Felice Varini – Cardiff Bay

Photos: NolionsInEngland except: Tracy Lee Stum, Creative Tempest, iJuliAn, cgr v2.0


Tis the season to reminisce and having just past the shortest day of the year my bones fondly recall the warmth of a gorgeous late Summer’s day in Cardiff when I came across a stunning piece of “trick of the eye” art by Felice Varini.




The technical term is "anamorphic", it's an ugly charmless looking word, clumsy on the page and a bugger to explain yet what it defines can be amazing. We understand it mainly from the context in which it is used and that, so far as street art is concerned, is generally those road and shopping mall 3D illusions of gaping chasms where smooth tarmac or faux-marble should be.


"Hot Asphalt", art and photo: Tracy Lee Stum



Chalk Painting: Kurt Wenner, photo: Creative Tempest


Anamorphic art also defines the work of Felice Varini who paints contours, surfaces, corners and crannies in a way so that from one precise viewpoint, the whole thing appears like a flat, continuous and proportionate image. It seems most of his work is done indoors but here are a couple of favourite examples of Varini in the wilds outdoors:


Felice Varini, "Cinq ellipses ouvertes”, Metz, 2009; photo: iJuliAn



Felice Varini, "Entre Ciel et Terre", 2005; photo cgr v2.0


Back to Cardiff, a rare return to the land of my fathers, I was gobsmacked to find out his “Three Ellipses For Three Locks” was created over about 10 days back in mid March 2007.

It hardly need be said that a lot of maths must go into calculating the geometry to fit into the available structures, and then a lot of surveying to determine exactly where to paint. The shapes appear as perfect closed ellipses except for one small section where techniques for painting permanently on water are not yet sufficiently evolved. The optical illusion persuades the eye that the shapes are perfect ellipses painted on a transparent vertical plane in front of the viewer, they actually appear to lift off the surface on which they are painted and sit in mid air. The effect is giddying, this is high impact art, who needs drugs huh?

As the painted surface recedes and the line leaps from a surface 10m away to a plane 50m away the visual connection is seamless, the line retains precisely the same thickness so far as the viewer is concerned.




The trompe l’oeil effect works properly at just one precise point at a bridge crossing a lock system letting yachts in and out of Cardiff Bay, the now dammed estuary where the Rivers Taff and Ely flow out to meet the Bristol Channel. Moving around shows the amazing effects created by the painted lines.




No paint is wasted, the effects of shadows cast by intervening structures are themselves intriguing abstracts, check the real and the Varini shadows thrown by this bench.







Many will be familiar with the fact that the Bristol Channel has the second largest tidal rise and fall in the World. The depth of the lock system necessary to accommodate this huge range can be seen in this shot of the furthest extremity of the Varini circles.



Smart-arses and Barnacle Bills reading this far (ha ha!) may object that the last paragraph tells the average reader who isn’t a member of Cardiff Bay Yacht Club nothing without further information on how long before or after low tide the photo was taken but what do you expect, an Ocean Yachtmaster lesson as well as art??

More examples of Felice Varini’s work on his website here.

Banksy Loves Liverpool

photos: NoLionsInEngland except where noted

It has been a while since Graffoto’s last penetrating insight into walls damaged by Banksy. Those Banksy posts were easily mistaken as springing from passion for street art when in fact the intention was to publicize Shellshock's brilliant gift sized tome "Banksy Locations and A Tour" which is currently available at the crazy smackdown price of £7.50 inc P&P (UK only) if you go to Shellshock’s online shop here and type in the sneaky hidden code "shoptilyoudrop". The main reason we haven’t written much about Banksy is there is generally little to say that isn’t bleedin’ obvious from the image but his recent stuff raises a few thoughts.

Close by Bond Street in the heart of the UK’s most extravagant perpetual consumer fest, Banksy took advantage of a very tall wall on an empty building to create this beautifully executed falling women and shopping trolley. Its height and scale give a real sense of peril and plunge to the piece.




