August 2018 Archives

On Bank Holiday Monday this week, I decided to see one last sculpture trail during the washout Bank Holiday weekend. Currently, Minerva's Owls are located in and around one of my favourite cities in England: Bath, Somerset. The 80+ owl sculptures have been painted and decorated by local artists to raise money for various Bath charities. A couple of the owls have been painted by street artists ATM, Inkie, and Cheba. The trail is currently in full swing until the 10th of September. I did not get to see all of the sculptures as there are just too many to see in a day with poor weather, and some of them were shut up inside shops and businesses that had closed for the Bank Holiday. 

Minerva's Night Owl - Rebecca Collett

Minerva's Owls are a throwback to the Roman roots of Bath, which was named after the Roman baths there that date to 1AD. Minerva (also known as Athena) was a goddess of wisedom. Her "mascot" was the owl, so this is why Bath has owls.

Athene Noctua - ATM

This is the third sculpture trail in Bath. The first one was in 2008, and it was "King Bladud's Pigs of Bath", which held a few months after I moved out of the area. However, I did see a couple of the pigs on a visit that year, but I do not have any photographs. The next trail was lions in 2010, and I previously covered those here: Spot the Lions in Bath Using Mobile Barcode Technology. This is the first trail since the lions. I've included photographs of some of the owls I saw below.

Bird of Play - Complete Control

Some of the sculptures were interactive. The 'Bird of Play' above had a kaeledescope in its eye that you could adjust and that turned the surroundings into a colourful kaeledescope.

Night Owl - Natasha Rampley

Minerva - Emma Rose

Trigiformes - Sue Guthrie

Cornucopi-owl - Richard Twose

Swirly Whirly - Lisa Todd

Brian - Nyamachomastapeace

Kintsugi - Genesis Trust

Beaky - Oriana Viall & Sammie Palmer

Speculo - Bath Aqua Glass

The Wise Renewab-owl - Chloe Honore

Tyrell - EPOK

Inkie Hoots - Inkie

If you have missed the trail after September 10, you can still see the owls in one place in Bath at the end of September before they are all auctioned off for charity.

My favourite sculpture trails are those that can be done on foot with sculptures that are close together while allowing exploration of a city without feeling sore or requiring driving and struggling to find a place to park. The "Hookedwinked!" trail in Nottingham did not disappoint; thirty-two painted robin sculptures could be explored easily in a day around Nottingham on foot. All of these sculptures were central and close together, which was perfect for a day out. "Hoodwinked!" is a trail of sculptures of the robin bird and plays a take on the "Robin Hood" (get it?) story that the city is known for. This has been the fourth sculpture trail that I have walked so far this year. 

'Ay up me duck' by Nottingham Playhouse Paintshop Team

The robins all wear the cloak, robe, and arrows that the character Robin Hood was known for and is depicted with in illustrations. In addition to the robins, there are also a few book benches around the city, but I did not see those. Many of these were further afield. The robin sculptures have all individually been painted by local artists, and they go to auction in the autumn to raise money for Nottinghamshire Hospice. The idea of the "hoodwinked" theme in the name of the trail is that they have been camoflagued to hide from the Sheriff of Nottingham, one of the villans in the "Robin Hood" story.

'Roots of Boots Robin' by Julia Allum

'Rockin' Robin' by Naomi Law

'Royal Robin Redbreast' by Julie Vernon

'Stage Flight' by Claire Thompson and Anna Roberts; 'Rocket Robin' by Deven Bhurke; 'R2 Tweet2' by Mik Richardson; 'Robin Hood' by Jodie Silverman

'Carnival Celebrations' by Jess Kemp - JAK in the Green

'The Sheriff of Nottingham' by Jodie Silverman

'Captain Jack Robin' by Susan Webber; 'Max (Superhero on the Weekends)' by Kid30; 'Robo Robin' by Glen Brooks; 'Goose Fair, Goose Fowl' by Cathy Simpson

'The Green Heart of the City' by Curious? Nottingham

'Lacework' by Danni Thompson

'What's Notts?' by Paul Atchison

'Where's Robin?' by Kathleen Smith

The Hoodwinked! trail is around for a few more weeks yet; it finishes at the end of September. If you would rather not walk the trail, the robins will all be in one place in mid-October for a weekend, but tickets need to be booked in advance.

