Amazing Anamorphic Balloon Graffiti by London Artist Fanakapan

3D Ballon Graffiti in London by artist Fanakapan

Last week while we were taking an early morning walk around the block as part of our daily lockdown exercise we stumbled upon London-based artist Fanakapan at work on a new Brick Lane Street Art mural.

Artist Fanakapan's Pulling Faces Mural
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A firm favorite of the graffiti artist and a location Fanakapan has painted multiple times over the years, we found the artist at work on the quiet passage off Brick Lane, London that leads to the Seven Stars Yard car park.

The former East End pub The Seven Stars which closed in November 2002 and the walls of the Seven Star Yard car park to the rear of the venue have been one of London’s Street Art scene hotspots for a number of years now.

Seven Stars Yard Street Art Gallery
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Popular with street artists and graffiti writers, street art fans, and tourists alike, the Seven Stars yard became one of the must-visit street art destinations in the heart of East London’s Brick Lane.

There is always something wild and wonderful to be seen on the walls with a diverse mix of images and messages and a variety of mediums from stickers and stencils, to paste-ups and larger spray-painted murals along the walls of the yard.

Pre-lockdown the walls would frequently change with new murals replacing older / tagged-up pieces and the pub walls along the passageway toward the yard would see an ever-changing selection of street art with new works added on an almost daily basis.

Anamorphic Balloon Graffiti by Artist Fanakapan
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London artist Fanakapan has been spray painting works onto the walls in the Seven Stars yard for several years now and we have photographed mural work he has created as far back as 2015. We have seen various anamorphic chrome balloon murals over the years from a 3D balloon dog, a star-shaped foil balloons to licorice All-Sorts style balloon animals and birds to name a few.

Initially, Fanakapan was working on the larger back walls of the yard before the property owners reduced the number of spaces available to paint when they built a one-story shed cutting the wall space in half. Following the loss of the larger walls, Fanakapan began painting the walls of the building next to Seven Stars Pub, currently, a popular vegan pizzeria named Picky Wops Pizza (This venue has now closed)

Artist Fanakapan at work on a 3D graffiti mural in London

For his latest mural titled Pulling Faces, Fanakapan has painted an anamorphic smiley chrome balloon, one in a new series of works which the artist has said is “Inspired by the confusion in understanding facial expressions, now that we all wear masks in public places.. 🙃🙂😐 ...we could be pulling faces at each other”.

As part of the new series, the artist plans to paint a number of distorted smiley face balloons in an effort to spread as much positivity as possible with his work.

Since photographing this Brick Lane Street Art mural, Fanakapan has already shared an image of a second piece via his Fanakapan Instagram account, if you are not already following the artist be sure to check out his account and follow this new series from your homes while we are all in lockdown.

And on the subject of Instagram feel free to follow our Hookedblog Instagram account too while you are at it.

London-based graffiti artist Fanakapan at work on his Pulling Faces mural on Brick Lane, London.

Artist Fanakapan using his phone to cross-check his anamorphic Ballon Graffiti mural is looking as it should.

London graffiti on Brick Lane by artist Fanakapan.

Pictured above is another of artist Fanakapans' London murals, a 3D pizza-eating Pac-Man style balloon about to take a chomp out of a pizza slice painted directly above his latest mural on the upper section of vegan pizzeria Picky Wops Pizza on Brick Lane, London.

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Awesome smiley ballon graffiti on Brick Lane, London by artist @fanakapanstreetart ##foryou ##art ##spraypaint ##graffiti ##streetart
♬ Out Of Space - Remastered - The Prodigy

Here is a quick video clip of Fanakapan at work that we shared on the Hookedblog Tiktok account.

Pictured above and below are two previous Brick Lane murals painted by artist Fanakapan in 2020, both at the same location and wall as his latest Pulling Faces work.

The 3D FAN sticker-like image above is a take on the logo of the sportswear brand, FILA. The mural was tagged over and Fanakapan returned at a later date to paint a Halloween-themed mural pictured below.