The drop shadow Banksy has painted on the wall give the piece an attachment to the wall, shadow is a clue telling us she is meant to be falling down the wall rather than it being a picture of her falling through mid space.




Up in Liverpool we came across this vapour trail love heart. Using stencils, spray can and fire extinguisher as the medium, this wasn’t a quick stencil reach.




The plane is beautifully stencilled, the black layer over the white layer has the feel of a Banksy and to clinch it*, the identical composition has been found this week in East London. Only Banksy has operations with the scale to pull off such stunts.


*oh - and it's now up on his website


We tend to think of Banksy as a flat stencilist, painting the stencilled areas with solid fill but Looking closely at the plane Banksy has applied a fade along the fuselage nicely blending where light falls on the upper surface and gradually turns to darker shadow underneath. A similar fade and graduation was evident in Tesco sand castles in St Leonards.


Photo HowAboutNo


The curious thing about the love plane image is the application of a drop shadow on the wall, it has a radical impact on the picture. Without a shadow, this would be an image of a plane in the sky creating a love heart. However, with the drop shadow added the plane is now pulling off some kind of acrobatic stunt along the wall, it becomes a picture of a plane flying down the side of the wall painting it as it goes. With Banksy, nothing is accidental so what did he intend by flying his bi-plane down the side of the wall?




Another curious feature is a stunning similarity between the heart in the Banksy piece and the logo of a sinister Liverpudlian mind manipulation cult called City Centre, a sort of tourist board for shops and “attractions” in the centre of Liverpool.




The similarity seems too striking to be coincidental and the image is located in the heart of the zone promoted by “City Centre”. If Banksy meant the heart to allude to something specifically Liverpudlian, then what? It may be that it is actually pure chance, I mean why would he put up the identical image in East London if it was intended to have a specific Liverpool resonance? Scousers – calm down and explain here.



I like the way the plane is beginning its climb to the heavens just yards from a street sign obligingly directing the plane upwards. This interaction with its environment is a far better take away than the idea of its location in an area hyped by an organisation using the same heart motif.


One for obsessives to anorak over is the rare use of a device such as an extinguisher or bicycle pump or something for the heart in this Banksy piece. A fire extinguisher can be opened, filled with paint, re-pressurised and then used for artistic purposes as demonstrated here by Banksy. Filling a fire extinguisher with paint isn't for the faint-hearted but haven't we all at some time or another filled a bicycle pump with paint? Graffoto put its collective brain cells together and finks the last time Banksy used a fire extinguisher was probably when he painted BORING on the side of the National Theatre in London.


Photo nicked from someone who probably nicked it from someone else and so on.
If this is your copyrighted photo, thanks for reading.



Personally, I think this has been a strong year for Banksy during which he has created many new pieces in the UK and they haven’t been so blatantly related to product promotion like the Exit The Gift Shop stunts last year. Many of the pieces have been "annointed" as genuine Banksy's by their recent addition to the photo section of his website.


There never was much doubt that the Love Plane and "shop Til You Drop" were by Banksy. One around which there was much debate was the latest instalment of the Banksy v. Robbo Camden Canal saga which is now part of a photo story segment on his website.




Another supposed possible Banksy which did very little for so many hasn't been blessed by an appearance on the Banksy website, though thats probably not enough to have its attribution updated to "unknown" which goes to show how little he needs to do to be perceived as having running street pieces.




I have to acknowledge the help of Banksy experts Shellshock (have you noticed how cheap his book is at the moment?) and Art Of The State for help in aspects of this post and I apologise if they had preferred that had remained a secret.

Evol @ Smithfield Market

All photos Howaboutno and Nolionsinengland as indicated

Graffoto are pretty sure that this is the first actual stencil piece in London by German artist Evol and it's great to see one in the flesh finally.

Howaboutno



NoLionsInEngland

Howaboutno

He actually uses both stencils and also paste ups (in this case just stencils with a spot of hand finishing for the perverts amongst you) to produce these mini "estates" and some of the details, even close up look so amazingly real and almost perfect in their own miniature perspective, pissed off Polish labourers sat atop to cap them off.