Nomad Clan are a group of street artists based in London that have been busy this year working on London's walls and who have also painted for Upfest this year. This year's Upfest in Bristol is all about the television cartoon series "The Simpsons" with many works inspired to paint or use the characters as references in the work. The creator of "The Simpsons", Matt Groening, contributed to this year's Upfest by picking three of the artists to paint at the event. One of these was Nomad Clan, and they responded by painting a picture showing the outspoken Lisa Simpson with the words #BeMoreLisa.

Nomad Clan specialise in large-scale pieces, and this one certainly does not disappoint. The yellow Lisa Simpson character remains in the background while a young girl speaks through a speaker-phone. Lisa's character in "The Simpsons" is the outspoken and forward-minded girl who is not afraid to stand up for what she belives in, whether that is women's rights, vegetarianism, education, exploitation, or any other number of causes.

For more information about Nomad Clan on this blog, please see the following posts:

Street Art on ConnectivityMatters Wall
Meeting of Styles 2018

Jody is a street artist and designer who has been painting since 1987 along with other famous local Birstol artists such as Inkie, Cheo, and Banksy. His work typically features female portraits, which are painted as highly emotional pieces to evict a mood or to make visitors stop to look and think about the material. This year, the artist painted a monotone woman with a black cloak wrapped around, holding it with her fingers that are painted with gold polish. She is wearing a golden mask of a wolf, and golden leaves float around.

The work is titled "Little Gold Riding Hood" and is certainly an eye-catching piece. It mimics the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" where the wolf disguised itself as the grandmother in the fairy tale. 

This large-scale mural is located just off of North Street in Bedminster, Bristol. In addition to the large-scale piece above, the artist created several smaller works around the area that I will cover in another post, so keep checking back.

I love Boe & Irony's street art as it's always so creative, usually on a large scale, and interacts with its surrounding and location. Boe and Irony are a London-based street art team that have painted several large scale murals on London's walls and who have attended a few of the Bristol Upfest events now. This post shows some of their work in previous Upfests as well as their 2018 mural. Upfest 2018 was inspired by the longest-running television show "The Simpsons", and the creator Matt Groening contributed to picking some of the artists to showcase for Upfest 2018. Perhaps this cat-and-mouse duo is a realistic "Itchy & Scratchy", the equivelant of "Tom and Jerry" in the world of "The Simpsons".

First up is this year's contribution to the streets of Bedminster, Bristol. A cat with an open mouth, mid-meow (or mid-growl) faces a little aggressive mouse. It is painted on the side of the pink brick house near South Street Park. On the other side of the house, two little mice cower.

In 2017, Boe & Irony painted a large seagull peeking out of the side of a row of buildings. It uses the buildings, which are close together, to create a sense of space of the seagull peeking out. Seagulls are no strangers to Bristol's streets, so this fellow sits right at home.

Last, but not least, is a wonderful piece by Irony that incorporates a tower of a building at the climbing centre. The girl is hanging over the edge and cutting the ropes for the billboard attached to the building. It is a brilliant work incorporating the building and its elements into the artwork. The artwork was painted for Upfest in 2015. (Also pictured is 2018 new addition of a female portrait by Rosk & Loste.)

For more information about Boe and Irony on this blog, please see the below:

Street Art by JimmyC, Boe & Irony, Trust Icon, and Others on Paradise Row
Street Art: Artista, DecoLife, Binty Bint, Ino, Irony, Pixie, SeaPuppy

To celebrate the Royal Academy of Arts' 250th anniversary, Regent Street have displayed a series of flags designed by notable artists Rose Wylie, Grayson Perry, Cornelia Parker and Joe Tilson. The art flags are on display from 4th of June along Regent Street and the surrounding streets in west London. I photographed a few of them displayed along Piccadilly Street in July as I thought they looked very nice and colourful.

