Love Hate Love Since 2000

I love street art, and it's not something I need to say, I am sure this is understood.  So I don't really subscribe to "love hate love" - for me what's to hate?  I even love DN and all his inappropriate tagging.  Actually, if you look critically, it's spot on for location, timing and impact.  But that's another blog post and one I am not sure I am wearing the right armor for.  I know I know, it's not street art, its an insult to street artists, it is not even graffiti, taggers should be shot, blah blah blah ...

I am a huge fan of making things easy (paths of least resistance were the easiest mathematical concepts for me to grasp), so true to form I Googled "Love Hate Love", expecting a pathway straight to the source.  Instead I found an Indonesian Street Artist.  Fucking cool man! But not what I needed to see.  A "source" suggested Love Hate Love may be the work of our Klara, Urbex Queen, new talent of the year.  That makes sense to me because her work has definitely been tagged with the "Love Hate Love" stickers. Post Script: It is not Klara's work and remains a mystery...

So I am afraid after searching this cyberspace we occupy I am none the wiser and this post has no point except to present Love Hate Love, Street Art.  Enjoy! Oh and I blame the Pooley 2008 Family Reserve Cab Merlot that has befriended me but as I write this post I have a sinking feeling that I can only locate a couple of the Love Hate Love images right now...  So here are those along with a few random pics to remind you how awesome Fitzroy is...

Klara, I confess to have a huge Art Crush on you

How on Earth do I consistently find more Will Coles, that I have walked past a 100 times

And the Brunswick Street Gallery Hard Rubbish show was a treat...I must confess I have 2 of the TV's - this one is up for grabs if you can guess the locale...

What is not to love about an astroturf car?

This is just the goods, can't wait to see more

And finally Birdhat, Melbourne has been blessed by your presence once more!

Clan

I researched this post with a slightly wistful twang.  Part of me wants to be a Clanner.  The other part of me wants to be one of the masses who will always wonder, imagine and not really know.  That part of me wishes that there was no Internet, that we were back in the eighties.  Shrouded in mystery and frequently misunderstood, the Cave Clan has everything - comradery, mateship, bravado, history and infamy.  It is a movement really, not simply the ultimate Urbex, although it most certainly must be that as well.  It is the Freemasons without the really insidious undercurrent (and sexist/racist fat blokes).  And it's history is long.   If you can't bear to sit with your voyeuristic fascination any longer, as was my undoing, spend some time You Tubing/Vmeoing/Googling, and you will see some very moving tributes (BDP), some brilliant scenes of unity, adventure and fun.  They make for many a good editorial (see Vice "Kids of the Clan").  They make me wanna be George from the famous five again.

PostScript: Meeting Friends and Giving Rings

I sat down and before I had even selected my poison, Sniz asked about the Giving Ring. She was sitting with Kate who I didn't know yet, and Kate told me that she has a Giving Ring, that she wasnt wearing tonight. Bin gave it to her. I met Bin once before. I lamented that I could not decide, then Sniz suggested she might like one. We joked that Sniz might end up with a collection of them, and maybe wear them as nipple rings. We talked about how small the world is, the blog in Spain, my blog, and between wondering where the food was and finishing another glass, it happened. Decision made.

I am giving my ring to Sniz, Snizzy, Liz, with tongue in cheek because of mutual experiences past and present, but really because she is funny, a great person and I like her.

An Expansive Ring

I have to update you on the Giving Ring project I blogged about recently.  It has gone international, and into the fourth dimension, that intangible web that grows thick in the air around us.  What I love about the project is that it showcases many of the positives of social media, being from my perspective, comradery, speed of information sharing, and an element less definable about connectedness with no physical barriers.  Enough deep stuff - here are the other bloggers talking about it:

In a very sweet travel blog in Barcelona.

Our local Vin Knight (who is an amazing artist).

The effervescent and delightful Jeweller Miss Katie Jayne, on her blog Kaleidoscope (scroll down to October 24th, and also peruse her images of Chris Massey with a fish brooch, dashing!).

And of course, there is me, this is my third post.  Searching for the answer, who to give to...This week, it will be a Fait Accompli... 

Precious Sticker Porn

I will have to repost this when i can get a decent image to do it justice, but so you know I could get used to presents like this.  Yes I did covett from a distance, hands on the glass and staring wistfully.  I was the kid in the candy store, now I am the kid in the tenements with the only soccer ball...well one of the first, anyway. Thank you precious heart x  

Comme Des Graffiti

Stickerporn and thank you Barek

You only have to search the tag stickerporn on Instagram to realise that, not only do all the greats make stickers, but stickers are as cool as aerosol or wheatpastes, just smaller and more easily transacted. You can't swap a piece on a wall but you can swap a sticker. Honesty, it is Stickers Without Borders out there. There is something tantalisingly nostalgic about loving stickers. It makes me 10 years old again, it brings out the stamp collector in me, the swap card nerd. I have some Bareks, some Kaffeines, and I intend to steal the Precious Little currently held by magnet to my fridge (sorry - you know who you are - you were asking for trouble flaunting it). Graft accepted! Special thanks to Barek for my Rad new collection...(who by the way features in a street art exhibition in Copenhagen soon!)

I have a ring

I have a ring, a giving thing.
I will give it with pleasure to someone I treasure.

I had many ideas about who I would give my ring to before I actually received it. Now I am stuck. I am standing in the video store and I have seen every movie.

