now slated to go on sale.

Proceeds from the sale of the piece, rumored to be worth in the region of £300,000, will to go to a local charity, according to the Daily Mail.

The piece depicts an old lady wearing headphones and staring at an empty plinth. It will be auctioned off by London’s Bankrobber Gallery, the only dealership in the UK selling Banksy’s street artworks, according to its Wikipedia page. The date of the auction is yet to be disclosed.

Last Saturday, a team of workmen arrived to the arcade where the mural was located and began to remove the painting. The team was interrupted shortly thereafter by a group of artists, who protested and tried to prevent the mural’s removal. Police officers were then called to the scene to reinstate order.

The Godden family, owners of the arcade where the mural was painted, had ordered its removal, claiming they were no longer able to protect it from damage, the Independent reports. Early on in its stint in Folkestone, an anonymous vandal added a big drawing of penis on the original empty plinth (see “Phallic Addition to Folkestone Banksy Mural“). The rude drawing was removed shortly after.

But not only artists and other locals have expressed their disappointment at this turn of events. Damian Collins, Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, as well as the Shepway District Council, made several appeals to the Godden family, asking them to keep the Banksy piece for Folkestone.