The aim of displaying the art flags is to showcase London's artistic community and as a culture magnet. The flags can be seen on Regent Street, Piccadilly Street, and Oxford Street. They were on display until August 1st.

This year's Upfest in Bristol features the television cartoon series "The Simpsons", a show that has been running since the late 1980s. Creator of "The Simpsons" Matt Groening has selected some of the street artist's for this year's Upfest. In addition, other street artists have played a part in honouring the cartoon family in their murals for this year's Upfest. One of the artists who painted on North Street in Bedminster, Bristol, is Louis Masai. Masai's work always draws connections to environmental issues, and that is what his stunning artwork is reflecting this year. It is similar to some of the work he has created in London. 

The work depicts a coral sea with fish, turtles, and colourful plants. However, floating plastic bags can be seen amongst the colourful creatures. The artwork sends a message about pollution in water.

As a tribute to "The Simpsons", the three-eyed fish in the cartoon style created by Matt Groening also makes an appearance. 

Other posts on this blog that feature Louis Masai are included below:

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art 
Louis Masai and Birdo Collaboration @ Bethnal Green
Louis Masai and Fanakapan Collaborate on 'Freedom?' Street Art
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam, Day 2
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam
Masai's #LondonLovesCorals SynchronicityEarth Mural

Little Moons Japanese Ice Cream is currently available at Selfridges and Ocado, and I discovered them in Selfridge's Food Hall in late May. This Japanese ice cream is shaped in balls with an outer shell that keeps the ice cream chilled inside. The outer shell is made of soft rice dough, which is hard to explain the flavour of but the consistency is similar to marzipan. Inside this shell is the ice cream.

Little Moons comes in a variety of flavours from vanilla to salted caramel to raspeberry to lemon to coconut. The frozen cabinet contains approximately twelve different flavours to choose from, and there is a slight discount for purchasing more than five.

I tried the lemon and the coconut ice cream balls, which were good but this ice cream does have an unfamiliar taste which is attributed to the rice flour, which is unlike anything that I have tried before. It's similar to the texture of marzipan or gum paste/sugar paste for cakes, but it does not have much of a flavour. It's currently available from Ocado or in Selfridge's Foot Hall in a cabinet on the floor.

Norwich Castle started its life as earthworks and a wooden fort in the mid-1000s. The current castle was built for the Norman-French people in 1100, and Henry I visited the town of Norwich over Christmas in 1121. The French Borough was an area of the city, now where the current marketplace is with its colourful awnings, and it remains close to the way it was in that day. The castle was built for the king to control and defend the city, but the castle was later used by the city of Norwich to govern itself. The castle itself is located on a hill. Today, visitors can visit the castle keep and walk around the to look at the views of the city. The castle's primary purpose today is a museum that houses collections of art, ancient artefacts, Egyptian artefacts, natural history, local history and much more. The lower floors were the dungeons and prison, and these can normally be explored, but these are currently closed due to refurbishment.

Although I have visited Norwich twice before in the past five years, I never had time to see the castle, so it was high on my list for this visit. I managed to do a quick visit this year, but I could have spent much longer in the museum. As for the castle itself, there's not too much to see. Since the dungeons were closed, it was the huge room of the keep and the bit of the upper floor with the garderrobes and part of the kitchen that could be explored. I did not know at the time, but the battlements at the top can also be explored on special guided tours. I will have to do that another time. 

The castle keep had some information about life in the castle and some items found in and around the castle.

Meetings happened in the garderobes, and there was not the privacy that we have today. 

One of the other ends of the castle were the king's private quarters, including an escape route. The chapel is also at one of the other ends.

The below image is of the guild-day parades with "Snap" the dragon. This is the dragon that St. George is said to have defeated, and the dragon would have someone inside it who would move it and make it smoke and cause chaos during the procession. The dragon became popular with the city of Norwich.

The below image is part of a photograph of a large collection of cat trinkets, known as "Mrs. Langton's Cats". I am not sure of the story of the cats, but it appealed to me because I also have a large collection of trinket cats of different ages (though probably mainly from the 1960s-1980s). There were also collections of African dolls and arrowheads/stone prehistoric tools from North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. It's amazing that they all look the same.

