Urban Art Association

from the london police FB page.

Bob here. Anyone fancy painting a mural on one of the Maunsell sea forts this summer with @tristaneaton @hownosm @futuradosmil and @obeygiant. We do! Good job we've been invited. Check @thepaintedoceans for more info #‎deathatsea #‎dangerouswork #‎daveyjoneslocker #‎lifejacket #‎bringyourarmbands #‎manup #‎hello sailor

Along with a video of the forts.

All becomes clear!

Cool project and video, thanks for sharing.

What a fantastic project. I hope they pull this off spectacularly. Donate donate!

Looks a great project...and an excuse to post the Childish work on the Sea Forts 

And you won't be able to see it unless you have a boat...

This was pretty much my thought too when I realised the Kickstarter isn't for a charity. It just seems to be to pay them to do it!

Unless this is an agreement with the charity that own the forts, as a way to get some PR for "free", gain public interest and hopefully further funding in the long run.

This could be debated well into the night, but I've noticed that Kickstarter (and the like) are increasingly being used as a "no risk" platform for selling products. I have a friend that runs a gaming company, which is very successful, he's personally a millionaire, but he now uses Kickstarter/crowdfunding to raise money for products/games that, in the past, he would have had to have taken a financial gamble on.

I like the idea of Kickstarter enabling people to raise money to do something, when they have no (or little) money to begin with. But I'm not sure how I feel about people that already have the money to do it, but they just don't want to take on the financial risk or expense of the project.

I'm not sure if that's entirely in the spirit of Kickstarter.

But on the other hand, you could also argue that paying artists to create pretty pictures is basically you commissioning something. And both rich and poor artists have been taking money to do that for years.

I don't know what I am saying. I am nothing, not a spokesperson, etc.....

As long as the rewards offered are good, then basically it is just a shop selling something to raise money (like the prints and stickers in this case)... I have no problem with that. It's win/win for everyone.

I've got involved in the other sort too though, where you're basically buying a product before it's been made, and I was a little disappointed with the end result.

Wait a minute! I see what's going on here. This graffitification is just the first step towards the sea forts being turned into trendy apartments for the wealthy. Like the ultimate gated community.

As you say, there have always been projects which appear a bit self indulgent; Leonardo spent 17 years working on what he intended to be the largest equestrian statue ever created but he never even completed that project!  That said, I think 'vanity project' is a bit of a subjective term and you could argue that all art is about the artist to a certain extent. 

There are similarities between this project and Invader putting up MIA_65 and MIA_66 on Stiltsville during the second wave in Miami (photos by wynwoodmap.com).  I guess the difference for me is that Invader got on with the invasion rather than doing this kind of publicity before a spraycan (or tile) has even been lifted.  Kickerstarter seemed like a great fit for what Swoon and Escif did but like many others on here it feels a bit odd to me for this project.


Personally, I love work that's done in out-of-the-way and inaccessible spaces. These pieces below were painted in locations that would only be seen by a very limited number of other writers and there's something about work that's created for its own sake rather than for the benefit of others that really appeals to me. Also,  romanywg released a book called 'Out of Sight' which is worth picking up if anyone's interested in these sort of buried treasures.


It sounds a bit like they've jumped the gun on the Kickstarter as the trustees of the forts apparently haven't yet given their consent for the whole project.  On another note, Roughs Tower (which is another Maunsell Sea Fort further out into the North Sea) has a much more interesting post-war history including the owners of the fort declaring it to be an independent country!  I seem to remember this article from Wired being worth a read.

Futura just did a collaboration w/ Converse II and they are online if anyone's interested. Been waiting for these, especially the low-tops.


www.converse.com/us/en/search?q=futura

can not pay with a 'non US' paypal account.

Am so glad others see this for what it is! I saw this and got instantly annoyed with all involved. The money raised pays for their jolly, they have revenue streams coming from corporate advertising, print sales and film rights, and none of the money generated goes back into the upkeep of these historic buildings..one big circle jerk from what I can see!