Golly, Hackney WickED, an open studio and general celebration of art in Hackney Wick has been taking place every year since 2008. I’ve never been around to attend till now & was shocked to see the visual brutality of the contrast between the Olympic Park and Hackney Wick as the overground journey just doesn’t show it.
The atmosphere is festival-like with food stalls, craft beer, a skate park (all the skaters were quite old when I was there which was somewhat reassuring), open studios, galleries and shops. I found the street art cityscape at least as inspirational as the studios – maybe because I go for large scale work.
It’s an ever-changing street scene. 
Some open studios were very much living spaces which I enjoyed seeing just for the interiors. One artist though, whose studio was purely a work space, was painter Endri Kosturi whose crusted and layered pieces, a couple of which are below, moved me. Yes, I know it’s circles (again) but there is something magical about their rhythm and energy.
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