SHEPARD FAIREY at LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS

Obey goes giant at http://londonpleasegardens.com

Shepard Fairey was in London painting his largest-ever mural, a 42-metre-high stencil encouraging free speech, at the London Pleasure Gardens, a huge new “oasis of urban culture” which opens near City Airport this weekend.

Fairey said that the chance to work on the side wall of the derelict Millennium Mill at Pontoon Dock, visible to departing planes and Olympics visitors to the ExCel Centre, was a gift. But high winds and rain had made painting difficult.

The London Pleasure Gardens, which can host 35,000 people, opens on Saturday with the weekend-long Paradise Gardens Festival of free theatre, music and art, and a huge fireworks display.

The mostly open-air site also features a double-decker bus, two aeroplane nose-cones and several billboards decorated by street artists including Risk, Ron English and TrustoCorp.

Many of the US artists will be showing work at Black Rat Projects in Rivington Street, Shoreditch, from July 4, marking Independence Day.

Complete news article at the London Evening Standard site

www.londonpleasuregardens.com
www.blackratprojects.com