Nov 21 2024 - That duct-tape banana

 

Remember that banana?  Duct-taped to a wall.  It was in Miami at an art show a few years ago.  It isn't the same banana.  But it still is art. The first edition of the artwork debuted in 2019 at the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair, drawing a mix of opinions as to whether it was a joke or cheeky commentary on questionable standards among art collectors.  Another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.  But that didn't stop it from being a lasting piece of art. What makes it a permanent art piece is its "certificate." So this week a person purchased the certificate of authenticity that gives them the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it Comedian by artist Maurizio Cattelan.   What makes this news? The piece was sold for $5.2 and the auction fees are $1 million.   Don't you think the auction fees are as much of a story as the banana art?  Supposedly the seller's commission at major auction houses is 15% plus shipping, insurance and then a marketing and cataloguing fee.   Other articles say that buyers premiums have increased to 25%. Stories like this ask us what we are to make of the art world?  The art world certainly makes headlines, so maybe that's all there is to it - it keeps people with a lot of money busy spending it, and a lot of people have good jobs selling it.

Here's the graffiti alley in St. Catharines.

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Nov 7 2024 - Newshounds on Patrol

 

A newshound is "an aggressive journalist." That's Mirriam-Webster's definition, indicating it was first tracked in 1918.  Cambridge says it is a reporter who puts a lot of effort into discovering news stories.  No date from them. The Oxford English Dictionary says the earliest known use of the noun occurred in1699 in the writing of Edward Ward, satirist.  The Oxford Dictionary also indicates that there are two meanings, but they are locked to me unless I want to pay for a subscription.   It is the Free Dictionary that makes the association between news and hound: "a newspaper reporter who pursues a story with the same diligence used by a bloodhound." Our newshounds are out - I can see their noses to the ground and ears flapping. They are filling the pages of the newspaper with a single topic, of which we will not name.  It makes me think of Prince, with the name that could not be pronounced/spoken.   There are all kinds of newshounds - even those who report on google trends. Sfgate.com had this to report on the recent google search trends:   "who is running for president"  started trending late Monday night, just before the election.  So places like Mississippi and Alabama where the search was most popular would indicate something about people there. The newshounds can pass this on to the Opinion Writers. Here's more: "Searches for “did Joe Biden drop out” rose exponentially Monday night as well. On Tuesday, terms like “is trump a republican,” “can you vote without registering” and “can i vote online” began to trend. “How long does it take to vote” is also currently trending, specifically in Arizona’s Maricopa County. Another fun popular search is “what color is republican.”  The newshounds can pass these on to the Analysts who can find a chart to describe things, don't you think?

This is St. Catharines' graffiti alley.  At the end was a wall where ivy had been mostly removed, with graffiti replacing it.  The second image is an example of the two together.

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Feb 4 2022 - Would you rather be ... or ...

 

While looking for famous snow storm headlines yesterday I found this website at the bottom of the ads - the hairpin.com.  It looks like it is now dormant without postings for a few years.  So I don't know what made it come up at the bottom of the ads.  This  is what came up:  Would You Rather Be A Person Who Smells Peonies All The Time Or A Person Who Smells Gasoline All The Time?   That is a question that is quirky and interesting. The narrative that goes with this question is scattered, disorganized, and visually congested as there are no paragraphs.   The questions are fun and interesting of themselves.  With these cautions, the blog is HERE.  Would You Rather Be A Fireplace Or Hot Chocolate With Marshmallows? Would You Rather Be Thanksgiving Food Or A Thanksgiving Decoration? Would You Rather Be A Skeleton Or A Mummy? Would You Rather Be The Sun Rising Late Or The Sun Setting Early? Would You Rather Be The Last Days Of Summer Or The First Days Of Fall? Would You Rather Be A Firework Or The Beach? Would You Rather Be A June Bug Or June Carter Cash? Would You Rather Be Seasonal Allergies Or A Hangover? Would You Rather Be A Flower Or Warmth? Would You Rather Be A Sunny Cold Day Or A Cloudy Warm Day? Would You Rather Be A Valentine Or Snow? Would You Rather Be Santa Or Jesus? Would You Rather Be Buried Alive Or A Ghost? Which question would you rather answer? Today's picture is a bit of graffiti on a cement wall that brings a smile.

