Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon graffiti  Mural by street and graffiti artist Fanakapan

With some free time this week, we were fortunate enough to catch up with London-based graffiti artist Fanakapan


Brick Lane Street Art Mural by Artist Fanakapan

Known for his impressive hyper-realistic helium balloon 3D graffiti-inspired murals, the artist has been a regular on the London streets and we have featured the artist on a number of occasions on the blog.

Hookedblog featured the artist on the blog at the start of the year when he painted a number of murals in East London. 

The ‘Follow The Leader' mural on Hanbury Street was painted by artist Fanakapan over the Christmas holiday period but with the high turnover of mural works on this street especially at this location, the piece has unfortunately since been painted over. 

If you missed this mural work in person you can take a look at some of our photographs in the feature we did on the wall by following the link below.

About a month later Fanakapan painted a second mural piece further out east, closer to Haggerston, featuring a love heart-shaped helium balloon graffiti piece he titled debrand/ rebrand painted ahead of Valentine's Day.


Artist Fanakapan at work spray painting his Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural

'Up Yours' Fanakapan London Mural

Following a summer painting at various international street art and graffiti festivals, Fanakapan returns to London with this new mural and a solo exhibition. We stopped by over the three days Fanakapan spent working on his latest mural which the artist has titled ‘Up Yours’.

The mural work features the silver hyper-real helium letter balloons graffiti that he has become known for, with the various balloon letters spelling out the ‘Up Yours’ message. 

Holding the strings attached to the balloons is a version of the 3D character Carl Fredricksen, the 78-year-old balloon salesman from the Disney / Pixar movie 'UP’.

The new 'Up Yours' London mural by Fanakapan is located just off Brick Lane, about halfway down Heneage Street adjacent to the 5th Base Gallery which was also the location of the artist's solo exhibition Helios.

Artist Fanakapan at work spray painting his Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural

Artist Fanakapan at work spray painting his Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural

Artist Fanakapan at work spray painting his Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours' helium balloon graffiti  Mural

Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural by London graffiti artist Fanakapan

Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural by London graffiti artist Fanakapan

Some of you might recognize the featured character as Carl Fredricksen, the 78-year-old balloon salesman who was the led character in the Disney / Pixar animated movie 'UP'.

Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural by London graffiti artist Fanakapan

Fanakapan Helios Exhibition
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The Up Your mural work was painted by Fanakapan to coincide with the opening of a balloon/helium-based art show titled ‘Helios’ after the Greek god of the sun. The exhibition celebrated 150 years since the discovery of helium and featured a collection of his canvas artworks along with some additional works from other invited artists including Envol Studio, Nuno Viegas, Jask, and Silent Stage.

The Helios exhibition ran from the 17th of August until the 22nd of August 2018 at the 5thBase Gallery on Heneage Street, London.

Artist Fanakapan at work spray painting his Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural

Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon Mural by London graffiti artist Fanakapan

Hyper-realistic 'Up Yours'  helium balloon graffiti Mural by London graffiti artist Fanakapan

The completed 'Up Yours' Brick Lane street art mural painted by artist Fanakapan.

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