a few days ago on his F***book page Southampton graffiti artist Jip Cr2em said:
IV DECIDED......MEET 'TAT' THE BEAR THATS BEEN CHUCKED AROUND TORN UP RIPPED AND CHEWED UP THEN SPAT BACK OUT IN THE DIRT
BEEN THROUGH SOME 'BEAR LIFE' SITUATIONS AND STILL BEARING UP AND STANDING STRONG
REMINDS ME ABIT OF MYSELF LOL GONNA DRAW A FEW DIFFERENT COLOURS ONES
ALL CALLED 'TAT' THO AND MAYBE GET SOME STICKERS MADE AND C HOW FAR I CAN HELP GET HIM LOL q:-b
Jip Cr2em, being a good sort, likes to share his work so popped a few out for #FreeArtFriday on a Tuesday.
Funnily enough this same bridge featured in this blog a few days ago. What are the odds that a short while after Jip Cr2em planted this here I'd be walking my dog there . . .
So here he is, Tat, BearLife, by Jip Cr2em. Libearated by TheCornPoppy
BearLife by Jip Cr2em
So how far can he go?
All images of the bear belong to Jip Cr2em
Artist from Southampton UK - Iv been recovering from alcohol and drug addiction since 21 NOV 2011 and spent some time being homeless - I knew i had some sort of talent with art at a young age but only really persued it since being CLEAN - instead of picking up a beer i pick up a can of paint or a pencil - My addiction know is ART and anything art related especially Graffiti Street art and Tattoos ...- I try not to be a vandal I like to put my name out as 'the system' and some society see me as another statistic or a number I AM NOT NONE OF THESE I AM ME - I made this page to show some things i have painted or drew and do sell/trade my artwork aswell as sometimes give away FREE ART AND COMPETITIONS and can consider commission pieces - Anyway thanks for taking time to read and view my page - FEEL FREE TO SHARE - much love 'Jip cr2em' q:-b
When asked to make a guest contribution or two to this very fine series my first reaction was to go with 1979 as it was the year that I lost my gig-going virginity at the age of 15 and it also was the year when I really cemented what has become a lifelong obsession with music thanks to having money, via a paper-round, to indulge my desires for vinyl. And with the post-punk, new-wave era in full swing, there's never really been a better time to be a fan of non-rockist guitar-driven pop music.
But instead I've turned to 1983.
Now if you look at the singles and album charts for the year this might come as a huge surprise as they were dominated by such dullster solo stars like Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Bonnie Tyler, Lionel Ritchie and Paul Young. The more critically-acclaimed hitsters include Michael Jackson, David Bowie and the Eurythmics, all of whom released great songs that have stood the test of time in a 21st Century Smooth Radio sort of way but quite frankly, anyone looking up 1983 hit music on Wiki will be, for the most part, hugely disappointed.
So why am I, a self-confessed music snob, so excited about what appears to have a particularly bad and bland year?. Here's my own Reasons To Be Cheerful (1-2-3)
1. 1983 was the the year when the most important band of my g-g-g-g-eneration came to prominence.
2. 1983 was the year that the most memorable musical TV programme established itself and changed the viewing habits of a g-g-g-g-generation
3. 1983 was the year that some of the bands previously involved in the most important record label of my g-g-g-g-generation came to the attention of a wider public.
We'll go to Reason to be Cheerful (3) first (obviously). Tune in next Monday for Reason 1. Or 2.
Part 3
Orange Juice - Rip It Up TOTP John Peel intro
In February 1983, Edwyn Collins finally achieved his lifetime's ambition when 'Rip It Up' stormed up the charts and got Orange Juice two appearances on TOTP.
Orange Juice - Rip It Up TOTP not Peel
Little did we know that it would another 12 years before he would make a follow-up appearance on the programme.
Edwyn Collins - A girl like you TOTP 1995
Later that same year, Roddy Frame followed him onto the programme when Oblivious became a deserved hit at the second time of asking.