Howaboutno

NoLionsinengland

Howaboutno

Howaboutno

These photos don't do the piece justice and we advise seeing it with your own peepers, so get there and take a look if you can.

Or, if that is impractical, check out more pics here.

Os Gemeos Found Un-Harmed

All photos by nolionsinEngland


Greece is a battered country; battered by economic penury, politicians that can’t be trusted, lack of a properly functioning tax collection mechanism, corruption, cronyism, nepotism and that’s just for starters. If there is one thing the Greeks haven't wasted money on it’s The Buff. Every highway fence, roadside kiosk, every shop front, underpass and park wall is - like the economy - battered.




Most of my Greek graff spotting is done from taxis, it’s not often I get the chance to fit in a little bit of street culture. I spotted the decoration on the facade of this derelict apartment block (below) when heading towards Syngrou Avenue, the driver pulled what he called an “Original Greek” manoeuvre to zip back against the 3 lane flow. The piece exhorts us to “be water again” and is tagged Feo Flip. Flip is the artist behind the aquatic beast in the top photo, spot a theme?


fEO Flip


When it comes to politics, the Athenian writer delivers his message a bit rougher and more direct. Capitalism is crap says the first embittered red drop-shadowed piece below whilst a simple marker suffices to get the more direct message across in the second pic below.







A year ago I took an overground underground and passing through the Gazi area I spotted some low rise industrial units parallel to the track with some impressive murals, some relic of an old graffiti jam or possibly a part of Athen’s Prosopsi facade programme, a council supported project to brighten some of the crappier walls though I suspect they pre-date that. Stealing a daylight hour a few weeks ago I headed up to Gazi. I knew I was getting close when I found this pair of portraits by old favourites JNOR NDA and SidRon.


JNOR NDA, SidRon


Then the building I had seen from the train came into view with some nice mural work still mainly intact.


INO1


Technopolis and Cityscapes above are by INO1, perusing his website I see an outdoor piece called “Tit Job”, I shall search ceaselessly until I can report back to you with a photo.

[update: looking back at my last Athens blog post here I see I took a photo from the train of this very spot and I promised myself that I would find my way back some time in the future]

Other artists below are currently unknown to me.







Wandering around the other side of the building, the main highway side revealed a stunning surprise, sandwiched between a Nunca pair of portraits and a piece by Greek artist Same84 is a spectacular and virtually intact Os Gemeos mural.


Os Gemeos, Nina, Nunca, Same84



Os Gemeos


Jaw dropping shock would not over-state my gut reaction to finding this. An inscription attributes the mural to Nina, Nunca, Os Geneos and Same and dates it to 2005. The event was evidently a legal jam and Athens crew Carpe Diem who specialise in these projects are up on the credits. In a city where the crappy tag is so omnipresent, it is simply astonishing that this piece should last in such great condition for so long – six years!!! The state of the buildings opposite give you an appreciation of the respect this mural has been given.




That 2005 mural in full:


View larger here


A bit of Hellenic graff spotting wouldn’t be complete without discovering a gorgeous mural by Zap aka Alexandros Vasmoulakis, tick the box baby.


Alexandros Vasmoulakis


Finally, last week on another more recent trip, down Syngrou Avenue virtually opposite my usual hotel I found this Same84 mural which I suspect is very recent. Nice to keep finding the fresh stuff.


Same84


Previous Athens reflections here, here and here

Adam Neate - Dimensional Paintings

To 29 Oct 2011

Elms Lester Painting Rooms
1-3-5 Flitcroft St,
London, WC2H 8DH

All photos by nolionsinEngland



Deep joy, another Adam Neate collection of new art at Elms Lester and another guided tour by gallerist Paul Jones. This is, I think, the third Adam Neate talk by Paul Jones I’ve had the pleasure of lurking at. Paul Jones describes Neate’s new works in terms of linear self-informing progression, each step forward a consequence of the previous stride. With the aid of a few pics, here is what stuck in the memory about this latest display, so no guarantee regarding accuracy.




