We’ve been coming across a lot of work by the artist Remi Rough recently. An abstract painter with a background in graffiti who has got a number of murals dotted around the city. Most recently his work has appeared on Maryland Road in Stratford. A typically striking creation with bright colours, folded lines and geometric shapes. He’s got a number of other murals too that we’ve seen. Notably in Walthamstow and Dulwich.
In fact it was during a tweetchat hosted by ‘Meet the Artist‘ and ‘A Brush with Art‘ that we found out that Dulwich had actually got two. Something we should have really known especially as both form part of the Dulwich Outdoor Gallery. The art project re-interprets works by old masters of the Baroque on the streets of south London. It was inspired by the work of the late Ingrid Beazley and was and is one of our favourite street art projects.
Dulwich Outdoor Gallery
Remi Rough’s first mural as part of the project re-imagined a work from Nicolas Poussin. ‘The Triumph of David‘ is a piece of work that itself was painted between 1628-1631. It forms part of the collection of the famous Dulwich Picture Gallery. This piece can be seen just outside the entrance to East Dulwich station. The mural actually combines Remi Rough’s piece with work from another artist called ‘System’. He re-imagined Rembrandt’s ‘Girl at a Window‘ and the two were combined.
The project was all captured in a book called ‘Street Art, Fine Art‘. It’s one that we actually wrote one of the introductions. In it, all the artists talk about their work and their interpretations. Remi’s has always fascinated me because his piece is so abstract. He tells Ingrid that he was “fascinated by the intense geometry within the painting”. He goes on to describe how he really wanted to interpret that into a more linear and abstract composition. The coloured shapes in the mural relate variously to some of the figures. The groups and of course the buildings contained within the original work from Poussin
Fall of the Rebel Angels
The other mural is on the side of an old Audi garage close to Dulwich Village. This is where he has re-imagined another work. Called ‘Fall of the Rebel Angels‘ by Sebastiano Ricci. The original was painted around 1720 and shows the Archangel Michael driving the rebel angels from heaven. In Remi Rough’s version, the central figure of the Archangel is still there. However now he is set amidst a background of abstract coloured shapes. Sadly since we wrote this post in 2018 the garage has been knocked down so the mural is no longer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgHkJ51DXRK/Murals in London
Outside of Dulwich and of course his latest piece in Stratford caught our attention. Speaking to ‘Meet the Artist‘ he talks about the meaning of his work as being referential to his work as a young graffiti writer. Particularly in the geometry of his shapes and in the colours he chooses to use.
Prior to that the last time we covered his work was in Walthamstow. There he also has a mural on Wood Street. Part of a wider collaboration with Wood Street Walls. This is the same organisation which had also helped to plan the wall in Stratford. You can take a look at his work on instagram here or his website here.
The mural on Maryland Road in Stratford was visited on Friday 16 March 2018 and the ‘Fall of the Rebel Angels’ was visited on Saturday 17 March 2018. It could be found on Gilkes Crescent in Dulwich however has since been demolished. The works on Wood Street in Walthamstow were covered in 2017 and by the East Dulwich station in 2013.
Remi Rough Gallery
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