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Dec 7 2021 - How Fat is Santa?

 

What about Santa and how fat he is?  Google wants to look up "how far is Santa Monica" and "how far is Santa".  That's because this is something we don't think about - but lots of people have written about this. From the time "A Visit From St. Nicholas" was written in 1823, Santa has been described as chubby and plump, with a round little belly that shook when he laughed "like a bowl full of jelly."  Coca-Cola took this to extremes and made Santa just plain fat.  Supposedly this is "part of the charm".  And besides Coca-Cola, who else to blame? Trust Hollywood.  One article reported that it used to have a set of numbers – waist circumference, face shape, beard length – that Santas were supposed to adhere to.  Coca-Cola’s Santa, whom many in America try to emulate, is very round: round face, round nose, round stomach. Around the world, the legendary giver comes in all shapes and sizes. The Santa imitated in Europe is a thinner man with more squared-off features. Roy Pickler is a professional Santa who dropped 88 pounds.  He's covered in CNN health HERE. He was in the television contest "The Biggest Loser".  He is quoted as saying: “The world is going to have to change their acceptance of what Santa looks like,” Pickler said. “Santa is a role model, and kids don’t want to have a role model that’s fat.” There is an update for our North American Santa. He has lost 25 pounds over the last 20 years.  Compared to Roy Pickler, Santa has 50 pounds to go.  I wouldn't call Roy skinny from the pictures, either.   It is entertaining to search for fat Santa - the photo stock companies have lots of versions - "full length body size profile side view of handsome fat overweight cheerful Santa".   And maybe we can't be too choosy in 2021 - there is a shortage of Santas due to COVID.  In one article it says that of the 8,000 Santas in the company's database, 355 have died in 2021 with COVID being the cause for the vast majority.  Really!  That's what the article says HERE.  Here's the latest in the Up Against the Wall Series.   The background is the Bathurst Street Chess board in the park complete with graffiti.  The colours are wonderful and look regal - like an archeological dig where core samples of urban life are revealed.

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Nov 21 - 2021 - All Clear in A#

 

All Clear, or All-Clear.  This is a reminder of the Second World War when air raid warning systems alerted citizens to the dangers and then sounded the end of possible danger.  We baby boomers remember these, too, as they were used for nuclear attack practices.   The UK system was a discontinued in 1992.  There are still countries with All-Clear signals on their warning sirens.  Canada is one of them.  The others are Denmark, Singapore, Kuwait, some areas of the U.S., Afghanistan, and Israel.  The alert to danger was a rising and falling tone, and the All-Clear signal was a continuous tone.  I found a study of alert systems in the U.S. and this is the range of sound: "The signals available for use by siren technology normally fall between the 300 Hz to 1 000 Hz range (FEMA 1980), with the steady (or mid-range) frequencies surrounding 500 Hz or 600 Hz and dual frequencies at 460 Hz and 920 Hz. Some manufacturers discuss the benefits of signals with dual frequencies as better able to reach a wider listening audience." So where does that put the sound in musical terms? Middle C is 264 Hz. A above Middle C is tuned to 440 Hz.   So our range would be the octave from A# above Middle C to A# the next octave.   You can read the chart to find it. We are long past the distant nuclear threats.  Present and personal are the dangers of floods, earthquakes, fires, shooters, and more. There are many first world citizens who are "inconvenienced" by middle-of-the-night alerts for kidnapped/missing children or by a test alert on their phones.  They will no longer have the luxury to the minor irritations that give rise to complaints and groans.These are the emotions of the uninvolved.  That is on the cusp of being nostalgic. The west coast heat dome of 2021, the fires and then the floods are signals that alert systems could sound frequently and apply to us - each and every one of us.   It seems likely to me when I consider my sense of climate change this year vs last year I have experienced a shift in social consciousness.  Here it is: Move over COVID And share the sofa -  The crisis that has come to stay.   Hum along the A# song to the lyrics of Greta's "Blah Blah Blah" These two pictures are from 2010.  They are graffiti on outdoor chess boards at the park behind the subway station at Bathurst and Bloom.  I returned numerous times to take progressive pictures, but the progress was declining and these were the very best.

