As Aberdeen 'discovers its street art soul' I've been trying to keep track of not just the visiting artists and art works but also what's been happening at a local level . So here's a look at the who's and what's of Street Art in Aberdeen (warning flashing images at the bottom of this post).
What a time to be alive! When I first started out Mood of Collapse blog I had some key interests with street art and graffiti ranking pretty high on my radar. Of course 11 years ago we didn't have much of a scene and the graffiti writers of the time were a pretty close knit group so access to who and what was happening was limited to snapping the occasional tag or throw up. I was lucky to document friends like Craig Barrowman as he pushed the boundaries of publicly engaging art via his moveable sculptures and pop up instalations in Union Terrace Gardens way back in 2008 / 2009. But street art or street interventions really were thin on the ground and with lots of other art events happening I threw myself into documenting what I could and discovered a pretty wide ranging and exciting cultural offering across the city.
Jump forward 10 years and we've had 3 years of Painted Doors, 5 years of Look Again Festival and 3 years of Nuart Aberdeen, the city has been spoiled for choice as far as murals and street interventions go and Painted Doors have done a great job showcasing our incredible talents from the city and a few from beyond. We've also seen UV Arts do the unthinkable and let a group of internationally renowned graffiti artists paint the Union Terrace Gardens tunnel in 2016. Where the shake of a spraycan might have attracted some unwanted attention from the old bill, it now brings a horde of street art photographers and tourists eager to see whats happening, unless its Donside!. All of the festivals are well documented including my own take on things (you can check Release the Pressure here, Look Again here, Painted Doors here and Nuart Aberdeen here) but what about the local street artists?
I'd have argued we didn't really have any but I'm glad to say I'm wrong and there's been a scene developing where artist's are connecting and supporting each other. Painted Doors & Nuart Aberdeen brought together a group of like minded folk who wanted to see the city change for the better through street art, in all its forms with organisers and artists who have been individually and collectively working on the streets for many years and artists who's first ventures came via the festivals. Indeed the signs have been there but most, myself included missed the signs. So here's a little run down of the folks who are part of this step change in the city.
I want to start with one of the unsung heroes, Geneveive Davis, founder and organiser of Throwup Gallery. Gen herself claims to lack the creative ability to paint or make art but her vision, passion and dedication to making things happen is proof enough of her creative soul! Combining a passion for graffiti with a strong sense of ethics, Gen has managed to turn a one off project into a full scale collective which has helped set up legal graffiti walls in Sunnybank Park and hosted community focused exhibitions like this years 'No Ball Games' show. I highly recommend checking out the Throwup Gallery facebook page and website for more information. Gen is a hero, nuff said!
One man graff scene Slave has been on a tear since the arrival of Nuart where he played a vital role in the production crew. I first met Charlie when he rocked up to help out at Nuart Aberdeen. Getting to know his story I've discovered a kindered soul and an incredibly talented graffiti writer who's been working on the streets of Aberdeen for a long time and he's got the paper work to prove it. He's been instrumental in helping set up the legal wall at Sunnybank and has become a go to for local aspiring graffiti artists. With work on every legal wall in the city and pieces at Glasgow's 'Yardworks Festival'.
A real suprise has been V2K, an artist who's emerged from the Look Again and Nuart Aberdeen volunteer crews. Taking up the mantle of political agitator and using the streets to question the world around him, V2K has produced a number of political stencils along with letter based graffiti pieces. Along with another local artist, Fit Like Art, the pair have been exploring their own creativity despite coming from non creative backgrounds. Art is a powerful tool which I think anyone can harness and its been interesting to see that play out on the streets. You can listen to V2Ks Creative Me podcast here.
Another artist who's been placing work on the streets for years is Francis Vomit. Trolls, cute cats and space ladies are all part of the Vomit repertoire and can be found on various locations up and down Holburn Street. On many occasions I've found myself either plodding too or from the day job and I've come across one of Francis stickers and especially on those shitty days, they've brought a smile to my face and immediately lifted me out of the bad mood. They may appear to be simple stickers but there's a lot of power in them and in street art when its done well.
Through Francis and the wonders of instagram I met American sticker artist Futz.Oner while he was visiting the silver city. We gave him a tour of some of the Nuart and Painted Doors pieces and watched as he stickered up every surface in sight! If you want to look at the finer nuances of street art and the techniques you'll find entire books dedicated to the humble sticker. Some put their tags on em, bands use em to leave their mark on toilets across the world and street artists use them to convey their message. For Futz that message is a mixture music, politics and art. If you wanna join the Futz Club and help him spread the message then you can purchase some slaps here.
