Red Line Returns, Mystery Deepens

Artists old and new school.jpg

The mystery red line is back. And this time it's tricksier than ever. The new piece of minimalist pavement art picks up where it left off, opposite the Novotel on Euston Road. (Camden Council must be apoplectic, after doing their best to erase the earlier marking.) We followed it along Pentonville Road for quite some way until it took a sharp right down Amwell Street into Finsbury. From there, it runs into Roseberry Avenue (passing one of Banksy's finest - pictured here), before skirting round the edge of Mount Pleasant sorting office.

Then, a sudden halt. The line seemed to end just south of the post office. A little disappointed, we climbed up the noisome steps of the Roseberry Viaduct, only to find the line restored on the bridging roadway. Wa-hey, the thin red line goes multidimensional.

With renewed enthusiasm, we tracked what must be the world's longest graffito down Gray's Inn Road to Holborn. Here we found another new twist. The line split three ways. The right fork led to Chancery Lane, terminating outside Alistair Crowley's old gaff. That links up nicely with part of the previous line, now erased.

Tracking back, we followed the other fork past the famous Tudor buildings and on to Holborn Circus. Here, the line described a semi-circle around the southern half of the roundabout, before terminating outside a building site.

Red line appears to terminate on Roseberry Avenue Viaduct.jpg

So, the mystery deepens. On a Recent Robert Elms radio show, a caller confessed to being the phantom line painter. She promised more to come, and it seems she's delivered. She also said that there's some kind of wider plan, but wouldn't divulge any further info.

Lines combined.jpg

Looking at the map (where we've represented the new line in pink), it's hard to see what that purpose might be. One thing we can predict, though. If there's to be a third instalment, it will likely start from Holborn Circus, perhaps looping round the South Bank to 'join up' with the other loose end, where this all began on the Embankment.

Please - contribute your theories and opinions in the comments section. Is this art? (The 'artist' thought so on the radio phone in.) Should she be arrested? Or praised? And most importantly, what can it all mean?


Comments (8) [rss]

This could be a face...

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i like the cock

The line traces the perimeter of the WC1 postcode

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yes, it does seem to trace the WC1 postcode. that is awesome. compare to this map:

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/postcodes/places/WC1.html

found at http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/postcodes/

that is excellent.

i live in san francisco, where some artists drew a blue line on the ground through our mission district, to denote where there had once been a lake, a couple of hundred years ago. since i'm don't know much about london, i don't know if there would be any political comment in outlining this particular postcode - would there be?

fascinating!

-elly


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That's brilliant, Andrea. Nice work. And cheers for the link Elly.

Londonist readers solve the mystery!

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...but, what are the two offshoots for? The line down to the river, and the extension to Holborn Circus.

Is she working on EC4 next?
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/postcodes/places/EC4.html

This reminds me of the thin blue line that still marks the track of the marathon that was run around the streets of Sydney six years after the Olympic Games held here. Busy intersections have been worn through but it is still possible to follow most of the route.

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