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Vote SPUD

What does the graffiti poster VOTE SPUD represent?  When I investigate a story like this, I find out how so much news is not in the paper and instead is on blogs.  The news article was in the Toronto Star from 2011 identified the "SPUD" graffiti artists as being arrested while tagging a Queen St. W. building.  There's a 2012 article from the Gleaner Community Press in which SPUD has a gallery exhibit countering Rob Ford's war on graffiti.  I found my answer at the end of the article: “Vote for me. SPUD for mayor.” In 2012 the Toronto election had a candidate and this was covered in a blog with the headline "Legalize potatoes, vote Spud 4 Mayor October 27 2014.  This is a quote from SPUD, now known as SPUD1. “I’m a product of my environment. I am what I was supposed to become.” Spud1 didn’t start painting to become famous. “I did it to mark my territory.” He began his street art career by painting an emblem or symbol. It was to mark what he was doing or where he was going. Even before the territorial tags, Spud1 began developing his skill in his youth by painting detailed figures. Now, years later you can purchase your own Spud1 toy. This September, while at 5 Pointz in New York, he launched his own toy line. Spud1 makes the toys himself from start to finish, including the making of the mould, pouring, stenciling, painting, and custom box design." Here is the instagram page with his work photographed by others and this is his own fascinating instagram page with all his projects and commissions, as well as graffiti, at spud1 OTM. Our other photos are along Peter and Adelaide - the building that stood in the middle of Peter Street for over a year is now repositioned with its monster condo above it.  It has a a wonderful interior with the old building integrated with the new. The restaurant has a large pastry section and the pastry chef is seen working in the Peter Street window.

More Barbie

Today is another Barbie Day. Wasn't the Barbie Doll so controversial!  Do a search today and the first item is "Barbie's new shapes:  Tall, petite and curvy".  That was news yesterday from from USA Today for all of America:   Barbie is out in three new body shapes to make her look more like the girls who play with her. That highlights the largest controversy over her size and shape when first released in 1959.  Barbie's 1/6 scale 11 1/2 inch size/proportions put her at 5 ft 9 inches weighing 110 pounds.  That was considered 35 pounds underweight at the time.  She would have had measurements of 36-18-33, and experts say that there was a lack of body fat required for a woman to menstruate. It wasn't that this was a mistake.  There were books that accompaigned her with instructions on How to Lose Weight advising 'Don't Eat'. Another controversy was with Barbie's chest.  The articles at the time describe it as having 'distinct breasts'. We all agree now that this was a metaphoric expression for over-endowment to the extreme. Barbie's existence as a doll and product was also a controversy.  The doll was modelled after a German Doll 'Bild Lilli' and Mattel 'acquired' the rights and stopped production of Lilli.  What followed was ,a law suit over the nature of Mattell's claims to being the  original designer and over the 'rights' and what was included.  The German maker settled out of court.  It seems to me Mattel likely got off easy on this one.  Despite, and in spite of, these issues, Barbie became a cultural icon.  There are so many occupations for Barbie - Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998) are a few highlights.  The 50th Anniversary in 2009 included a runway show in New York.