I keep playing out the scenes in my head. The person I give the ring to, their response, my reply. The woman in the shop in Stanley, who had just lost her daughter. My FEESIL (favourite ever ex sister in law) who dreamt into existence the "flasher". My "significant other that I am not exposing in this post", or my other significant other, similarly vaguely described. And what if I give the ring to me? Or to Massey?

When playing out my scenes I have also added soundtracks like Stevie Nicks "has anyone ever given anything to you, and in your darkest hour, did you ever give it back?".

I have a ring, and if it's all I ever do,
I want to give the ring to....

Awesome street art blogs third installment

I have a feeling there can be no end to these installments, because every time I get complacent I look up and another blogger has seen more, posted faster, or just has it going on while I am, for example swanning around MONA (Bragedy Brag Brag) .  This list is for the bloggers, their (our) catalogues, their tenacious persistence and their archives...

http://artygraffarti.com/ I never noticed this before, where have I been? He/she has made it to Makatron's exhibition too, which I am TOTALLY going to.

http://vettiliveinnorthcote.wordpress.com/ Vetti is changing, getting edgier, I love it.  Thanks!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001656160195  Melbourne Street Art never lets me down, I look longingly whenever I am away.

http://deansunshine.com/ Dean is always there, and sometimes I beat him in the chase, but frankly not very often!

Thank you all ! 

I have nothing to say

There is a poem by John Cage that comes into my head from time to time.  There are a heap of bloggers who talk about it.  Here is one.  So anyway it is called 14 variations on 14 words.  That is me today.
Here I have 14 images and they are art and I am saying it.
I am it and saying I have 14 art images here and are they?
They are 14 images saying art and I have it and I am here.
...okay this is too hard.

On Giving Rings, and Other Things

I have been told it's time.  The site is thriving and I am being somewhat prolific.  I need to go all fitzroyflasher.com and fancy.  Unless, my adviser, if you are reading this, you are my only follower because you are the only person in the world who ever worked out how to use RSS feeds?

So yeah, I will probably make the transition fairly soon, watch this space.  In the meantime, I am going to faff around with the background and insert a few widgetty things someone else toiled over.  I have *finally* worked out that I really want a news column, and a feature column, so keep looking to the right of this post, although now it is starting to sound like I actually want to be a magazine...

Anyway enough about me...

Chris Massey, uber talented Jeweller, inspired artist and basically all round awesome person is making 40 sterling silver and ceramic rings, and giving them away, but with a twist....It is a bit pay it forward-esque (without the tragic demise of the cute kid)...I will let you LIKE it on facebook and you can follow for yourself.

Photographs above are copyright Mark Zuckerberg, or Chris Massey or both.  I basically borrowed them having no intention to claim them as my own.

A Week in Fitzroy

What a difference a week makes.  We have new cafe/bar behind Naked for Satan.  The Deb and Drew Funk pieces are bloody beautiful.  I will take a pic of the actual venue next time - I was distracted, and a bit tired, and somehow missed the opportunity.  The other stand out change is that Lush has just about covered every inanimate object in Fitzroy with stickers.  And there are some pretty Kitsch paste ups making their way onto the endless stream of abandoned technology ... Ah it is good to be back! (with apologies that the images below are a bit under par)...

PS Apparently Ears has gone MAD on Gore Street - I didn't quite cover that ground today.  A day late and a dollar short!  Well done Brian ;) 

White People Problems

There is a bit to think about globally, and locally these days.  Luckily for us we have an enormous capacity to ignore, which is probably an evolutionary necessity (since we have well and truly stuffed the planet it would be awful if we thought about it all the time).

I fall into the woeful category of the armchair advocate.   Better people try using a bigger band aid to ignore more effectively or actually do something about all the stuff there is to think about/ignore.  If anyone else has stumbled upon the blossoming thought project, you will know the feeling of having a smile whilst simultaneously checking over your shoulder in case a cult is waiting to haul you into the back of a van full of singing smiling people.  You may have had a similar experience if you have recently encountered the Free Hug people on a friday night in Brunswick St.   Anyway good luck to them, and as Judy Small said, one voice in the crowd.

 

The  Resonate Collective has a more serious take on the issues, falling into the admirable category of people taking action.  I spend a bit of time thinking about what they mean, with their dead fish and abandoned furniture photos pasted badly through the streets.  They have got under my skin, for sure.  Are they talking about a resonance?  Are they resonating our thoughts? Is it about collective thought or are they making a statement about how we have stuffed the planet (and how it sucks that we try so hard to ignore that we have stuffed the planet)?  Anyway, again, I am impressed by their action, albeit still drawn into my own tenacious inertia.  

I once thought I would change the world.  Alas, these days I am probably more inclined to watch South Park for its political rumblings than pull out a Socialist Left newsletter (do they still exist?).  So of course, it was the words of Lush that finally "resonated" with me:

Lush's words stuck because I recently had the opportunity to visit Wadeye, a remote aboriginal community south west of Darwin.  The Metal gangs of Wadeye are rather infamous, probably most widely exposed in the controversial documentary of Vice.  I am not sure I can yet fathom the depth to which white people suck, having spent just one day in Wadeye.  

That's it for my White People Problems today...Oh and also that I hate the new thin take away coffee lids that cave in when you drink through them.  So annoying!