Transcient Art On The Walls Of Athens: Graffiti

Theme: Hanging upside-down

There comes a time when the world seems like a place where everything is hanging upside-down. And then things somehow fall into place and the world is familiar once again. The chaos recedes and a certain method to the madness appears. Like a bat out of hell you are hanging upside-down listening to the Balanescu Quartet covering David Byrne.

Listen to

The Balanescu Quartet (David Byrne) - Hanging Upside-down

A photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld

Title: Untitled, ca. 1940, by Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969).

A great artist and innovator in photography, Erwin Blumenfeld moved to the States and while working for the fashion industry in the 40s and 50s, he managed to push the borders of what was known and accepted until then as a fashion photograph. He experimented in the darkroom and came up with stunning results.

The above photograph, which is one of my favorites, is actually not only a fashion photograph but a philosophical statement at the same time. Combining the negative and the developed print in one photograph, he brings out the duality and even the mortality of his subject. He makes a statement about the passing of beauty or the dark side that we always keep buried deep within. It's perfectly fitting that Erwin Blumenfeld never gave it a title. No title could do justice to this work of art.

A stunning cover version by the South San Gabriel

South San Gabriel is the name of the group or Centro-matic. You choose. And they have been going for quite a while. Vehicles for the creative output of lead singer Will Johnson and his friends, they have been around since the middle of the 90's. In this latest record of the band called Eyas, they have included a cover version of a Lionel Richie song called "All night long". Come on, you surely know this song... You have danced to it in parties... But you better forget what you know and prepare to be swept away by a cover version that is different. In fact after listening to this song I started wondering if I should stop calling this song a cover and just call it simply an original. For this is creation from the start, sweet music to the ears and food for the soul. Please visit the site and support the band at www.centro-matic.com by buying their album. By the way Eyas is a young hawk taken from a nest in the wild or bred in captivity to be trained for falconry.

Listen to

South San Gabriel - All Night Long

I Met The Walrus

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. A spellbinding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit and timeless message, I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short and won the 2009 Emmy for 'New Approaches' (making it the first film to win an Emmy on behalf of the internet).

The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello

When it comes to animation films, there is one film that has really set the standard very high in terms of storyboard and atmosphere. "The mysterious explorations of Jasper Morello" was written by Marc Shirrefs and directed in silhouette animation in 2005 by Anthony Lucas. Take a break and immerse yourself in 26 minutes of pure gothic bliss.

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 1.Graffiti

Theme: Science Fiction

Some of the strange characters that can be found on the walls of Athens seem to have jumped out of science fiction novels. Take Eros and Dreik for example. They were found on the walls of a parking area in central Athens. Both a bit blue and overweight they stand checking the cars that go in and out. Their immobility all these years on the wall has had serious consequences on their physical appearance.




Further down the street you might come across the cloud people. Strange personalities constantly talking about cloud 9.





The green masks have now become old retired super heroes who wear their masks on the weekend to remember their moments of glory.





Strange creatures seem to be everywhere in Athens. They have become familiar faces that one greets everyday on his way to work.

The Chiaroscuro Life Of Caravaggio

Andrew Graham-Dixon's book is a well researched and fascinating biography of a painter that lived a life as dramatic and extreme as the paintings he left behind. Caravaggio was different. His perspective on religious symbolism embraced truth and not glorification of the divine. Violence, sex, dirt were part of everyday life in the beginning of the 17th century. Caravaggio did not aspire with his paintings to move the common people towards the divine. He rather brought the divine down to the people in a pictorial form that they could perfectly relate to. The faces of Caravaggio's saints and martyrs were not idolised portraits but real human beings. Old men and women, beggars, prostitutes and pimps who take up their roles and re-enact scenes of religious passion.


And then his choice of when to depict the exact moment of the unfolding drama and of course the use of light, shadow and darkness will influence so many painters such as Rembrandt for example. Caravaggio's paintings are snapshots from obscure rehearsals of plays that were never performed because they were always quite provoking and overtly sensual to conform to what was considered proper at the time.


Caravaggio's life was no less real and anti-conformist. Graham-Dixon looks in the archives, blows away the dust from manuscripts and old leather bound books, analyzes the paintings and manages to lift a little the fog surrounding the painter's constant obsessions which quickly turn to confrontations with disastrous results. Duels, murder, narrow escapes, Malta and the Knights of Saint John, the Vatican, ugly scars and a death which was fitting in drama to any of his paintings, make for a fascinating read.





