Saturday, April 27, 2013

Yes it can be annoying but...............

I have to declare an interest from the start, I'm a big fan of graffiti - not the senseless 'tagging' that you see on almost any clean surface in towns and cities which is the spray can equivalent of a Tomcat pissing out its territory but the real urban art. I like the clever and witty slogans that sometimes appear, not just the 'Clapton is God' but the 'Give Peas A Chance' over the M25 and the one that used to have me wondering as a teenager 'GLC Intrigue reaches all time high" that used to adorn the bridge at the eastern end of the Hammersmith Flyover back in the late seventies. Of course the 'George Davis is Innocent'  slogan that was all over the East End during the 1970's proved to be sheer optimism.

It's the 'real' art that appeals to me though. Those murals that appear which are, in my humble opinion, genuine works of art. The photograph below was taken whilst I was in Leipzig back in 2010.


I have no way of knowing whether it was a right-wing comment on the increased Turkish immigration into one of the cities poorest areas or a comment from the immigrants themselves staking their claim. It's on the side of a small electricity sub-station, on the left wall as you look is another mural of a skateboarder - see below. I like the way that the artist (or artists) have curved the green tree so that it appears on both paintings (?)




The German artist Hendrik Beikirch (known as Ecb) is known for his large scale painting, murals, street art - you can choose your own description, has an exhibition in Cologne and as part of that exhibition a series of photographs has been released showing how he put together one of his larger pieces of work.



As I said at the start I find process fascinating (scroll down on the link), obviously a work of this size needs outside assistance to complete it (the cherry picker) but I am still in awe at the sheer size of the painting.

4 comments:

Span Ows said...

Also in the 70s in harrow: "Nicholas Parsons is the neo-opiate of the people."

of course you also get the bad side of mural etc as in Northern Ireland.

I like the skateboarder.

A Northern Bloke said...

The one in Cologne is fantastic!

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