Street Art | Postcards From Here and There

Digbeth Street Art Part 2

In a previous post (here) I looked at the street art that could be seen walking from Birmingham city centre towards the Custard `Factory area of Digbeth. This second part begins at the end of Floodgate Street where it meets the B4100 High Street Deritend. Turn right onto the High Street. Immediately on your left is a car park which is well worth investigating with art on the outer hoardings and inside.

On exiting the car park turn left and continue walking up the main road before making a left into Gibb Street into the heart of the Custard Factory development. Dan Kitchener has another work here that occupies the side of a building. Another wet city scene it has his signature dreamlike quality in the painting.

A little further along is this superb piece, painted for the High Vis Festival, by Philth.

Close by is this work by Birmingham based artist and illustrator Justin Sola.

Under the railway arches is this piece by Andrew Mills with is a tribute to the relationship between Odeon Cinemas and the city, along with its wider relationship with the film industry. The Beatles, partly obscured by a car in the photo below, appeared at the Birmingham Odeon at the height of their fame in 1965.

Just across the road you will find these two works.

Graffoflarge
Hull Graffiti

The railway arches that connect Gibb Street with Floodgate street are home to a mass of street art. You have to be very observant to make sure that you do not miss anything as pieces can be found almost hidden away in alcoves and behind parked vehicles. The most striking mural takes up a whole wall and is by Gent48.

In close up the detail is fantastic.

Looking a bit worn now is a geometric fox by Annatomix.

There are further examples of Justin Solas work although the second was partly obscured by a piece of plant machinery on the day of my visit.

A narrow alleyway brings you back out onto Floodgate street where you turn right. Part three will complete a look at the street art of Digbeth by covering the area in and around Lower Trinity Street.

I have not been able to identify all the artists of the works shown and may also have made some errors. If you can add anything or need a correction let me know in the comments section.

Digbeth Street Art Part 1

The Digbeth area of Birmingham is just a short ten minute walk from New Street and Moor Street stations. It is an up and coming area favoured by designers, artists, musicians and numerous other creative types. Buildings are being redeveloped into apartments and there is a thriving café, bar and restaurant culture. As with many similiar areas throughout the country it has a thriving street art scene. Indeed the area around the Custard Factory probably has the greatest density of art that I have seen anywhere in recent times. If you are short of time this is obviously the place to head for but if you have a couple of hours to spare there is much more to see in then area.

I walked from New Street Station and headed down the B4100 Digbeth before turning left onto Allison Street. On the corner here is a large work by Dan Kitchener (DANK), the first of two that he has in the area. Dan is from Essex and is well known for his works showing rain city street scenes of which this is an example.

Continue along Allison street and then turn right onto Bordesley Street. At its junction with Meriden Street there are two old works on the side of a nightclub.

Diagonally across the road is a car park, Most of the walls contain a variety of colourful tags along with this piece by Birmingham based artist Annatomix. Following a career as a musician and sound engineer she began working as an artist in 2010 and has a number of works in the Digbeth area.

From here head back to Bordesley Street and walk down towards Trent Street. There is. large car park on your righthand side which ic covered in tags. Turn right into Trent street and pass under the railway.

Turn left onto Coventry Street. There is a rather nice portrait on your left here by the Birmingham artist Dan Newso (newso48) but it is now partly obscured by bins and has suffered some damage. He has been a significant contributor to the art of the area for the last ten years or so.

Turn left into Milk Street where you will find quite a lot of art on the walls and building shutters.

At the end of Milk Street turn right into Little Ann Street and walk until it forms a T junction with Floodgate Street. on the corner here is a mural which shows the location of some of the bars and restaurants in the area.

Turn right into Floodgate Street, this is where you will find a high density of street art and there a number of routes you can take as you walk along it.

There is a huge work under the railway bridge which because of its size is difficult to photograph.

In part 2 I will look at the art around the Custard Factory.

I have not been able to identify all the artists of the works shown and may also have made some errors. If you can add anything or need a correction let me know in the comments section.

Baltic Triangle Street Art 2019

I first wrote about the street art to be found in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle in September 2018. You can read the original post using the link here. As twelve months have elapsed I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the area and have a look at what was new. Much of the original work first seen in 2018 is still here but this post will just concentrate on that which is new to me. Check the link above to see the earlier works.

The Baltic Triangle is a pleasant 15 minute walk from Liverpool city centre, head out along Paradise Street, turn left onto Park Lane and when the road forks take the right branch which is Jamaica Street. This brings you to the heart of the Baltic Triangle.

Blundell Street is very much under redevelopment but there are a couple of nice pieces on the hoardings surrounding the building work.

The next street is Kitchen Street where you will find this work. I can’t seem to find anything about the artist and there are a number of works of a similar nature closely. If anyone knows add a comment at the end of the post.

The building at the corner of Jamaica Street an Bridgewater Street has a number of smaller works including the ceramic by HEX.

On Watkinson Street Liverpool based artist John Culshaw has created a mural of the ‘Fab Four’, although Ringo does appear to have had one of his teeth coloured in.

The north side of Norfolk Street is now cordoned off for redevelopment work but you can just glimpse the work by PinHeadUK on the corner with Jamaica Street.

The brick wall on Jamaica Street between Norfolk Street and Brick Street has long been a popular location for artists and is home to probably the real most iconic work, Paul Curtis’s Liver Bird Wings and Straw Girl by Irony. Much here has survived the passage of time but there is a couple of pieces I had not come across before. Latvian street artist Kiwie has this work here.

Check Point Charlie is also a relatively recent addition.

Neal Keating’s Game Over is also here.

Vancouver based artiest Emily Gray has created a delicate, pastoral mural which has suffered a little with a tag added but still looks pretty good.

The Liverpool Life Sciences UTC building on Greenland Street has yet another mural by Paul Curtis. You can even become part of this work as a convenient space has been left for you to stand in.

The skate park on Jamaica Street has always been popular with street and graffiti artists. What started out as an advert for the Netflix series ‘Our Planet’ has since been partially overpainted. It was created in March 2019 and showed Pink Flamingoes coming into land on a lake. Only the top section now remains.

On Jordan Street Manchester street artist Aske has created this portrait of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Paul Curtis has another mural on the wall of Cains Brewery Village. Commissioned by The Beatles Story Museum, in the Royal Albert Dock, for the 50th anniversary of the release of Abbey Road. Paul has created the famous street scene minus the four Beatles enabling you to create your own version of this most famous album cover.