Aztec Camera - Obvlivious
Roddy wouldn't have to wait quite as long as Edwyn before making back onto the show, and indeed its fair to say that many of us soon got sick of seeing him on telly in 1988 churning out yet another mimed performance of his mega-hit 'Somewhere In My Heart'.
Aztec Camera - Somewhere in My Heart
The great thing about the mainstream success of these former Postcard acts was that it sparked off a rush of A&R men to Glasgow and other parts of Scotland seeking out the natural successors. This meant the music papers of the new year of 1984 were full of articles about bands from round my way who were going to be 'the ones to watch' as major labels tripped over one another in the rush to find the next Edwyn or Roddy. The sad thing however, was that many promising bands were signed up only to find that the music the label bosses wanted to come out of the studio bore no resemblance to the demos and live versions that had brought them to attention in the first place. But that doesn't take away from the fact that for much of 1983, my home city and the city in which I was 'studying' and having a fantastic social life, was where the UK music scene was centred. It was a great feeling.....
Josef K - Sorry for laughing
(from 1981 - Josef K had split up by 1983, denying them a mention in JC's contribution above.)
Note: The image at the top of the page is the cover of the first Orange Juice album, not released on Postcard at all. Also not released in 1983, but 1982. The cassette version of this album was the soundtrack to most of my car journeys during that year (in a Citroen Ami with a CND bumper sticker).
Josef K (another alumni of the Glasgow School) may have been the inspiration for . . . and the Native Hipsters' Not That Song Again
outside looking for a scrap yard
walk two young men looking industrial
Black shirt and trousers over thin white bodies
Joy Division albums under their arms
occasionally one thinks of a joke
but you'll never see him smile
what do they do at night
that gives them receding hairlines?
could it be that they hate interviews
or the fact that they're never asked?
maybe they're too busy
reading their Kafka novels
suddenly a soft spoken version runs by
doesn't want to do an encore
and when he's home
he'll stand all alone
and try to sing like David Bowie
ooh look there goes a long mac again
ooh look there goes a long mac again
... and the Native Hipsters from Caged 433 on Original Copy
The view from the Itchen Bridge in Hampshire. The cranes on the left featured in the tv programme Don't Look Down. The graffiti on the bridge reading "you are loved" may be by Korupt.
A few miles away at Thornhill there's a housing estate. Despite being in the affluent South East of the UK it registers high on indicators of deprivation. There has been an attempt in recent years to improve things.
One of the ways that Those Who Know Best have decided will most help is a series of posts reminding the locals of the Seven Deadly Virtues. Imagine waking up every day and looking out of your window and seeing a post with the word "Temperance" on it. I'm sure it would influence your world view. Although I'm not sure it would influence it in the direction Those Who Know Best intended.
Temperance is essential, if the services of men and women are to be employed to the best and most useful effect according, to the physical capacity and ability of each. Nothing less will assure a total effort.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by incapacity
William Blake
Justice is truth in action.
Disraeli
Justice is a knee in the gut from the floor on the
chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a
battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning.
Garroting. That's what justice is.
Joseph Heller
Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.
Michelle Obama
Because I gotta have faith
George Michael
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man
Frederick Nietsche
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not money, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not money, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not money, it profiteth me nothing. Money suffereth long, and is kind; money envieth not; money vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. . . . And now
abideth faith, hope, money, these three; but the greatest of these is money.
He seems to be completely unreceptive. The tests I gave him showed no sense at all!
His eyes react to light; the dials detect it. He hears but cannot answer to your call!
All hope lies with him and none with me
I often wonder what he is feeling! Has he ever heard a word I've said?
'never mind, your part is to be what you'll be'
I'm you wicked Uncle Ernie
I'm the gypsy
I'm the acid queen
Tommy doesn't know what day it is
These pricey deals don't teach us. Your freedom doesn't reach us. Awareness doesn't shape us. Enlightenment escapes us. How can all this trivia take us to the goal you reached? We came here to be like you, find the world you preach.
I'm free - I'm free, And freedom tastes of reality! I'm free - I'm free, And I'm waiting for you to follow me
Tintern
Right behind you I see the millions. On you I see the glory. From you I get opinions. From you I get the story. Listening to you I get the music. Gazing at you I get the heat. Following you I climb the mountain. I get excitement at your feet!
