This particular Stik, on an old chimney in Hackney, was probably his best loved East London pieces. The photo was taken in 2011, people would stop and ask about it, stand in the street looking up at it, it acted like a beacon looking down on Hackney from a high, it guided us home, locals loved it, old ladies would ask about it, kids would point at it and smile, when things were pecking at you you just had ot look up at it  . And then, like everything else, the building got gentrified, the people who lived there got thrown out, and the new owner when asked said he was turning it into an “art centre” and that he needed to clear off the “messy vandalism”. His so-called art centre turned out to be a rather expensive restaurant, bar and club, a place where none of the real locals can afford to go or are made to feel welcome, a place that doesn’t want to engage in any kind of way,. a place for the expensive coffee drinkers to go sit and grow their beards. When the sun shines on the tower you can still see the traces of what was one of my favourite pieces of East London art. One by one arrogance is forcing us all out of the city, Hackney is not a place for artists now, the council, one the whole, doesn’t care that much about art, artists or art spaces… Shame really, art is best when it really can engage with people and community, like the art of Stik engages with people. Hackney, you need to treasure yout art, your artists and your art spaces, we are part of your community aren’t we?   (sw)    .

Aida Wilde’s beautiful irony