In the end Caravaggio's life caught up with his painting or the other way round and they became entwined. He actively sought redemption the only way he knew which was through painting. The painting of "David with the Head of Goliath" from 1609-1610 where Caravaggio has put himself in the place of Goliath, was his way of saying I am carrying the guilt and I need absolution which in the end was never forthcoming.

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 3. Poster

Theme: The art of the accidental collage

As I was walking in the streets of Athens near the area of Exarcheia, a wonderful idea came to my mind just by looking the layers upon layers of half torn posters on the walls. I suddenly realised that I could photograph interesting accidental collages from the different overlapping and torn posters already posted on the walls.

But of course I soon found out, to my disappointment, that the idea was far from original having been first thought of by André Breton’s Surrealist group in the 1930s. I later on looked in the net and discovered a very interesting article written by Rick Poynor in the internet Eye Magazine from 2001 called "Surface Wreckage". Here is an extract from this article:

" ... The idea that mangled street posters might be physically appropriated for artistic purposes is attributed to Léo Malet, a French poet, who was briefly a member of André Breton’s Surrealist group. In the mid-1930s, observing the processes by which pristine printed images were transformed, Malet proposed a new form of Surrealist street poetry shaped by chance. “Soon,” he wrote, “collage will be executed without scissors, without a razor, without paste . . . Abandoning the artist’s table and his pasteboard, it will take its place on the walls of the city, the unlimited field of poetic realisations.” Commercial artists would supply the raw materials and passing pedestrians, aided by wind and rain, would intervene to unlock new meanings never intended by the designers, as fragments of earlier images, hidden below the top poster, were once again exposed to view... "

Anyway, for what it's worth, here is my attempt at the art of the accidental collage...

The above mentioned article can be found here:

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=17&fid=122

Transient Art On the Walls Of Athens: 3. Poster

The variety of layers upon layers of posters posted in the area of Exarcheia is impressive. With themes that cover serious issues such as immigration, corrupt politicians, statements of political intent and revolution, resistance to police and state brutality in all its forms and the isolating effect of modern society, they often use a humorous way to captivate the passer-by and pass the message quickly and effectively. Here are a few interesting examples:

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 3. Poster

Theme: Electrocution

Using the poster technique, here is an artist who values electricity above all else... Using jump leads these characters share a fair dose of highlighter electrocution. The one looks like an angel already communicating his divine inspiration to a friend. Sharing is what friendship is all about after all... Maybe we should ask Gary Newman the question... "Are friends electric?"

Listen to:
"Are friends Electric?" by Gary Numan & Tubeway Army

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 1.Graffiti

Theme: Modernist painting

It's a tiny taverna in the backstreets of Exarcheia. It has just two tables. But one of the tables is reserved. A gentleman who always brings his own bottle of wine can be found sitting there. His red wine is strong and it goes quickly to the head. Halfway through the bottle and the gentleman has lost all sense of time. The first doubts creep into his mind and he wonders if everything around him is real. Well, the table looks real and the tablecloth and the chairs...



But then when he looks at his hands they seem a bit flat. In fact his whole body now looks two dimensional. And the colors are a bit blunt and the contour is strange, especially when he feels his head. He tries to talk... the lips open but no sound can be heard. He manages to grab the bottle just before everything freezes. And the table is still there, with the chairs and the tablecloth. Untouched. Waiting for the next customer...

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 3. Poster

Theme: Renaissance

This artist uses the technique of first drawing and painting on paper, then cutting and posting the result on the wall. The weary expression on this face and the strange use of color make for a wonderfull portrait reminiscent of a renaissance that is turning to decadence in a blink of an eye...

Transient Art On The Walls Of Athens: 1.Graffiti

Theme: The Line Motif 2



This seems to be the same artist featured in this blog in a previous entry. The winding, spiral tracing of the line is similar and the themes again have to do with the sea but this time they are in their majority black and white. The sea, pirates, boats, couples and women with flowing hair are the main themes of this artist.













The following graffiti was found on a rusty metal door of an abandoned old house in Athens in the area of Exarcheia. The rusty brown of the metal sheet contrasted perfectly with the black and white design and provided a wonderful canvas for a unique piece of art with references to Picasso and the comic book world all in one.



Photographed by Douglas in Athens, August 2010.