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A four-year passion project from a pair of Ilford residents working with Redbridge Council has resulted in internationally-renowned street artists transforming part of Ilford Town with new works focused on the pandemic.
Through their admiration of the local area, Ilford residents Tom and Rieko Vining set up a social media presence designed to raise awareness of the beauty and culture that can be found in Ilford.
@ilfordvillage (Twitter, Instagram) encourages locals to become more engaged and feel proud of the area that they are in, as well as find new possibilities for regeneration.
Through this, they met with Redbridge Council to discuss possibilities and share ideas and also with Jay Gutstein. Through a love of the arts a shared vision and concept emerged, this being to source creative individuals to participate in making Ilford a new destination for street art and the culture this brings.
The timing wasn’t correct and it took some four years later before the opportunity arose to bring their ideas to life, this coincided with a new Cultural Quarter, SPACE and Mercato Ilford being completed.
The first project that made its way to Ilford was a joint venture with artists Dotmaster and Ben Eine, both are highly established and were delighted to share their creativity with the residents and visitors of Ilford.
Two amazing works can be found if you make your way to Kenneth More Road. The first is called ‘End of the line’ by Dotmaster.
“The visuals of the pandemic have been the red lines of graphs and charts. In this piece, they become a play piece for two naughty kids, Max and Louie.” Dotmaster
Dotmaster, aka Leon Seesix, is a Londoner born and bred. He started painting on the streets of Brighton in the early ’90s. He takes a sideways look at populist media with a sense of humour. Dotmaster has many accolades spanning his career, notably, he took part in Banksy’s Waterloo ‘Cans Festival’ and was featured in the Oscar-nominated ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’.
The second piece is called ‘Survival’ by Ben Eine,
“This is a statement about society’s will to overcome difficult circumstances.” Ben Eine
Ben Eine is one of the most instantly recognisable street artists in the world and is regarded as a pioneer in the exploration of graffiti letterforms and typography. Born in London Ben started his career over 30 years ago and has continued developing his distinct typography style.
We are excited about the continued possibilities Ilford presents.” Tom and Rieko Vining.
Photo Credit Louis Thornton.
