Paint Jam in Penge kicks off 2018 street art in London

As has become now a bit of a tradition. Our friends at London Calling once again organised a street art paint jam. Celebrating not only the new year but also the anniversary of starting their excellent blog. Now a mighty three years old.

Prior locations have seen jams on Blackall Street in Shoreditch and in an abandoned office block in Soho. This time however the jam moved a bit further south into the suburbs of Penge. This is an area which over the past few years has been gaining an ever increasing reputation for good quality street art.

Penge Paint Jam

In particular the area along Maple Road, leading to and including the centre of Penge, has a number of pieces worth seeing. These are works that have not only popped up as part of this latest event but which have appeared over the past few years and which have remained in place. The project is being curated by London Calling. They are based in the area and gives some clue as to why the paint jam has moved south.

The result is that a whole new area has been opened up to artists. The scene has slowly been moving away from the traditional haunts of the East End and Camden. Over recent years we’ve seen a trend in activity happening south of the river. Good quality work has been appearing in the likes of Dulwich, Croydon and Brockley. Penge, certainly fits in well with that list and is becoming a street art destination in its own right.

Artists in Penge

Back to the jam though and a busy weekend for us meant that we could only pop down towards the end to see what was going on with much of the event happening in different locations. The likes of JXC and Mr Cenz were amongst the artists taking part this time and, as is usual for these two, they produced some striking work.

In addition to spots along Maple Road and in the centre, one of the other key locations was the courtyard of the Pawleyne Arms which has played host to a good selection of street pieces over the past few years. Still painting by the time we got there were Roo and Morgasmik, regulars on the scene and artists whose whose work we’ve covered previously on Inspiring City.

So in terms of street art at least, Penge is becoming a bit of a place to be. The new art mixes with the old and as the number of new murals gets ever larger so too does the attraction of the area as a street art hotspot. It’s also a good way to start the year and to kick off 2018 for what will hopefully be another great year of street art in the city.

The street art of Penge is best accessed via train from either Anerley, Penge East or Penge West stations. The ‘Bring it Home’ paint jam was hosted by London Calling and took place over the weekend of 6th and 7th January 2018. All pictures were taken on the evening of 7 January 2018 and it got pretty dark. For images taken during the 2019 paint jam click here.

Penge Street Art Gallery