Neate continues with the figurative subject matter and 3D compositions. The 3D Perspex portraits retain the motion effects, the play with shadows and the cubist approach to representation through distorted surfaces and edges. The new aspect in the Perspex pieces is the introduction of mirrored perspex to throw the ambient light around the image with a greater degree of control. The stand out piece is Home Entertainment. Tremendous attention to detail surrounds the shadows cast by the standard lamp in the room. The picture incorporates photographs of both the artist and his wife, seemingly a one off multi-media effect the narrative appears to be that they have just taken a bath and the artist is viewing an image of his wife on the TV screen. I hope I understood that correctly!


Home Entertainment


What also can’t be seen in the photo is that the curtains to the right are actually 3D louvers and Neate has used fibre optics to create pin points of light outside the window representing stars


Home Entertainment


Neate retains his light, whimsical touch celebrating innocent love, classical beauty, shining lights and celestial choirs. Only kidding. This next piece is called No Way Out,, a man seeks solace in the bottle as relief from problems with his marriage and job. Exit is an organisation for promoting the early killing of old people or something. The composition is hugely 3D with every twist and trim of the Perspex sheets and tubes significant in defining a limb, a gesture or piece of fabric


No Way Out


Neate has now set himself the challenge of proving himself a true painter by translating his kinetic layered portraits back to canvas. In this study, Neate has built up the layers to achieve a considerable relief effect from the surface of the canvas.




One of the more interesting developments is portrayed by gallerist Paul as being accidental or intuitive, you decide. Having painted a figure of a man naked from the nips up and reflected at length upon what he saw on the canvas, Neate one day just picked up a Stanley knife and slashed at the canvas. The gaping slashes revealed a further layer or dimension within the canvas for him to play with. The slashes suggest perhaps ribs inside or maybe the self-harming consequence of listening too much to The Horrors.




From the discovery of using the effect of opening up the surface of the canvas, Neate now exploits the plane of the canvas, explores into the depth of the canvas and with the addition of collaged objects reaches out of the surface of the canvas into the room space. This has now come to be termed the “dimensional painting”, playing with layers. In the drive through composition, although it may not seem so from the photo, Neate has created layers on the surface of the canvas with cut penetrations and additional inserts. The driver is collecting the fizzies from a hatch cut into the canvas, and those drinks are 3 dimensional, his wife has lowered a drinks tray which also is an additional layer sitting proud of the canvas plane, the folds in the boy’s teeshirt in the back is a 2D replica of the way Neate represents clothing folds in 3D using winding perpsex tubing. The driver married the bearded lady, no, sorry, that’s the shadow.




Although not described by Paul Jones this way, it seems Neate follows a sort of three steps forward one step back iterative process in which after some experimentation with new stuff he goes back to an earlier technique to see if what he has learned affects the content or result from earlier ways of working. So in this show alongside the dimensional perspex painting we see a recent old style cardboard portrait.




Perhaps the most radically different “painting” in this show is a stretched primed canvas which Neate has attacked with the Stanley knife and through the slashes, twists and folds has assembled a recognisably Neate-esque figure, the stretched canvas has been transformed into a sculpture contained cleverly within the original stretcher. Brilliant and stunning. For this piece, the position of the lighting is critical to create the fall of shadows within the piece that define nose, eyes, mouth in a way Neate has made his signature. The staging of this item as the sole focal point in a plain white corridor was beautiful.




Neate defines himself as a painter though and to be honest the patter got slightly knotted when the question 'why is this one painting and not sculpture was thrown from the floor.




lady NoLions thought there was something KKK sinister in this one.

The link across the various mediums used in this collection is the idea of layering, The phrase “Dimensional Painting” feels like it is almost an effort to define a new “new school”, lets hope that a less clumsy description evolves. Jones is charmingly evangelical on the subject of Neate’s work, he clearly regards Neate as the most complete and most significant painter of his generation, drawing analogies with great modern painters including Lucien Freud, Warhol, Cubists and impressionists. I’m easily persuaded based on the work in this show and the clear growth through the series of Elms Lester shows over the past four years.