Brooklyn 1970’s – street art had a different meaning

“In Brooklyn, people did graffiti in the 1970s because they were suffering in society, they felt like they were on the bottom. In China, street art is more like a fashion, like a culture. I feel sad because I see the fashion overseas come to China, but the way people experience it is not the original way – something’s changed.”

DALeast in The Independent

 

DALeast is a street artist from China, currently living in Cape Town. Speaking in The Independent he makes a clear statement about the motivations of street artists in China today. I think you could extend this analogy to many examples of street art today.

Street art is definitely fashionable in the UK at the moment. I’m not saying it is necessarily all devoid of political statement, but DALeast’s statement about China seems relevant to me from my spot in Bristol UK.

That point aside, his work is really beautiful and some of the most original I’ve seen in a while – even if just through online documentation at this point!

 

 

Rochester NY

Vienna, Austria

Old Street, London

 

Via Colossal and The Independent

Anus Hotel

Vice provides me with light entertainment from time to time. The occasional “oh yeah did you see that thing on Vice…” conversation pieces, you know.

This could be one, if I could muster the courage to venture “So…you see that Anus hotel?”.

Until I do, I can share it on here –

 

 

Via Vice Uk

Suspended Net Installations

A great example of when things don’t go according to plan, but then something better happens as a result!

This is the story of the artist Janet Echelman, who arrived in India in the late 1990’s ready to embark on tour of the country giving painting exhibitions. However unfortunately for Janet, her all-important painting supplies that she had shipped ahead of time, never arrived.

As she wandered around the fishing village of Mahabalipuram, her attention was drawn to the quantity and variety of nets used by the local fishermen. From these observations came the idea to suspend and illuminate them, thus creating a new kind of sculpture.

Happy accident.

1.26 at the Amsterdam Light Festival 2012

 

Via http://www.thisiscolossal.com/

Giant Water Slide_ Luke Jerram

Water slide on Park Street anyone?

50m slide in ashton court bristol

 

Luke Jerram specialises in interactive installations, and has plans to install a giant water slide on Park Street this summer.

Sounds great to me.

I’m not sure if I would be brave enough to have a go; I always wince when I see skinny jeans-with-a-man-inside flying down the hill on their skateboard.

Jerram spent some time at the tail end of 2013 testing slides in Ashton Court estate, as in the photo above.

I am a real fan of Luke’s work; in particular his project “Play Me, I’m Yours” from 2009. He placed pianos around the city centre to encourage public participation.

More Info…

 

 

Street Art in Sao Paulo by Tec

 

 

VIA and also VIA

Shutter Art in Bristol Town

Shutter Art in Bristol Town

The unveiling of URSA the bear

A new work by artist Jamie Gillman will be unveiled this evening in Bristol, by the mayor George Ferguson.

A joint initiative between the Bearpit Improvement Group and PRSC in bristol, the new 12 ft bear sculpture called URSA will reinforce the idea of the bear pit as an outdoor gallery.

Short video of the making of URSA

Huntzz smartphone app

I cannot quite recall where I first heard about this app, but needless to say I have been thinking about it quite a lot since…

At University I created an locative project which combined audio and live performance. It was an exploration of the history of a central part of the city of Bristol; what used to be in that part of town and questioning the significance of the area now.

It was also intended as a comment on commercialism and it’s sprawling nature; how our standard solution to a derelict urban space is to slap some shops in there paired with over-priced flats. Its so common now it seems like a tired cliche, but even so I felt quite strongly about it and essentially my project was born out of that passion.

So when I read about this Huntzz app, I thought it could be quite a good way to build upon his piece of work I created 3 years ago. If I ever get round to it, I’d love to create and submit a hunt for this app, based upon local history of Bristol. There’s the potential there for creating a series of them too.

Huntz is a smartphone app with real-world scavenger hunts and tour guides; the app also allows you to create your own!

http://www.huntzz.com/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.huntzz

The Funship

 

Thought this was worth a mention…the old Duke of Lancaster cruise ship, that has been dug into the Dee estuary in Flintshire (wales) since 1979, has been given a make-over by graffiti artists from around the world. The artists include a number from Bristol – yay!

The ‘funship’ reference was the name it held during the 80’s when it was used as a bar and flee-market, which you must admit undoubtedly was fun.

So I believe the overall plan is to turn this into an open-air gallery, so the works can change and evolve. My frame of reference is the open-air gallery-esk space we now have on Nelson St in Bristol – and it’s great to see a similar thing going on but with the contrasting backdrop and context of the rugged Welsh coast. Rural-urban-art if you will!

My favourite is the skeleton with his head housed in a bird cage

http://www.fullpunch.com/random/neglected-ship-the-duke-of-lancaster-is-turned-into-floating-graffiti-gallery.html/

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