DR

One of the odd phenomena I noticed when hanging pieces years ago was that sometimes a painting would be slightly muddy or scattered when viewed up close but at a distance, or when photographed, it was stunning.
As strange as it sounds, I worked out that it had something to do with the artists eyesight. When they painted up close, it looked to them like it looks to us from a distance - no different from taking off your glasses to view it from a distance and seeing something completely different.
When I suspected this, I experimented and did a huge painting without my glasses on and it confirmed my suspicions because, with my glasses on, standing way back from it, it then looked like what it looked like when I was painting it.

My reason for sharing that little insight is that that's the feeling I get with a lot of DR's pieces. I think of his style as naive but I've stopped being surprised that his pieces often look way more spectacular when I've taken an image, edited and published them.
The piece above is a classic example. Technically it's shit. As happens on many of his pieces, he used way thin paint on a dense background that was never going to be covered, but then he ends up with a surreal translucent effect.

I know DR's pieces aren't that polished but they're prolific, so through default, like his work or not, like him or not, this guy has a presence.
In his own words "I am wot I am and I do wot I do"...
I've done a first where I've featured DR today on The Street too, so you can see better examples of what I'm on about.

PS: I heard he had a 40ohzee and an armload of cans the other night so it doesn't take a psychic to guess the upshot of that combo ;-)

Up This Week Down Lefties

Could this be Goman's first frowie? (as an LB writer once wrote ;-)

I don't know if it was the weather, the watchers, me being in their face or just shit happening but man there were some grumpy writers down the alley this week ;-)
Here's hoping for a few gamma's next week...

SHIV

The only thing to wear out in Wellies this weekend would have been your hardiest 41 below Brass Monkey suit. It was freaking freezing!!
Yesterday Jenny, from Miss Demeanour on Cuba Street, said she was looking out her shop window at the rain but thought Hold on - rain doesn't float down in flakes!
Who ever heard of snow on Cuba St?!
Later on someone else told me they'd seen it too. What's that all about?

So - with not much happening up the alley this past week and because I've got a few images, SHIV's up today. SHIV's throwies are never huge but they're always recognisable and his tags have a wee bit of flourish. I'm interested to see his progression...




In the book InForm, PEST5 has this to say about picking his name...

I heard about the approach of picking letters that you like. Originally I had to do a 4 and an H - forget about it! Those are the most horrible letters. So I decided I wanted a name with an e and s and a t. I thought that Pest sounded like a bad-ass graffiti name - as you think when you're a toy. I added a number onto it because it was the buzz in Christchurch at the time to have an old-school sounding name. Also there're heaps of other guys overseas who write Pest and I thought it had a good ring to it with the 5 on the end.
SHIV's got some pretty funky letters to work with which could look sick as a piece... ;-)

Ceap/Erase

This is the third Ceaper I was telling you about (making a hefty 4 in total up the alley). I was more used to seeing Ceap's characters so was quietly stoked to see these go up.

Who is Erase? Help me out here...

Shiv/Sin/DR/Sker

Bold move by Shiv capping TrustMe. Granted TM had already been tagged. For such a young dude whose throwies never last long before they're either vehemently capped by one of the crews or equally as vehemently buffed by the council, he's got bollocks and just keeps throwing up.

I came across him and Nuno just after he did his first ever throwie. He was gutted because someone had YFY'd him. Not one to cry over it, he did what all violated throwie virgins are probably tempted to do - he went back over it...

So Sins balloon is still a balloon and he's still alive and happy, DRYPs stick has been lifted and a Gin nose Hitler has been pasted up by none other than...Sin. Sin's pasteys are so unpredictable.
I had collected a few images of animal toy pasteys that looked like they had human faces (inset) then found out Sin had done them. Turns out they were actual stuffed toys that he photocopied. The effect was surreal and mildly disturbing.

I personally think pasteys are Sins strongest media and I said to him the other day that I was surprised he didn't sign them. He admitted he's got a new signature we're going to be seeing soon...

DR capped Nerd above and I'm not sure if the Sker Likes Balls tag is over top or underneath?
Skers haters at least have a modicum of humour...hopefully he's not taking them too seriously - although I guess his haters wouldn't be saying that ;-)

I would bet a can of ironlak that this is Silenc but there's no way that man could slip in and out of town without us knowing about it!

Update: I just got a text from Silenc and he hasn't been here since last time but he could be cruisin down here soon. So whose is the throwie then?!
Update Oct: So - turns out it's SOAKER - Laks duly distributed ;-)