PHOTOGRAPHY
A couple of years ago I wrote a short blog piece here called Valentine Shmalentine! which I thought I’d revisit today, not only as it is Valentine’s Day but because of the passage of time. Since that entry Francino, the old man in the rainbow hat in the Bar Italia image, has died . Dini the … Read more
I had never come across the late American photographer Saul Leiter until recently, just ahead of the current retrospective of his work at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. It’s unusual for me – I consider myself quite literate when it comes to artists and photographers and have separate degrees in both history of art and … Read more
Over the years I’ve photographed representations of hands in graffiti. I often associate the icon of a hand with the hamsa – the middle eastern symbol of protection, usually represented as an open palm with and expended middle finger, with the thumb and little finger sometimes curving outwards, Both Judaism and Islam uses this icon … Read more
Last week I came across this angry graffiti, very publicly placed in Muswell Hill: I can’t remember where I took the next picture, but I am still amused by the juxtaposition of evil and cheese-eating: Here’s another example of graffiti that points the finger at someone; but this time the identity and gender of the … Read more
Here are some photos I’ve taken that combine graffiti or advertising imagery with an outdoor natural setting. The faces all have striking blue or green eyes. The first two images were shot in Ibiza: A surreal distortion – I think I saw this in London’s Westbourne Grove during carnival: The photo below was taken … Read more
(L.H.O.O.Q by Duchamp -source Wikimedia Commons) Back in 1919, artist Marcel Duchamp re-presented Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa by pencilling-in a moustache and goatee. He placed the initials LHOOQ beneath, which when pronounced sound like “elle a chaud au cul”, literally translated as “she is hot in the ass” apparently suggesting sexual restlessness and “fire … Read more
I’m off to a gig in Mornington Crescent this evening. Last year I came across this graffiti on the way to Mornington Crescent just off Camden High Street; to me it sums up a type of jokey witticism that is manifested in the Yiddish “Chochmah”, derived from the Hebrew for wisdom. This is chochmah NW1 … Read more
Saw this graffiti in Soho a few months ago … I’ve cropped it square so it could make an ‘alternative’ mother’s day cd album cover, rather than the usual pink florals and cuddly toy imagery! It’s a day late … well, better late than never.
I love this stencil graffiti I saw years ago in Venice. I assume the figure on the left is male and adult, running (and leading?) the figure on the right, who I assume to be female … mainly because of a triangle at the side of her head which suggests long hair and a trapezoid … Read more
Tel Aviv is full of vibrant graffiti including striking stencil graffiti and hebrew text. However amongst all of this I started noticing some naive childlike scratchings – a bit like a non-smiley emoticon with or without an armless body – in many locations over the the city. Here are some of them. I also came … Read more