I passed through Hoxton Square yesterday and saw the new sculpture ceated by local streetartist STIK.

Stik got his start as a street artist in Hackney, London back when street art wasn’t really a thing. He developed a signature image,  a six-line, two-dot figure loosely based on the Japanese calligraphic characters known as kanji.

Stik used to be around the Foundry, the legendary Shoredtich bar-gallery that I used to frequent (we did some amazing Luna Nera shows in there, and had some even more amazing dodgy night on the p***). I did not really rate Stik as an artist at the time, but I have come around to it. Any graduate of the Foundry is a comrade, I guess 🙂

But also, I now see the charm in the simplicity of his images, and I like the artist’s evident sincerity.

During the spring lockdown Stik was involved in a project to reach out to young Londoners. After an ONS study showed young people were twice as likely as 55- to 69-year-olds to have experienced loneliness during the lockdown, Stik has been creating a series of artworks for a campaign to help them. Now 3D versions of the characters holding hands are being installed around London.