East London Street Art

Way overdue? Uh, yes!

To begin, as always, I was in search of art.

And I ended up in East London. Set apart from the pristine museums and hurrying business suits is Brick Lane, named for former brick and tile manufacture that used the local brick earth deposits. This industrial part of London attracted an influx of Irish, Jewish, and Bangladeshi immigrants, both skilled and unskilled laborers, who quickly "overtook" the area.

Today, though the influences of each culture remain in the form of breweries (like the Black Eagle Brewery and the Truman Brewery), Jewish bagel shops, and curry houses. But equally well-loved is the Brick Lane Market, active every Sunday. The area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane.

Brick Lane is also world famous for its graffiti.This is where I stepped in.

In an interview with well-known street artist, Adam Infanticide (who uses stickers with short sentences, full of meaning, almost mottos):

By Adam Infanticide

A collection of some of his well-known stickers

Questioner: Sometimes I feel claustrophobic in the USA. The conformism and the superficial morality are heavy. Your messages leave a strong imprint in my mind; I read them as a breath of fresh air. How would you describe your style?

Adam: Well, we’re constantly bombarded by advertising and corporate propaganda whenever we leave our homes but there’s no forum for regular people to express themselves publicly. How can there be free speech if you have to rent a billboard or own a TV station or newspaper to say something? You can’t compete with mass media. There are barely any public spaces for people to go unless you’re going to buy something. Street art is a small but significant reaction to that.