Will be back on Wednesday 3rd January

Have a great Christmas and new year....

Three days of fog and work has meant that I've not been able to make the most of it for taking pictures, here's one I did manage to take earlier though....

These doctored Banksy images were recently received at artofthestate along with the accompanying text:

ART
IS FOR THE
RICH
WEN ARE you
prints availabe through
IKEA?????????????????????????????????????????????

I understand his point of view but the queues at Ikea are bad enough already.

BLT (Banksy Locations and Tours) is the new graffiti locations book, painstakingly compiled by Martin Bull. 170 pages, 65 locations and 100 colour photographs. I think Martin must have been a train spotter in a previous life - there's postcodes and GPS references for every location along with comments about the history of the piece or the things that have happened (hippies and strippers) when his tours have arrived at a site. It's pretty much Banksy all the way but he does include some other artists such as Eine, Dface and Blek Le Rat. It's a great little book, kind of reminds me of the little Banksy books (but a lot thicker). Ideal for reading in the smallest room in the house.

There are three walk and look tours included (Hoxton & Shoreditch, Farringdon & Clerkenwell, Waterloo, South Bank and Victoria Embankment). Some of the graffiti has already gone but a walk around any of these areas will always be interesting and you might just stumble on something new as Martin did when he found the Banksy Maid on the side of the White Cube gallery.

You can find out more about the book on http://www.shellshockphotos.co.uk/

You can also buy it from Ebay:

This is the side of the London Development agency merging perfectly with the sky. It looked weird in real life and this goes some way to capture it.

.

Found behind Tate Modern - Is this old or is Invader back in town?

 It's 7.45am and I'm standing in a line of hundreds of people snaking lazily along Oxford Street - all of whom are pissing off the shop owners who really want to open their stores to sell trainers and knocked off Metallica t shirts. The queue is an odd mix of skate sprogs clutching satchels through to middle aged men in sharp tailoring. I don't quite know where I fit in with those descriptions. I certainly don't fit in with the guy next to me with his copy of the Daily Mail rolled up neatly under his arm and his banter with his mate ("I need to show someone around a property at 9.30 so they'd better be quick"). An estate agent, the Daily Mail? FFS! Someone tries to push in which means I get to use my favourite line in these situations - "Are you looking for the back of the queue mate? Yeah? It's that way….". Saying that, it is generally a well mannered and patient affair. We are, after all, all queuing up to buy a new Banksy print. We get filmed by a news crew, queue porn anyone? It's like being on a demonstration being watched by police spotters.

Some have travelled hundreds of miles, some even slept out by the door in sleeping bags (no, they were not a Mark Jenkins installation, they really did sleep out on the street). The good news is the print is half the price of recent runs and is of one the best things Banksy has put out recently. All of which makes parting with the expected £100 for a piece of paper with a delicate and finely worked image on it so much easier. The first 25 people with a print walk out clutching two tubes which induces fitting in someone near me as it's strictly one per customer. A few minutes later and it's all good - the first 25 customers got an additional Peter Kennard poster as well as their Banksy print for their trouble. I pay my money, pick up my print and leave. It really was as simple as that despite weeks of stories that it would be utter carnage. Well done POW.

This evening I checked on the number of prints that have made it to Ebay already. 25 by 5pm on the same day as it was released. It's nice to see greed hasn't gone out of fashion at this time of year, merry f'ing Christmas, one'n'all. At least the 'scalpers' initial outlay is going to go to restore sight for many people in Bangladesh. All the proceeds from the print are going to sightsavers, a fantastic charity doing fantastic work where for very little money a persons life can be transformed. There were a 1000 prints at a £100 a time, you do the maths but that's a stunning donation.

In case the previous post was too cryptic a new Banksy print will be released on Monday 18th December at 9.00AM at Santa's Ghetto (1000 copies, £100, all unsigned). It's rumoured to be a reworking of the iconic photo of Americans raising the stars and stripes on Iwo Jima (this picture featured at the recent Barely Legal show in L.A). It's a great image.

