Live Art Experience? Well... this year with a resurgence of street art in full swing, Tramlines decided to get directly involved providing us with something to rejuvenate our spirits and stimulate our imagination, with events hosted by the Winchester Pub and Soyo Bar in association with clothing label, Hantu Collective. Over the course of two days Fd2d was able to watch the creative, collective minds of Sheffield join forces with wonderous, artistic results.



For those of you though that may have been walking around the city with eyes closed, let me explain about Live Art. It's a ‘performance’ by an artist or a group of artists (usually a collective) resulting in work of visual art being born or created. To the older generation it could be dubbed as graffiti, to the new emerging creatives of the city it’s more than that. For these illustrators it was all about freedom of expression giving an opportunity to transform urban spaces into fictional, creative realms; with images that empowered them as their creators. Some of the pieces featured there worked as symbols of resistance against poverty, oppression and exploitation; for others they worked as popular, anti- capitalist and just generous-spirited pieces of work.

The absorbing thing for us about this event was that it involved both the artists and the public in a collaborative creative process, resulting in collective experiences and public expression. It was a productive way of linking and engaging artists with the world that we live in. We as ever found this type of work fascinating, as it was great to see during the weekend, in an urban space a proces in which artists were able to take formal and conceptual risks, creating a context to look at different mediums of expression, explore ideas of process, presence and endurance, and investigate their relationship with the audience. This type of art is about immediacy and reality: creating spaces to explore the experience of things, the ambiguities of meaning and the responsibilities of our individual agency.

Another postivie thing about this type of work is that it helps remove negative barriers and opinions formally held about street art with the general public, with them being encouraged to embrace the work of these artists and highlight the importance of their position in modern society.

As you can probably tell as a magazine we are supporters of this kind of artistic endevour and we strongly reccomend the next time you see someone expressing themselves, in such a manner that you take time to stand back and truely absorb the process. Not many artists share their creative space with the generall public and we felt privilaged to see such an event occur.

If you'd like to see more work from the artists featured at these events follow the links below. The artists that took part were: Geo, Hailey Evenett, Thomas Ball, Sarah Abbot, Louise Wheeler, Jane Faram, Mute, Lord Bunn, Nick Deacon, Billy and Beards Illustration.

Words by Raegan Oates. Photos by Thomas Ball.