A Barbie Pink

This is Queen Street West, in the block behind the Queen Mother Cafe.  What an interesting choice of colours for graffiti and wall murals.  The coral-pink tones are very inviting.  That is because the colour pink is the colour of universal love of oneself and of others.  It represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace and approachability.  It is the official colour for little girls, and it is the sweet side of the colour red. The Barbie Doll displays this use of little girl pink in North American society.  The doll came about when the Mattel co-founder's wife, Ruth Handler,  saw her daughter Barbara giving her dolls adult roles.  Ruth's initial suggestion of an adult doll was rejected by her husband and the Mattel board.  However, she persisted and found an equivalent doll in Germany, which was used as the model for the American Barbie.  Barbie was subsequently introduced in 1959 wearing a zebra-striped swimsuit then. It doesn't mention how the pink came about. Over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries since then.  Mattel claims that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.

Original Art

The original art in the Brickworks was graffiti.  Before the 'ever greening' of the area, graffiti artists and photographers were frequent visitors.  There was much discussion on whether the graffiti should remain. The resolution seems sublime.  This image is a combination of graffiti and an art installation - portraits of workers from the factory in graffiti style. When you look at the intensity of the graffiti images below the portrait, it is easy to see what makes them compelling in the space. For a self-guided graffiti tour, go to: http://www.evergreen.ca/downloads/pdfs/EBW-Graffiti-Tour.pdf

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Queen Street West

I stepped into Hudson's Bay at Yonge and Queen last week and the floor was a mess.  They had been sanding it and these were the marks the sanding left behind.  (I chose the blue colour).  They are in progress on updating the flooring.  Walking through Hudson's Bay (formerly Simpson's) was like walking through someone's home renovation.  The spaces need to function but it sure isn't normal to be in the plastic-lined hallways and then pop into brand new spaces. The old Eaton's store has taken the opposite approach to renovation: it is completely closed.  The store will become a Nordstrom's next year. The next picture is a shot of Queen Street West's back alleys.  I cam so astonished that the front facades along Queen Street West can be pristine, and the back can look like the 9 circles of Hell all collapsed into one experience.

Toronto Has This Much To Say

Yesterday's Open Gardens Niagara (http://opengardensniagara.blogspot.ca) summer market images are a world away from today's Toronto Queen Street alley pictures.  At times it is overwhelming to walk down graffiti alley.  Everything is covered everywhere.  For me the visual messages are raw rants, defeatists scrawls and desperate assertions of identity.  And then a wall mural will pop out like the fence in front of the car.

I enjoyed the leaning building image.  Looking into the space between the buildings, you can see the convergence at the end.  No getting through to Queen Street between these buildings.  Even so, peoplel squeezed in there to get a world in on the walls. 

The front of the bicycle store has its own visual language.  The arrangement of the bicycles seemed to me to be a blast on Queen Street West.  Maybe it takes a lot to get noticed in a big city with big things going on.  

You can find out more about graffiti alleys in Toronto at this site: 
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/torontos-street-art/
https://www.facebook.com/StreetARToronto

Under the Overpass

I have never seen such a massive overpass structure at ground level.  I just drive on them above the landscape not even thinking of what's below.

This is at the Royal Botanical Gardens hiking trail beside the Hendrie Gardens.  I was overwhelmed with the tall concrete columns receding into darkness and the chain link fence.  The graffiti display seems to ground the massive structure and brands it as a human structure.  I looked at this like it was some modern temple. It seems to have the visual impact that the Pyramids would have, or so I thought.  

It gave me an impending sense of the ending of things - the Gates of Hell in the distance.  I wondered what the purpose of Gates to Hell would be - to keep mortals out or to keep  immortal residents in.  

I went back to the serene beauty of the marsh, with Kingfisher, Hawk, Chick-a-dees, Muscrats, Ducks, and the subdued palette of the December forest.

Larger Than Life

I found this in the Queen Street West Graffiti Alley in Toronto.  It's well known as the setting for Rick Mercer's 'Rants'.

It all seems so perfect.  It might be that now, a few weeks later, the chair too is a story of images and letters.

Urban Hearts

I found these hearts in St. Catharines earlier this month - on a graffiti wall and guard rail.  Hearts seem to pop up a lot in the urban environment, always an enjoyment when they do!