1000 is alot to sell so after the first few hundred punters have gone through they may even have some left later in the day.

The Frost Fair runs on London's South Bank every year. It's a mix of crafts, husky rides and expensive food. You can get quite full up if you just sample a bit of everything and if it all gets a little too dull you can always nip into Tate Modern and nip down the giant slides installed in the Turbine Hall.

Anyway, here's Jack Frost and St Paul's Cathedral. Nice Camouflage Jack.

Spotted in Santa's ghetto on Thursday:

I stumbled across this today in Soho Square. It's the brand new Mini One due out next year and it was in the guise of a London Taxi taking people on Mini adventure's. There's 9 of them around town at the moment so watch out.

This is pretty much the first thing you see when you walk through the doos of Santa's Ghetto. It's just so well done. The image had it's first outing at the numusic festival in Norway. There's also a video of it being put up on youtube.com (search for Nick Walker)

More from Santa's Ghetto...given the right bemused spectators you can have a lot of fun watching people interract with Mark Jenkin's figures at Santa's Ghetto. They work even better on the street and are expertly done so that the fact you don't get to see the face increases their authenticity.

For me some of the most iconic work at this years Santa's Ghetto are these dead pop stars canvases by Insect (also available as prints).

Interview with Dface in Computer Arts magazine - the picture to go with it was taken last year but the interview seems to be in the last few months

Wheres the badger?

While the badger may be easy to find the meaning is that bit harder.... 

Found high up above Brick Lane this little large fella is getting everywhere.

Lloyds of London used to be the most iconic modern building in London until it's brash new neighbour, the Swiss Re turned up.

It still looks like it's from a futuristic cinema set at night.

Should have posted these earlier but here's some pictures from the Upside Down Looking Up event at the Dragon Bar, Leonard Street.

If you don't want socks this Christmas here's some graffiti book ideas recently reviewed on artofthestate.

Graffiti Woman by Nicholas Ganz

Supply and Demand by Shepard Fairey (Obey)

Ma'Claim - finest photo realistic graffiti

Street Art Uncut by Matthew Lunn

Part of of a Lomo Style photograhic wall currently occupying the South Bank. It's full of colourful images of nearby residents.

I first stumbled across some of Waleska's work when out looking for some of Adam Neate's street graffiti in West Ham, East London. That spot seems a long way from this show which opens on Thursday.

Found in Brick Lane

So it's on and the location is officially now announced. For anyone who might need a clue where to find this years Santas Ghetto have a look at the picture below. If you want know more visit picturesonwalls.com but here's the low down on the whole thing:

"The Ghetto is a squat art concept store that opens for the month of December and is now in it's fifth magical year. It features some of the world's finest underground artists and attempts to bring an even greater sense of disillusionment to the whole West End shopping experience. It exhibits work that has never been seen before, sells a range of affordabe art and produces some rather dubious novely merchandise"

Featuring: Mark Jenkins, Ericailcane (eric the dog) - some great art in the back right hand corner, Emma Heron, Peter Kennard and Kat, Ben Turnbull, Antony Micallef, Tom Ormond, Banksy, Simon Munnery, Tittifreak, Eine, David Shrigley, Jamie Hewlett, Pete Fowler, Kelsey Brooks, Tinsel Edwards and Space Invader.

I'm sure Insect was in there too....

Hours of business (as advertiesed on a flier last night)

11am - 8pm (Sunday 12-6pm)

Closes 23rd December (forever)

Congratulations to all involved for making this happen against the odds.

Father Christmas is a lie, however, the Ghetto really is on and open.

Need any more help with the location? OK, 15 Oxford Street, London - just follow the shoplifters out of Tottenham Court Road Tube and go into the first shop on your left.

Detail from the Hansel and Gretel canvas - a huge thing covering a back wall. More photos of SG after it's been open a while.