Phlegm's Street Art

Phlegm is a street artist who works in Sheffield (though he has branched out to locations like London and Manchester recently). His work is characterised by an illustrative style and is almost always in black and white. A lot of his work is meant to work around the landscape and architecture he paints on.

Phlegm's work is interesting to me for many reasons. First of all, it's local and it's really easy to find near me, as opposed to more famous street art like Banksy's which is difficult to come by. Just the past week I was lucky enough to head to The Forum in Sheffield and found some Phlegm work in one of the independant stores there. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but it was a fine example of how local street art reaches out to people in a way that more famous work can't. 

Another reason I love Phlegm's work so much is because of the intense attention to detail involved. As an artist, I have trouble paying so much attention to the details, and I envy artists who can create mind-blowingly complex work like Phlegm's. As I develop my work, I will definitely try my hardest (as always) to bring this style in, as it truly amazes me.

Because Phlegm's work is so usually seen in black and white, his work is even more striking once colour is used. Above, the red immeditely catches the eye, and the shapes of the red paint are captivating enough on their own, without the additional painting of the figure. Phlegm's work is highly detailed but not so realistic. His style is more cartoonish, but with a more realistic shading style that makes his work seem almost old-world in style. Phlegm also works on comics, and his work is put on t-shirts by Syd and Mallory, a local Sheffield company. Phelgm's work is truly transferrable to any canvas, which is a feature of his art I will always admire.

Is This Shade of Grey Acceptable? - Genius Street Art

-- Originally found on NOTCOT.ORG

Street art is a phenomenon that, by now, has been made popular enough that everyone's used to it.
Who hasn't seen all of the brilliant work Banksy made himself famous with, or the familiar 'OBEY' poster popularised by Shepard Fairey?
But British street artist Mobstr has an incredibly new and different look at the covering up of street art:

Street art, of course, is an often overlooked artform by the majority of people who see it merely as vandalism. The covering up of genius pieces of street art is well discussed these days, and it's nice to see someone like Mobstr addressing the subject, instead of just creating his art and hoping it will stay put.
Street art is a temporary artform, and without the beauty of photography Mobstr's work would probably have never been documented. It is a crying shame that such genius pieces of art must be covered, but, as Mobstr remarks, some people are content with living in a world made from shades of grey.
And besides, without unfair rules in place, what else will we rebel against?