Elbow-Toe

We went to the Brooklyn flea last weekend in DUMBO and walking back to the subway, we walked past an interesting looking door and this caught my eye - which I thought was sweet.

I didn't think anything more of it until I saw this one in Union Square...

Now I noticed a pattern, so with a bit of research I discovered that they are the creations of Elbow-Toe, a Brooklyn based street artist. He has been creating hand-coloured linocuts pasted on walls for a while now.
"His artwork for the streets is grounded in myth, symbolism and poetry and is primarily executed in woodcut, stencil or large-scale charcoal drawings. His oeuvre is a study of human gesture as communication and he utilizes public spaces as stages for private moments. He is particularly interested in the ability of environmental forces outside his control to create a timeless quality to the work thereby allowing it to feel as if it has been memory and is part of the collective unconscious." He has also been busy on the side of the pond in London, like this one taken from his website:

Artmongers - update

On 10th August, I posted about the Artmongers and the public art they do around SE London. The day before we flew I saw their customised wheelie bins in New Cross...this project was called 'Moo Cross' Cowbins - a pilot in collaboration with: Lewisham Council, Source Communication and Taylors, to read more click on the link Feed the Cows. I think they are fun, but they missed a trick - they could've painted the underside of the bin in pink for the udders! That would have been funnier.

Brockley Key

This weekend just gone, we went to visit friends who have just moved to Brockley, SE4. That was when I noticed a trompe l'oeil (French for 'trick the eye' which involves a 2-D image that's been stretched, which when looked at from different angles gives the optical illusion of being a 3-D object). So in actual fact this key lies flat on the house wall.

The key can be found on Brockley Road above the restaurant, Toad's Mouth Too. The anamorphosis is a creation of Artmongers who are a group based in South East London. Artmongers create public art (such as this wind up key) to brighten up people's days. They love the idea that you can find artworks unexpectedly in the most banal objects and in every day life. This piece is called 'Brockley Key' Mural, Brockley 2005.

Scratching the surface

The current show at the Lazarides gallery on Rathbone Place, W1, is a must see. This month showcases the artist Vhils, aka Alexandre Farto, with his exhibition Scratching the Surface.

This is the Portuguese artist's first solo show in the UK. The show features a series portraits of unknown faces, that are inspired by his native city of Lisbon, at a time of revolution. He turns the outdoor ad spaces into unconventional urban decaying canvases. He uses unusual techniques and materials such as acid and bleach which eat into the surface layers to expose what is underneath.

My favourites are the works of art where he actually scratches amazing portraits directly onto the naked walls. The exhibition runs from 3rd July 2009 to 1st August 2009, so no excuses go and see it. Admission is free.

Toynbee Tiles

We went to Philadelphia for the day back in May, and I couldn't help but notice strange tiles on the roads. I've since looked into these mysterious modern artifacts and found out that they appear all over the USA - with different varieties and some as large as a car number plate. They are called Toynbee tiles (or Toynbee plaques). It's believed that the first, and larger ones, were placed in the 1980s. Over time they have got smaller and have varied in fonts and styling. It's uncertain whether it's the work of a single person or a group.

The graffiti tiles tend to be located in the middle of busy streets and highways where they wear away quickly or instead they resurface. Apparently tiles are wrapped in tar paper and placed on a busy street early in the morning, then the pressure of heavy vehicles driving over them for weeks on end pushes it into the road surface. Eventually, the tar paper wears away, exposing similar messages:

TOYNBEE IDEA MOVIE 2001 RESURRECT (sometimes "RAISE") DEAD PLANET JUPITER

The tiles might be made of layers of linoleum and asphalt crack-filling compound, but again no-one is sure. I think that something so cryptic that can cause such controversy is just fabulous, but it does annoy me that I might never find out what they are for!

Tom Otterness

These humorous installations, entitled Life Underground from 1998, were commissioned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Arts for Transit for the 14th Street and 8th Avenue subway station in New York. They are the creations of Tom Otterness. I thought his rotund characters were really cute and it's fun to try and spot them. His bronze sculptures emerge from the floors and ceilings throughout and above the station. There are a total of 100 cast-bronze sculptures placed throughout the platforms and stairways of the A, C, E, and L lines of the station.

His style is very whimsical and cartoon-like whilst containing a political punch. He has also created pieces for Times Square, children's playgrounds and other parks around the world.

"These sculptures depict, among other things, huge pennies, pudgy characters in business suits with moneybag heads, helmeted workers holding giant tools, and crocodiles crawling out from under sewer covers. The main theme of his work seems to be the struggle of the little man against the Capitalist machine in a difficult and strange city."- Vince Carducci, cultural critic and social researcher.

Space Invaders

Every day on the way to work I walk past 3 Space Invaders tile graffiti, in the London Bridge area. I've also spotted them around Covent Garden and Clerkenwell as well as other areas. I've researched a little into them and it turns out there are a total of 101 in London. Next time I visit a city, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more little aliens.

These mosaic 'pixelated' tiles inspired by the 1970s Space Invaders game are created by a street artist who goes under the name of 'Invader'. It turns out he has graffitied all over the world and documented his 'invasions' on his website. A good selection of the ones in London can be found here.