Hailing from the North West myself I was keen to update my knowledge for Manchester’s cultural led and critically acclaimed Northern Quarter. Amongst the wall murals and tags are some of the North’s finest streetwear shops, independent coffee houses and galleries comparable only to the backstreets of New York. Big brand stores such as Carhartt sit well with the likes of a shop called Wood, and a host of record stores, bars, and eateries. With intentions of a mooch, great coffee in hand, nothing comes close on this side of the island. It’s impossible to walk ten steps without witnessing the creative heritage engrained upon the very soul of these streets, be it John Burgerman’s murals within Common, or Mr Scruffs vegetarian tea rooms. However all this acted as pretext to the true reason for the trip; OBEY at the Thomas St Post Office.
Be it guilty pleasure or the inspiration for most within the streetart world Shepherd Faireys OBEY has become one of the worlds most recognised and distinguishable streetart franchises. As at home in the Whitehouse as on the city streets of Boston these iconic depictions never fail to leave the beholder in a sense of awe.
The Thomas St Post Office seemed a natural choice for the print show as the store stood to represent the heart of the Northern Quarter. The store lays host to an array of international streetwear brands such as Suburban Bliss, Undefeated, Stussy and Alife. However for one night only the focus was on some awesome prints. With two hundred invited guests we sank a few beers and took some pretty pictures.
Again I was able to bribe Richard Kenworthy to document the trip with lashings of coffee and strawberry beers.
The outdoor piece was a show stopper and its amazing how many of these paste up murals you come into contact with across the world. The striking centre piece was, in true OBEY style, accompanied by some tongue in cheek remarks regarding politics and public expenditure.
The prints on show demonstrated not only the ability for Shepherd to take an image and make it his own but also his diversity and talent across such a wide range of topics and interest points. It was great having that amount of people together celebrating his work and a testament to the big artist in the little city on the other side of the world.
Related Links
http://www.ashopcalledwood.com/
http://thomasstpostoffice.com/
http://www.thecarharttstore.co.uk/
http://www.mrscruff.com/showscreen.php?site_id=9&screentype=site&screenid=9
http://obeygiant.com/
http://obeyclothing.com/
http://www.richardkenworthy.co.uk/
