Adam Neate's London Street Art

A painting abandoned in a London street could sell in eBay for € 1,200. Sounds crazy but it did happen. The British capital city has turned into a street gallery in the middle of the night on the 15 November, back in 2008.

Adam Neate, then 31 year old British artist, together with his 10 assistants, left in the open 1,000 of his paintings, valued to be over €1 million, just scattered here and there in the London streets. They were mostly portraits of men painted over carton boxes, numbered and signed by the artist. Exceptional and valuable work that didn't get to see the light of day, as those fortunate people who found them in the night immediately posted them on eBay for the initial prices between €120 and €1,200.

"I believe this action of mine helps people to look at art a different way. I have been leaving my work in the streets for anybody to find for the last 7 years, without previous notice where and when to find them. But not this last time. In this occasion I had announced on the Internet. People already know what type of work I usually leave out, so the ones who like them would run around the city looking for them. If not, they stay home and watch the telly. " said Neate.

"I don't mind at all they sell them and put whatever price they think appropriate. My intention is to detach art from the commercial market. I do not paint for money, but for love. I just enjoy painting."

"In the beginning I used to paint for my friends, which they would put up in their houses, then their friends saw them and asked me for more. But I painted so many my house became to look like a warehouse. My room-mates asked me to get rid of some, so I left them by the door of a charity organisation, but they threw them into the street dustbin. I thought that's no good at all, so I picked them all up again and just left them in the streets. Within a couple of hours they had all vanished."

In 2001, Neate left his native home town Ipswich and move to London, "More streets, more people, and more carton boxes!" He continued to paint and left his work all over the streets in the big city. He said he was inspired by Picasso who had done more than 20,000 paintings, so he plans to paint 1,000 each year as gifts for the streets.

The owners of Elms Lesters Gallery saw his work and asked for his paintings for an exhibition. He did. The first one sold in Sotheby's fetched the handsome sum of €96,000. The gallery was so convinced by his street art ideal that they asked him to put out 1,000 paintings all at once for a cheque of €12,000.

So between the night of the 14th Nov to the morning of 15th Nov, 1,000 of his recent paintings were distributed by himself and his 10 assistants in 33 different areas of London. He enjoys his work so much he says he often dances when he paints. While he is busy doing both, in his home with his wife and child, his paintings are being snatched up in eBay, apparently with the prices going up by the hour.

One of his many self-portraits and other work: ~

Tags:London,StreetArt

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