Gallery Road

A Mr.DeGri has been busy on the Ha'Penny Hatch...

Time Out mag covers the Deptford Anchor

Time Out rarely covers South London stories (for instance, Charlton Lido was left out of their recent article on London open air pools), but the anchor graffiti post we blogged at the beginning of August must have caught their eye – plus the previous stories on the Deptford Anchor being removed.

The new free Time Out's editorial style is very jaunty and they couldn't resist including as many nautical puns as possible in this piece. You'll be hard put to find a copy of Time Out in Deptford, and the story has failed to make it onto their website, so if you haven't picked up a copy in town, click on the pic above to read.

Deptford Anchor: is this the new smiley face?

Not your usual anchor, this. It's not part of anchor mythology. It's sort of close to a modern anchor. You may have noticed it has no "arms". In fact it has no "stocks". What ordinary folk might instinctively call 'arms' are called "stocks", and actually the anchor has "arms" but they're the arched bits either side of the bottom of the "shank" – the stem.

Unsurprisingly, this anchor without stocks is known as 'stockless', and is very different to the anchor we have come to prize as part of Deptford's heritage (a gift from Chatham Dockyard), that stood for 23 years in the place where this graffiti has arrived. The old and classic anchor design was superseded by the 'stockless anchor' in 1821, the first significant departure in anchor design for several centuries.

Meanwhile, the Deptford Anchor has disappeared, possibly never to return. Since it was practically the only thing left to remind Deptford of its own history, its absence has been much lamented. We particularly enjoyed Laura X Carlé's reconstruction of it at the recent Festival of Neighbourhood at the South Bank last weekend (see the Deptford Dame's report)...The artist invited visitors to write their feelings about the Deptford anchor on post-it notes, and by the end of the weekend, the sculpture was covered in coloured notes.

We particularly like this one...

Since the the original (albeit not Deptford Dockyard original) anchor was removed, its whereabouts are unsure. It is apparently stored in a warehouse in Convoys Wharf, courtesy of the site's developers, Hutchison Whampoa. This company is owned by the 17th richest billionaire in the world (Li Ka-Shing), and Hutchisons are perhaps the last people to be left in charge of Deptford's heritage. If you'd like to know what English Heritage think about the developer's plans, please read Deptford Is...

If the anchor stayed on the Convoys Wharf site, it would surely look small next to the new buildings that are proposed: the main tower being 48 storeys, the others 38 storeys and most other buildings 12 storeys. Most buildings in Deptford High Street are 2-3 storeys. It's a human level. Double click this diagram to get an idea of how inhuman you can get..

Meanwhile, more 'anchors' are appearing on the new paving at the site of the old anchor....

Thanks to Paul for tip off, and to David for first and last photos.

Krom... and SLAM Last Fridays

Krom Balgesky is a Bulgarian artist working in Deptford. His striking outdoor drawings are popping up all over the place (here in the Sue Godfrey Nature Park, for instance). On Friday 26th July he'll be showing his work indoors at the Arthub Gallery (5-9 Creekside). Open from 6pm, with a 'performance' at 7pm.

More on Krom 

Friday is also South London Art Map's late opening night, with galleries in Deptford, Bankside and Peckham open 6-8pm. At Occupy My Time gallery in Resolution Way, artist Andy Wicks will be focusing on the history of the Thames and its relationship to Deptford. More info at South London Art Map.

Mural partially restored – and original Love Over Gold graffiti artists 'fess up

Our neighbour John alerted us on the weekend to the fact that work has finally taken place on the partial restoration of the Love Over Gold mural.

When Cockpit Arts replaced the doors in the middle of the mural, this blog campaigned for the central part of the mural to be reinstated. Money was subsequently found by Lewisham Arts Service and Cockpit Arts to pay for the mural's original artist Gary Drostle to do the work required (see our post from January). Due to other commitments and some terrible weather, it has taken Gary a while to get around to it, but now the mural's centrepiece is back – the evil Countess has returned to remind us how the gulf between rich and poor has only increased since the time Love Over Gold was first painted in 1989.

The London Mural Preservation Society took an interest in the renovation of the mural (see their page on it here), and in late summer they forwarded us an interesting email they had received from an ex-Crossfields resident, who owns up to writing the original words 'Love Over Gold' on a brick wall which went on to inspire Dire Straits and then Gary's mural:

One night in '75 (I think) four naughty art students from Goldsmiths College went out with a pot of white emulsion to paint graffiti. I was one of them. Three of us lived in Wilshaw House on Crossfields Estate, near the site of the graffiti/then mural. We can't remember which of us was responsible for Love Over Gold (but it was definitely one of us, I remember the night well!). We didn't tell anyone it was us, but have always been proud of it.

If anyone has a photo of the original graffiti, we would love to have it.

So would Crosswhatfields – so if any readers have a photo of the original graffiti, please let us (or the London Mural Preservation Society) know! Also write to us if you think you know the name of the ex-Wilshaw House resident(s) which for now we're keeping a secret. There may be a prize....

Meanwhile, last week, Gary also touched up the reds in the picture, brightening it considerably, and did his best to get rid of the damaging tagging that appeared earlier this year. Our neighbour John is very happy about the reinstatement of the mural's centrepiece, but is worried that the tagger who sprayed in white all over the mural will return to vandalise it again. He's insisted we publish his description of this pesky individual...(imagine Ray Winston doing the voiceover)...

White. Short to medium height. Very weedy. Furtive/nervous movements. Spotty or red complexion but face mostly obscured by light grey hoodie...It looks like he lives in the hoodie i.e. stained and bedraggled. Aged somewhere in his twenties. 'A really skint looking no-hoper' is my summing up of this cretin.

(Not a Goldsmiths student, then...)

A complete renovation still awaits the funding initiative promised by Lewisham Arts Service back in January (in which they would put together a funding package that could be used by us locals to approach potential funders) and, of course, it also requires concerted effort and support from local people. Anyone fancy taking this on?

Matlakas is back.

(UPDATE 25 Aug 2010)  These 2 paintings were removed this morning.  I did say get a look while they're still fresh but I didn't expect them to get painted over that quickly.  What seems to have happened is this: a tagger came along and stuck a couple of fairly random sub-NVQ graffiti green splodges in neighbouring arches.  The council anti-graffitil team, who don't seem to have a problem with Matlakas' work, do have a brief to remove graffiti and they can't really make aesthetic judgements about what is art and what is graffiti, so the whole lot had to go.  So thank you, idiot  with the green spraycan for wasting public money and getting artwork removed.

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A while ago this graffiti artist - real name Riccardo Attanasio - did some rather striking art on the arches on the Ha'penny Hatch.  One conscientious citizen even called out the police while Matlakas was still at work, and yet he managed to convince them that it was art and the police went away content.  Later, of course, someone came along and sprayed someone's phone number with lewd suggestions on a neighbouring arch and the anti-graffiti team painted over the whole lot.

Well, these two have just reappeared.  Best to get a look while they're still fresh. 

And here's a photo of the first one - Feb 2009

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Disappearing Deptford

Ok, record stuck in a groove time again....  I have this theory that Deptford is going to disappear.  Already, Greenwich SE8 has become a westward-drifting reality and there's also a gradual expansion of Brockley from the south (Deptford cemetery is now Brockley cemetery, Deptford Common is now Hilly Fields).  And today, quite by chance, I wanted to get a streetview image of somewhere in Deptford.  I started typing in Deptford High Street but before I'd got half of it done Google auto-completed the address for me.  Yes, Deptford, according to Google, is now in Greenwich!