‘You are much lovelier than you think’. Paste-up ‘doll’ by Miss KK.

As an artist I am always observing, taking in the world around me, looking for details – small, inconsequential, easily overlooked and often to be discovered in out of the way places. This, coupled with a personal interest in graphic design, illustration and mixed media work, may well account for my enjoyment of Street Art; spray art, stencil art, sticker art and paste-ups.

Examples of this ‘urban collage’ can be found in towns and cities all over the world. An illegal, subversive, alternative art form – an increasing challenge to its protagonists in these days of 24 hour surveillance and CCTV – it is slowly becoming ‘mainstream’ with numerous street art tours and international street art festivals now being held on a regular basis across the world.

Street Art takes many forms – from large-scale, ‘trompe l’oeil’ murals to tiny stencilled figures. Much of it is political in nature, challenging, often satirical but also informative, witty, intelligent and visually stimulating. Personally I prefer the less obvious statements – the urban art you come across by chance in empty lots, down alleyways, on telephone junction boxes or hidden away unobtrusively in doorways. In our noisy, colourful, bustling streets, you have to keep your eyes open as it’s easily overlooked.

This form of art is usually temporary in nature, tagged, pasted over, torn, weathered or over-worked by others. It changes everyday. You never know what you will find, where you will find it or whether it will still be there when you return to the same spot tomorrow or the next day. Its shape-shifting, transitory nature is an essential part of its attraction, its fascination, its unique appeal. It is very often a case of ‘Here today – gone tomorrow’.

One of my favourite urban artists is ‘Miss KK’ who I discovered on a recent trip to Budapest during a fascinating street art tour with Budapest Flow. Hungarian by birth, ‘Miss KK’ has appropriated the male-dominated world of street art, combining her passion for graffiti with her work as a fashion designer.

She creates life-size paste-up ‘dolls’ composed of numerous elements – clothing and accessories – drawn from the fashion industry, frequently choosing disused doorways to place her pieces – a fitting location for these fabulously gaudy ‘street girls’. The mottos on her models’ t-shirts were initially taken from rap lyrics but now come from a variety of sources. Most are positive, life-affirming ‘truisms’, often feminist in nature and somehow at odds with these bejewelled, over-dressed, street smart creations. ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ is what Miss KK seems to be telling us in these works.

Keen to achieve international exposure she takes her ‘dolls’ with her when she travels on business. I was delighted to come across two of her paste-ups in the Spitalfields area of London recently. If you are interested in street art keep an eye out for her distinctive work. You can find ‘misskk_budapest’ on Instagram and read more about the artist on Budapest Flow City Tours Street Art pages.