Mugshots of some the city’s best known street artists have been appearing all over the Brick Lane and Shoreditch areas of London. This is the PINCH project from Art No Cube.
Holding a sign that simply says PINCH. The artists are photographed against their work and then reproduced in glorious black and white. This before being slapped up against a wall for wanderers to wonder at.
Part of a project from the curator collective ‘Art No Cube‘. PINCH comes from an acronym of the phrase ‘Names Have been Changed to Protect the Innocent. It’s all seemingly to do with identity. To show the true features of those who are normally only known by the works they leave behind.

PINCH from Art No Cube
According to the Art No Cube website; “We are so used to seeing these artists around our neighbourhoods on our day-by-day lives through their work, so we thought it would be cool to transform themselves in art.”
By all accounts there are loads of these posters. Although I suspect many have fallen foul of either the weather or of ‘other artists’. A quick wander around just before Christmas revealed a number that had been ripped down. Some looked a bit bedraggled whilst others were doing pretty well.
It’s a nice idea anyway from Art no Cube. We met them for the first time last year. That was when they arranged a successful pop up outdoor show on Sclater Street for the popular Lucas Levitan. They followed it up a year later as they featured another friend of this blog. That was Ben Wilson the Chewing Gum Man on the South Bank where his chewing gum bridge has become the stuff of legend.
So we weren’t able to have the most extensive look around but we did manage to find quite a few. There will be plenty of others, it’s just a case of seeking them out but for now, here are some of the street art mugshots from the PINCH project.
For more mugshots have a look here at www.pinchmugshots.com. All pictures were taken by Inspiring City on 13 December 2015 around the area of Brick Lane and Redchurch Street in Shoreditch. To follow the project on instagram check our their page here.
PINCH Gallery
















Another outstanding year for you Stuart in making your blog sooooo readable!!! Wishing you and your readers a happy new year!!! Cheers
Thanks Mitch and also thank you for always being so supportive, it’s really appreciated 🙂
Thanks for explaining the mystery Stuart. I saw a few before Christmas but didn’t recognise anyone in them. And wondered… And like Mitch says, Happy New Year to you and all your readers.
Happy new year to you too 🙂 It’s been a while since I took the photos I wonder if many of them are still there I hope they are
Hi Stuart
Great report on this project (as always) but I think you’ll find that the piece next to Christiaan Nagel’s poster is a poor imitation of Saki’s interactive works… apparently, she was a bit annoyed by it and was planning to kidnap it and turn it into something more in keeping with her artwork!
There’s also Amara por Dios, opposite the two Jimmy C’s just off Club Row.
All the best for 2016! Paul
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Thanks Paul I didn’t know Saki didn’t like that one I think it’s quite cool 😛 Thanks too for the tip on Amara I’ll see if I can spot it when I’m next up. Have a great new year 🙂
Reblogged this on Noble Soul Design Blog and commented:
Good 2 No
Hi mate, thanks a lot for featuring the PINCH Project. I’m a great fan of your blog and it’s a thrill to have our project in it.
Just a few bits, the mugshot you don’t know who’s from is Alex Crap-Krap, young talent from France. You can see more of his work here: http://www.krapcrap.com/
Also, the brazilian street artist featured as Marco Loeco is actually Marcelo Eco from Rio de Janeiro.
And finnally, the Art no Cube is more of a collective of curators rather than a pop up gallery.
In PINCH’s website (www.pinchmugshots.com) you can see all the artists who took part in the project and go to their websites in the tab ‘Artists’.
The project also has developed into new extensions in the last few months such as the PINCHed and Matched project which is promoting collaborations between the artists portrayed in the project. The first collab was between Pang and Christiaan Nagel and happened on the Bangla Town wall in Hanbury street just off Brick Lane, check the video out:
Well, guess that’s it! Thanks a lot for featuring us, and let me know if you got further questions about it.
Have an awesome 2016 and keep up the great work.
Best!
Oh, and here’s our instagram if people wants to follow us: @pinchmugshots
Cheers!
Hi Fabio thanks for getting in touch with those updates I have amended the post accordingly, really appreciated. Great project and I can’t wait to see what happens with the collaborations, the Pang / Nagel one is fantastic