For those who love tea, the following photograph is of the largest teapot in the world. It is thought to have been created for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, and it holds 60.75 litres. It does not look too big in this photograph, but it is. I don't know how someone could lift it full of water. I think it would be too heavy to pour.

One room held pehistoric information, such as hoards of coins like the one below and also mentioned daily life and dress with items discovered.

Below is "Spong Man", though the clay figure could have also been a woman. It is a figurine whose purpose was unknown but it was located in a rabbit hole near a cremation site. The figure was actually a pot lid.

The other cabinets contained some war items from soldiers of Norfolk, and the Egyptian rooms are here as well. The room contains items from collections by Colman (of the mustard fame), the royal family and other wealthy people. They would often bring back Egyptian artefacts. In the past, it was also customary to have parties and unwrap mummies at those parties. The exhibition contains a mummy and some animal mummies of crocodiles, birds, and cats. The Egyptians loved their cats; they were worshipped and kept as pets.

One large area of the museum is dedicated to Boudicca, who was of the Iceni tribe in Norfolk. She is popular for defeating the Romans. I'd love to go back to this area and take my time to read the boards in more detail. The information was about how the people lived in their roundhouses and how they gave offerings of gifts in water (water was spiritual) and in deep shafts (how hoards of treasures are found) to gods/earth or to their ancestors. Somehow, it is known that instead of farming during the year of Boudicca's revolt, the people planned for war with the Romans.

The Snettisham Treasure was a large hoard discovered, and most of the items buried were torcs such as the ones pictured above. They were worn around the neck and are often found in hoards. Apparently most of them and a lot of the other items in hoards have been broken. Perhaps this was a sacrifice to thank the gods of the earth for allowing use of the materials for the time they are in use.

Another part of the museum is the Paston Treasuries, named after a local wealthy family. I did not have time to see these art galleries.

That concludes my tour of Norwich Castle. The castle is open all year with longer hours in the peak months. I suggest to spend at least half a day at the castle in order to make the most of the exhibits.

Today's street art post relates to a political and social cause. Majid Adin is an animator and artist who was a refugee from Iran. He got into trouble with the Iranian government for comments on his blog. After escaping the country in a boat, he stayed over the winter in a refugee camp and faced tough times. To highlight the other struggles of refugees, he worked with Elton John. Recently, he painted street art on a large wall on Hanbury Street off Brick Lane, and the wall says "#ChooseLove".

Blinkink is a charity he created work for who help children in the "Calais Jungle" refugee camp, where the artist spent some time.

It's been five years now since the first Gromit Unleashed first took to Bristol's streets a couple of years on from the success of Wow! Gorillas in Bristol, which became very popular in the city. Since then, there has been a new sculpture trail in Bristol every couple of years. Since the gorillas, the sculpture trails have been hosted through Aardman Studios based on their characters from "Wallace & Gromit" and "Sean the Sheep". If you have not seen "Wallce & Gromit" original short films, I suggest you do so as they are good. This year's sculpture trail consists of nearly 70 sculptures and runs for a couple of months only and finished on 2 September. Most of the sculptures are located in and on the outskirts of Bristol, but some of them are further afield. At the end of the trail, the sculptures are auctioned, and the money goes to charity.

Gnome Sweet Gnome by Katie Wallis

Gromit Unleashed started in 2013 and became extremely popular in Bristol. I covered the sculptures in Part 1 and Part 2 here on my blog. That year, employees of Aardman, the studio that created "Wallace & Gromit", "Chicken Run", "Sean the Sheep", and other films, were also running workshops at the science museum; I learned how to create my own Gromit figure using the same clay used to create the claymation figures. In 2015, Sean the Sheep became the star of his own sculpture trail, which I saw in Bristol ('Shaun in the City' Charity Sculpture Trail in Bristol) and in London ('Shaun the Sheep' Art Charity Sculptures in the City (London)). In 2016, a new sculpture trail for Gromit Unleashed launched in Hong Kong, and some of the figures returned to Bristol for a show, including a super-sized Gromit: Hong Kong "Gromit Unleashed" Gromits Visit Bristol.