A relatively new kid on the block is Kid Flim. Flim by name, Flim by nature you might say! Although I hope not, the urban dictionary definitions for Flim are pretty weird. But when I think of Flim is think of the stylised Luke Skywalker below and his other paste ups which you can find scattered around. You'll find a special Super Mario piece on Harriet Street featuring the tag 'Fin & Jake woz ere' alluding to a previous paste up by Flim that had been removed. I like it when street art engages with its environment or tells a story. Along with pop culture characters Flim is also an accomplished painter and has created a few collaborative portraits with Alter Ego at the Sunnybank Wallspot.
HONK is another artist who emerged around the time of the Painted Doors project. The virtual Pokémon hunters were out in force and inspired Honk to create his own 'arty' version of the game with a series of Honkemon steens which he'd decorated with his bearded characters. Most recently he's been working on prints and has left a trail of paste ups across the city centre and Rosemount.
KMG has been prolific to say the least having travelled up and down the country painting at numerous events and festivals as well as playing vital roles in the Nuart productions. KMGs signature character is a multi eyed thing called Ken. With a background in fine art painting and a move into graphic design, Katie has been refining various skills which she completely ignores, swapping a Wacom tablet for a spray can, giving her the freedom to expel her brain onto walls with an immediacy that only comes from live painting. The life of a freelancing designer can be a tough one but Katie has managed to use her skills and built up a good reputation with mural commissions across the city including Unit51, Grub on Schoolhill and a great canvas at the new Dr Martens store in Aberdeen. As for Ken, he's appeared in numerous situations across this city including this scenario which occurred up in Sheddocksley last year.
Nuart itself has proved a beacon for street artists from further afield with many established names visiting during the festival and leaving their mark. One of the first to stand out is Lost Hills with his Jake paste ups. From Banksy to Andy Warhol, Jake takes on various pop culture guises (especially if you were born in the 80s) and appears in the most unusual of places. And if you find a Jake then you'll likely find a Jimzina not to far away. With vintage pin ups and cocktail menus, Jimzinas work can also be found around the city centre although only a few currently remain in tact (look high for the mirrored frames). I'm sure the duo will be back soon to add some new work to the growing collection.
During 2018's Nuart Aberdeen, small circular tiled plaques began appearing close to where some of the artists were working. Seeing Carrie Reichardts work for the festival it would be easy to assume they were extra pieces that she's installed but they were in fact created by London based artist Karen Fracesca. Karen was in town working on the larger mosaic pieces with Carrie and wanted to install a few of her smaller works across the city. Each of the mosaics was accompanied by a small wooden planter that housed a tree sapling. Known for her environmental based work, the pieces hoped to add some greenery to the gray city. Of course within a matter of days here planter located next to The Grill on Langstane Place had become an ashtray for the pub goers and the other planters didn't fare much better. But her work did raise some interesting ideas about how nature is integrated into our city (not very well on a whole I think) and how maybe its up to us to create the changes in our environment we hope to see. Where did I put my seed bomb grenade?
And finally my own MOC exploits. In late 2017 I picked up a project based around geometric shapes which I started at the Temporary Studio project back in 2015! I wanted to use some old mirrors I found in my shed and create a piece that would engage people. It was amazing how quickly people started taking and sharing selfies in the mirrors. Playing with perspectives was fun, especially when placing the mirrors around the city centre but there was also another layer to the project which required the viewer to photograph each of the mirrors and create a gif. Of course I didn't tell anyone this point so I made one myself. Out of the 5 mirrors only two remain but I've started working on more new pieces and animation ideas, most recently on a collaborative piece in the tunnels with KMG, see that gif above.
It's been interesting to watch street art become a thing in the city, from way back in 2008 when I was running around blasting up lego stencils to now, where there's groups and artist collectives forming around the practice. Nuart has definitely galvanised many along with Painted Doors which gave some their first taste of placing work on the streets. The tunnels just off the green has become quite the hotbed for emerging and established artists and its great to see the ever evolving walls change each month. As new pieces appear and older works get buffed, the conversation continues and hopefully gets better as more voices come to the fore.
Indeed the artist's covered here are simply the ones I'm aware of and if I've learned one thing from 10 years of blogging and investigating culture in Aberdeen its that under every rock is another artist or creative waiting to emerge. I might not like everything I see or agree with the artists views but I'm glad there's a mix of people out there who feel empowered to put work on the streets, after all if I had it all my own way the city might get boring.
