Lucy Desbordes and Hannah Adamaszek paint in London

Collaborations are always fun. Even more so when the combining duo are two of the most gifted young female street artists around. The UK’s Hannah Adamaszek and France’s Lucy Desbordes. Even better when the collaboration in question involves two firsts. For Hannah, it was the first time she has graduated from live painting to the more gritty realism of painting on an actual wall. For Lucy Desbordes it was the first time she had painted in London. Popping over especially for a one time collaboration with an artist she had previously only known from the likes of Instagram and Pinterest.

Hannah has already featured several times in this blog, most notably being interviewed here. She has also just finished her first solo show at the Curious Duke Gallery in London, a show which gained a lot of attention and some rave reviews. But Lucy Desbordes is very new to London’s artistic scene. Originally from Paris she now lives in Melbourne, Australia. She popped over to London only briefly before returning to Paris as part of a short trip to see family and friends.

Artist Collaboration

Inspired by the likes of Swoon and Miss Van in the street art world. Lucy takes a lot of her inspiration from the worlds of fashion. “I love fashion design, designers like Cedric Riverain. I really like what he does” says Lucy. But it’s not just the catwalk that provides food for thought. “I get inspiration from here and there, and life, like everyday I walk down the street. I might see a beautiful girl wearing beautiful clothes and it will just inspire me.”

Her subject matter is similar to that of Hannah. Both are known for their portrayals of strong empowered women and so it perhaps made sense that the mural they created would feature two confident women. “I paint women with a strong attitude. Either provocative or sexy but always in power” says Lucy. “And I always play with fabric and patterns so the more patterns the better it is. I also like that sometimes it doesn’t match so you’ve got triangles and flowers and lines and stripes and as much as I can really.”

Lucy has always been an artist but really got into street art after leaving Paris for Australia and meeting members of the AWOL crew who invited her to join. Her work has developed as a result “they push me to be bold, to dare to try things and do things on my own” she says. “I’ve changed a lot! Confidence has made me a lot better if you look at what I did seven years ago, it’s still painting girls but there’s a lot more confidence in my line today”. Working with a team of fellow artists it would seem has helped her hone a style which has been appreciated by many.

Dalston Walls

The finished work is also an evolution for Hannah who, when she paints outdoors, tries to add something a little different into her work, always an element of experimentation! Today the experiment is clearly the wall as well as the collaboration, “I had to clear the brambles and nettles away before we could start work” she says “there were bugs all over the place” I detect a slight shiver as she recalls. Granted, the Abbots Street car park in Dalston is hardly the most sulubrious of surroundings. Not the sort of place you’d want to go at night, it is slightly off the beaten track and does tend to get overgrown. For Street Art however it is a key spot and for fans wanting to see some decent work in Dalston, then this is the place to go, just a few streets over the road from Dalston Junction station.

Lucy’s visit was a fleeting one, just a brief foray into the London art scene before rushing off for the 7pm Eurostar from St. Pancras. Then after a week or so in France, she heads back to Australia. For Hannah, an international assignment! Heading to Brighton to pick up bits and pieces in order to prepare for the Stroke Art Fair in Berlin the following week. An artists work is never done it would seem but how nice, that despite distance and schedules, two top artists could get together to create something wonderful.

Lucy Desbordes and Hannah Adamaszek London Gallery

LucyLucy was interviewed on Wednesday 25th September 2013. She was painting a mural alongside Hannah Adamaszek in the Abbots Road car park in Dalston. She is based in Melbourne, Australia and often contributes work as part of the AWOL crew. Hannah Adamaszek is a Crawley based painter who has been adapting her style to many different mediums, recently hosting her first solo show at the Curious Duke Gallery she was interviewed by this blog on Friday 16th August 2013.