Amazing Grace by Tim Stutcliffe

Now, canine Gromit returns to the streets with his owner, slightly dim-witted Wallace and the sneaky villan penguin Feathers McGraw. The sculptures have been painted and styled in unique ways. The charity for this year's sculpture trail is Bristol Children's Hospital.

Gromjet by Rolls-Royce

This year's sculptures were perhaps even more creative from an engineering view and were interactive. One responded to motion detection. Another two were hooked up together through a camera where you could wave at people in real-time. Another simulated being launched and flying like a jet. Another enabled people to press buttons to wag its tail, change the colour of the LED lights, and change the pattern of the LED lights. Another one seemed to make energy from people cranking a wheel on it. 

Cupid by Blossom & Brush

Photographs of some of the sculptures are included in this post.

Spock by Star Trek

Marshall by PAW Patrol

Bristol in Bloom by Ella Masters

Ferne by Natalie Guy

Rocket Man by Elaine Carr

Long John Wallace by Elaine Carr

Honeydew by The Yogscast

Gromitronic by Renishaw

Space Oddi-tea by Carys Ink

Oh Bollards! by Merlin Crossingham

The Wallace Collection by Rachel Bennett

Thermogromit by Kacpar Sokol and Timmy Willmott

The Howl by Tim Stutcliffe

Funny note on the above photograph, but the lady saw me trying to take a photograph, moved to get closer to the sculpture, and I and others waited a little bit for her to move, but she just stood there so I guess she wanted her photograph taken with the Gromit. I don't know who she was. I guess Gromit painted her too.

Feathers McCaw by Amy Timms

The Wensleydale Kid by Paula Bowles

Wallace in Wonderland by Beth Waters

Plooming Marvellous by Amy Timms

Cubby by Peskimo

Draco by The Knitted Pea

This Gromit does not look too happy that nearly everyone in the country seems to be walking around with their heads and hands glued to technology. (Actually, they were coming to see Gromit as well and using technology to track him).

Swallows and Amazons by Studio Canal

The Emperor by Natalie Guy

Splash! by Cheba

Sprinkles by Tom Hovey

If you are planning to visit the sculptures, you must do so before 2 September. Otherwise, there is another chance to see them all in one place by ticket purchase before they are auctioned. The trail can be downloaded via an app, or you can also get a paper map. Gone are the days of struggling to find the sculptures as the app is pretty accurate. For more information, visit the official website at https://www.grandappeal.org.uk

I have previously covered my visit to Caister Castle to see the ruins of the castle, which was one of the first brick buildings in Great Britain. Caister Castle is also home to Caister Car Collection, a very large collection of automobiles and motorcycles, and the museum also has collections of antiques, doll prams, childrens' cars, bicycles, and more. It's a fantastic museum full of classic cars, and I photographed several of them to give you a little bit of an idea what the museum is like.

Caister Car Collection is open during the summer months only and contains a large selection of cars, some of the rare and many of them older and some of them with a story. Some of the cars have been donated to the museum because the owners can no longer give them the care and love that they need, so everyone who visits the museum can enjoy them. Photographs of some of the cars from my visit are included below.

Caister Car Collection is located near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England. The museum is only open during the summer months (normally from mid-May until the end of September).The museum is closed on Saturdays but open on other days from 10:00 to 4:30, and an adult ticket is £15.00 each at the time of writing.

Caister Castle is the country's first brick-built castle, and it is Grade I listed. It was built in the 1400s and is located in Norfolk near Great Yarmouth. The castle is mainly in ruins with most of the outer walls partially intact as well as one of the towers surviving. The surviving tower can be climbed to enjoy views from the top. A classic car (with motorbikes and a few other vehicles) is located at the castle as well, and entrance includes the castle and classic car museum, which I will cover in a different post.

The castle is surrounded by a moat. Do not let the photograph below fool you; that is algea on the still moat water, and it looks as though you could walk across it. I wonder if anyone was caught out by this and tried to walk on it.

