Graffiti artist PHED from London recently passed away while painting legally in Hanoi, Vietnam, and to make sure he is remembered the right way, we caught up with his close friend SKORE TRC and got him to write up some last words about PHED.
RIP PHED
PHED 150
Phed was one of the nicest guys you could meet in the London graffiti scene and I was lucky to call him a friend. I first became aware of his work when we were both painting the same spot regularly in the late 80s, the 3 corners site in Farringdon, North London… Back then he wrote a lot with Don, Cike, Mean, Pac, Lies, Imase and Charp… West London writers… and was part of a loose crew known as the Urban Gangsters (UBG).
Before that I know he was one of hundreds of names at the Southern end of the Northern line, and the buses of South London… just another kid with a pen…
Throughout the years he developed a strong personal style… bright colours, peace signs, eyes, mushrooms… and of course vines… He was equally at home rocking characters, simple letters, full pieces, canvasses… He could turn his hand to pretty much anything.
I really became close friends with Phed in the mid 2000s when we painted within a close circle of friends… myself, Merc, Corze, Argos, Pure, Jyre and others… He did a lot of fantastic walls all around town and on various trips to New York with guys like Kezam, Break, Spot, Sye and others… up until he moved to Hanoi around 2012 where he continued his work professionally on the streets, canvasses and classrooms of Vietnam… He was a real down to earth funny warm happy guy, a wise head you would go to for grounded and honest advice and we will never forget him…
I was one of the lucky ones to catch up with him on his last visit back to London over Christmas and he was in a really great place with new son Otto, in love with Laura, visiting family, loving life… Rest well mate.
-Skore TRC
You can support the Matthew James Memorial Fund here on this Crowdfunder page.
You can see more of Pheds paintings here at Pheds garden