Saints fan flying over Fratton Park
Art from Winston Churchill Avenue, Southsea, Portsmouth Quotes from Pete Townshend/The Who's Tommy. Some of the 1975 Tommy movie was filmed at Southsea, Portsmouth including the Pinball Wizard scene fimed at the King's Theatre, Albert Road. Albert Road shops were featured in this post
Some of the Southsea shop fronts in the last post had bright and cheery murals, fun but not great art. The sort of thing you see in hippy towns the world over. But there was some street art which went further. That crossed the line between decoration and art. That made you say WOW. Well, made me say wow anyway. This was the first one, on the side of a tattoo parlour. Have a closer look.
Last time I was in Southsea I saw a big piece on a wall down a side street, close to Albert Road. I didn't have a camera that day but I thought I remembered where it was. So off I went down the road by the King's Theatre. There were a couple of white vans there. One had a picture of Sooty, Sweep and Sue on it (they were playing at the King's). The other said on the front "I want your antiques" and on the back had this picture:
I carried on down the road and found the forecourt I was looking for.
I love this mural.
It had a signature. I couldn't read it but took a photo so I could figure it out later.
I really love this mural.
Anyways. Back to the car, off I go, driving home. Noticed some hoardings, hiding a bit of building work. With some graffiti on. There was nowhere to stop on the main road so I took the next left and left and right and left and one way street and cul-de-sac and, quite lost, parked the car. there were the hoardings.
Again some good, some bad, some ugly. But most striking: a pair of eyes.
The eyes definitely have it. And look, a tag, a signature. My Dog Sighs. I took pictures of the rest (you can see some of them here) including this one.
And hey! That's the guy from the van! But that's the signature from the red Eyes mural. All of this stuff is by My Dog Sighs (yes that's what it says). Now I've never heard of My Dog Sighs (my bad) but a little exploration of the interwebs sheds a whole lotta light on the artist. You should see the cans.
After working quietly but fervently on the streets for the last ten years, honing his craft with his Free Art Friday project, Portsmouth based urban artist My Dog Sighs has recently stumbled into the international contemporary Art and gallery scene with splash. Sell out solo exhibitions across the UK, US and Israel have brought his unique melancholic yet formidable talent to a new audience who might otherwise miss his subtle, ecologically minded street work. Born from a desire to interact with the urban landscape and its inhabitants without impacting negatively on them, My Dog Sighs’ work forms a narrative based on counterpointed poignancy that resonate with those that have the opportunity to find them. Moments of loss and then being found echo the materials used. Tin cans, once the receptacle of our sustenance, all too quickly rejected, thrown away, abandoned by a materialistic society keen to gorge on the new.
I'm going to write more about My Dog Sighs in the future. You'll want to know more about Free Art Friday and you really have to see the cans. Don't wait for me - hit your favourite search engine now.
Saturday was Record Store Day. The idea of Record Store Day is great; supporting independent record shops by promoting all of them as though they weren't independent, as though they are all part of a movement. The Indie bit is significant - a throwback to the punk/post punk idea of bands, venues and record shops operating outside the mainstream. Independently.
Unfortunately an awful of the hype seems to be about promoting records by mainstream artists, re-releases of ancient Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan records. What is the point? There's an argument that pressing plants are too tied up with pressing multiple copies of an Oasis vinyl disc that they have no facility to press genuine independent records. I found looking through the racks of vinyl to be quite depressing: it didn't take me back to the wonder of record shops decades ago.
However I did enjoy watching Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo, playing in the street outside Pie & Vinyl in Southsea. Especially their version of Dan Penn's Do Right Woman. After a while I wandered off through Southsea. I found another record shop, this one selling oldies, original albums from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s at a fraction of the price that the new pressings were retailing for. Not only that but Elvis was outside.
There were a lot of interesting looking shops around, some with pretty cool artwork. Some of it goes way beyond just being a decorated shop front. Some of it is art. Here's a few shop fronts.