The castle is a fortified manor. The castle was the inspiration for William Shakespeare as he used it in a play. In the 1600s, the castle became abandoned when a new house was constructed nearby.

Another interesting point about the castle is the bee area. These little brick compartments were where bees were kept and created the honey supply for the castle.

The gardens at the castle were really beautiful.

One of the buildings near the castle houses a mechanical cinema organ, which was built around 1930. 

Another building is the barge house, and this is where the tearoom is located.

Keep checking back for my post about the classic car museum at Caister, which I visited after touring the castle.

Street artist Dale Grimshaw, based in London, is well known for his photorealistic portraits. His primary portrait subject features young men and women of West Papua in an aid to support the area gaining freedom and to alert others to the cause. The Village Underground wall was recently painted by the artist with another one of his subjects from West Papua. This is not the first time that he has painted the Village Underground wall, and the last time was toward the end of 2016 and can be seen in the post here: Dale Grimshaw Paints the Village Underground Wall.

Previous work by Dale Grimshaw featured on this blog can be seen below:

Dale Grimshaw Paints Hanbury Street Ahead of "Pride and Prejudice" Exhibit
Dale Grimshaw Paints the Village Underground Wall
Dale Grimshaw Mural in Support of Papua New Guinea
Street Art: Dale Grimshaw, Icon, Code FC, Low Bros, El Mac and others

When my friends from the states were over last month, I took the opportunity to take them to Regent's Park in the hot sunshine to see the latest edition of Frieze Sculpture 2018. Every summer, Frieze Sculpture takes place, and the corner of Regent's Park closest to Great Portland Street becomes host to a collection of fascinating sculptures on display for visitors to enjoy. I saw these last year and was really impressed: Frieze Art Fair 2017. This is a free event in London's art calendar, and the sculptures are on display until 7 October. Photographs of the sculptures and a little bit of information about them is below. With the bright sun combined with best-side-view and avoiding capturing people sitting on the grass near some of the sculptures, capturing some of these was nearly impossible so I have done my best.

Holiday Home (Regent's Park), 2018, by Richard Woods

The bright yellow miniature house is certainly eye-catching, and it greets visitors on arrival through the main gates on the corner of the park. Woods has created many of these identical little houses, made with bright and bold colours, and it certainly seems to be one of the most-photographed sculptures this year. 

The Intermediary Family (2018), by Bharti Kher

The sculpture looks like a group of Indian gods and goddesses, animals, and humans opening up like Russian dolls. The artist refers to them as half-breeds and shamans to trick the viewer.

PAN AFRICAN FLAGS FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS' ALLIANCE (2018), by Larry Achiampong

The flags are inspired by the artist's "Relic Traveler" project and captures African symbols and colours for a future African nation in these flags.

Shadow Stack, 2018, by Sean Scully

The use of steel gives this sculpture texture, and the artist explores horizon on the large steel block.

Dancing Clog Girls I-III (foreground), 2015, by Laura Ford

These dancing girls look in place in the 1700s in France, but a closer look reveals that their dancing may be struggling as their clogs and staffs appear to take on a life of their own.

Octavio, Mezzetino, Corine, Chinoisie (2018) by Rachel Feinstein

These white marble-like statues are inspired by Dell'Arte figures of Franz Anton Bustelli. They encourage the visitor to place themselves on top of the white pedestals, though there are ropes and warnings around to keep visitors off.

TREADPAD B - PAIR 2 WALKING SHIP 40 TON STANDARD DISPLACEMENT 4 LEG (DIA 1000), 2018; and TREADPAD B - PAIR 1 WALKING SHIP 150 TON STANDARD DISPLACEMENT 4 LEG (DIA 1800), 2018, both by James Capper

These sculptures combine art with engineering and mechanics, and these large orange and cream items appear to be some sort of machine or part of a machine.

Si par une nuit d'hiver un voyageur (2017) by Elmgreen & Dragset

This sculpture of a vulture/buzzard is named after the 1979 novel by Calvino. It describes a fictional reality to describe who is being watched or preyed on.

