#BRICKFLATS
The very first time I stumbled on a #BRICKFLATS it stopped me dead in my tracks. It’s called “Party for one” and a puffy blue marsh-mellow type man is squeezed inside — upside down! —next to a turntable and mic. Kinda reminds me of Friday nights in my university dorm.
Hiding in plain sight on Essex Road, it’s one of eleven scattered around Islington, Dalston, Hoxton and Shoreditch. Someone has helpfully published a map that lists the general locations in case you want to go flat-hunting because, well, that’s what they are. A small flat, the size of a brick.
According to the artist, no walls are harmed in the process. He says he inserts his works to replace damaged or missing bricks. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, even though masonry doesn’t often go missing. But these works do. Whether from local council clean-ups or maybe postcode envy, these little boxes of joy, just like real London flats, probably won’t stay on the market for very long.
The artist, Raphael Vangelis, is a freelance Director who specialises in 3D and animation, and writes that he has “spent a good part of my life in big cities where shitty living conditions are the norm if you are not rich”.
It’s no secret that London is consistently listed in annual Top Ten lists of the most expensive cities in the world to buy property. The average Zone 1 flat costs anywhere from £500 to a whopping £2,000 per square foot.
Maybe that’s why I find this streetart so amusing. It’s a fresh and fun take on a trade-off that so many people have to accept as part of a city living lifestyle. And if that’s an all-too-familiar sentiment for you, then grab the map, get out of your tiny flat and go brickflat-hunting. They’re sure to make you smile.
Follow @brickflats on Instagram or visit Rafael’s website to learn more.
Go to https://tinyurl.com/2jfmyn5p to see the map of London flats.
You can see more photos of his flats in a recent profile in The Guardian.