Senzenina (2018) by Haroon Gunn-Salie

These two lowered headless figures are modelled on a police massacre when police opened fires on miners in South Africa.

Pact (2017-18) by Hugo Wilson

The Italian Baroque style and 1980s cartoon "Thundercats" apparently inspired this bronze sculpture, which appears to be made of a single piece of wood.

Optic Labyrinth (Arrangement I), 2018, by Conrad Shawcross

This labyrinth is made of steel and made to be explored by the viewer, checking out the different angles and locating the different corners of the structure.

Parallax, 2018, by Tyburn Gallery

The theme of this is broken urban infrastructure in the form of twisted street lamps. This is meant to provide a political message to South Africa as it suffers in urban decay.

Large Nijinski on Anvil Point, 2001, by Barry Flanagan

The heavy anvil is balanced by the dancing hare on top, provoking thoughts about gravity, balance, and weight.

Rebar 12, 2017, by Monika Sosnowska

These tangled and hanging steel ropes are easy to miss, and underneath this great oak tree was a class of students learning English who did not realise the sculpture overhead.

Moment Without You, 2017, by Tracey Emin

I struggled to photograph this one with the large group of students and the bright sunlight, but each of the metal rods contains a songbird on top. The birds represent freedom.

Stress (2004) by Yoan Capote

Apparently this sculpture is set using casts of real teeth, including the artist's own wisedom teeth to create a concrete stacked block.

'Outdoor Miner', 2018, by Simon Periton

This intricate sculpture of a leaf contains the brightly-coloured interior of the veins of the leaf.

London Rococo (2012) by Dan Graham

The mirrored glass encourages the viewer to become a part of the artwork and step inside the cube. 

A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir, 2014, by Kimsooja

This is a giant needle and it appears as though it has come from a great distance and has a space-like quality about it.

il Volatile (2018) by Kathleen Ryan

This was another difficult to photograph sculpture due to the number of people lying around it. The artist creates items by combining unlikely combinations, and this sculpture is a result of this merging.

Everything is Lost, 2018, by Tim Etchells

The loose letters dangle about, giving the message its meaning.

No. 814, 2018, by Rana Begum

Light in colour creates a wonderful effect of this sculpture, and it also projected other visitors back into the glass, causing reflections.

Untitled (122 x 244 View), 2018, by Virgina Overton

The steel framework is a work of art with its patterns and colours of cut pipes of different sizes. The artwork can also be interacted with to enjoy the park from different views in peeking through the pipes.

Penguin, 2018, by John Baldessari

According to the board information about the piece, the artist becomes the penguin. It is meant to be a funny sculpture.

Seer (Alice I), 2005, by Kiki Smith

The book "Alice in Wonderland", religion, and fantasy, inspired this sculpture of a young girl who looks like a model from the 1700s. 

Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park is always a fun afternoon out, and this year did not disappoint although I felt that the range of sculptures last year were slightly more appealing. Last year included many larger scale sculptures while many of the sculptures this year were smaller in size and possibly a bit lacking in impression or inspiration to me personally. It's still worth an afternoon out, of course. 

Today's post covers street art that I discovered in Milan, Italy outside of the street art that I saw painted for this year's LoopColors Looperfest event. You can read more about the Looperfest "Power of Women" here. Some of Milan's street art is located further afield, and I went a little outside the main city to get most of the artwork pictured in this post. 

The piece above and the piece below are by Pao, and the penuins made from the bollars are called 'Panettoni'. The penguins are found in quite a few places in Milan, and I discovered one in Como as well.

Next is a piece I recognised from Italian-based duo Urban Solid, who have come to London a few times (covered here). Their most recent series is of figures painted and placed on walls, and they created two sets of these for London. The first set lasted for a long while and was a popular selfie piece. The second installation (installed in the same place) did not last long, and it's pretty much in the same shape as the one I discovered above on the Navigli Grande canal.

I'm not sure who created the below stencils, but they were located at Navigli Grande.

Artist Zibe painted the above in the grey electrical boxes, and this was part of a series of work on these boxes called 'Project Energy Box' ('Fluid Thoughts'). The artist is from Mexico City but has lived in Milan since the 1980s, and his work is popular in Milan.

I'm not sure who painted the piece above and below, but they are both near Navigli Grande canal.

One of the biggest and best murals is a series of historical figures from Milan's past that street artist Mr. Blob painted. This is located in the centre of Milan at Saint Lorenz cathedral. It features Napoleon, composer Verdi, Leonardo da Vinci, writer Manzoni, and two figures with their fingertips waiting to touch as in the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Vatican.

The below street art on a shutter is signed 'Zio'.

I discovered this grafitti on the walk north west of the main train station on the way to see the works created by LoopColors.

There are meant to be a few stunning artwork pieces futher afield, but I was not feeling too well and did not make it.

A building just off Curtain Road near where William Shakespeare's Curtain Theatre used to stand appears to have been placed from Austria or Germany with its brightly-painted facade with flowers and text. The building commemorates the famous couple in love, Romeo and Juliet, whose romance was doomed due to familiy differences. It has become an iconic story of love and sacrifice. Shrouded in myth, this story was probably true or had truth to it and was probably passed by word-of-mouth in the region and then to other regions where Shakespeare learned of it and penned it. Two figures were found buried in embrace in the city Verona, where the story is set, and these may be the real-life characters or a cash-in on the story.

The fascade of the building contains text from the story along with brightly-coloured flowers and vines. Juliette looks down from the circular window on the top to see Romeo below.

I am not sure who the artist is for this beautiful artwork as it appears to be crossed out, but I thought that it was a beautiful piece and an addition to Shoreditch's street art scene along with adding a bit of context to the ancient history of the area.

The location of the former Curtain Theatre, where Shakespeare performed, has been undergoing renovations in the past couple of years.

One of London's well-known artists started with creating street art, and he often adds more in addition to running the Pure Evil Gallery in Shoreditch. Around the corner from the gallery, the artist created the largest street art work that I have seen him create. Unfortunately, it was recently painted over, but it was located under the rail bridge at Bateman's Row off Shoredich High Street. It featured his iconic portrait pop-art style with icon Marilyn Monroe as well as a giant red button about to be pushed by a giant finger.

For more information about Pure Evil on this blog, see the following links:

Street Art: Pure Evil
Shoreditch BOXPARK: Shopping and Art by 'Pure Evil'

A new wall in Shoreditch off of New Inn Yard has been fully covered in street art. This new building emerged to include the work of several street artists now that a lot of the walls and buildings that used to be street art hotspots have been removed. Earlier this year, street artists Hunto and MisterThomas collaborated together on this ConnectivtyMatters wall, which is a new building. This summer, the remainder of the building was painted with works by NomadClan, Zadok and Hicks, and Captain Kris with Tizer.

First up, Zadok and Hicks collaborated on a natural scene with mushrooms. Zadok often paints mushrooms or animals in a wooded scene, and this covers the corner of the building. (For more information about Zadok, see the last post Zadok New Street Art on Sclater Street (2018)). Hicks is another artist from London. 

Next up is work by Captain Kris and Tizer, two street artists who have been painting London's walls for awhile. Both artists have a grafitti style to their work, and Tizer's portraits are instantly recognisable (for more information about him, see Street Art: Rodrigo Branco, Roger Malloy, Prozak, Tizer, and others). Captain Kris often collaborates with other artists and you can read more about him here: Street Art: Squirl, Captain Kris, Spzero, Lost Souls, Parlee and St. Mitchell.

NomadClan are a collective of artists, and they recently were involved with a mural during Meeting of the Styles this spring (Meeting of Styles 2018).

More information about the artists that I have covered in this post can be seen here:

Zadok New Street Art on Sclater Street (2018)
Meeting of Styles 2018
Street Art: Squirl, Captain Kris, Spzero, Lost Souls, Parlee and St. Mitchell
Street Art: Rodrigo Branco, Roger Malloy, Prozak, Tizer, and others
Zadok New Street Art on Sclater Street (2018)