THE ARCADE!

In milano marritima there is little to do during the too hot days, so one day perusing the mini-marts for cheap red wine we came across the arcade... and became hooked. I felt transported to america in the 50's, a sort of old school arcade hang out, with the local 'cool youth'; jukebox playing the only decent music in town; everyone sipping cokes & checking out the opposite sex.

It will help you remember.

http://little-people.blogspot.com/

Here is a slightly different take by slinkachu on the term 'street art'. I have fallen in love with this man on account of his adorable 'little-people' figures placed amongst london streets to 'fend for themselves' as he so charmingly puts. DO EXPLORE! I promise you to be charmed.

(Londoners: he has a solo show on from 28th august until september 20th so check it out)

photos: http://little-people.blogspot.com/

FREE DPM.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/graffiti-artists.html

BACKGROUND.

There is something so raw and exciting about London. The city runs through me like electricity. I cannot wait to get back. Whilst browsing what is headlining London's art scene the main focus in the modern sector seems to lie with street art. The tate modern's street art exhibition with graffiti art on the exterior of the building, is sponsored by Nissan, and has attracted massive crowds. A few weeks after its opening, a group of artists who call themselves the DPM who have treated "Trains [..] like moving canvasses", sharing their street art across london, were charged as guilty and sentenced from 15months to 2 years independantly. The judge acknowledged that: "..It would be wrong of [him] not to acknowledge that some examples of your handiwork show considerable artistic talent, part of what is now known as the graffiti subculture and on the way to being recognised as a valid form of art..."

Time out - the internet source for many visitors to London on the cultural hot spots of the city, holds The Tate's street art exhibition and a 'street art walk tour' around the shoreditch/hoxton area, amongst its top 10 london art attractions. At the same time, Banksy's art books are displayed everywhere from high street bookstores, to fashion stores such as Urban Outfitters, and his works can go for remarkable sums at auction houses in central London.

I understand that illegal street art can cost the government princely sums in repair, however jail seems hardly to be the appropriate response to their activity, and rings of hypocrisy. The city which is popularising street art amongst its cultural attractions, sends down one of the cities key contributers. A number of those in the DPM have done youth work involving graffiti in places such as Czech Republic, and clearly have an ability to communicate with youth through this contemporary and immediate art form which young people are more open to relate to.

A guy I know in London told me about the DPM and their case before I headed off to Italy. It just struck me to check out how it had gone, I promised him I'd check out the petition and sign it, but honestly had no idea of the lack of imagination which the court would take in the sentencing of what seems to be a complicated offence, and one considerably less invasive than the shocking rise in deaths from knife crime amongst the youth of the city. Interested? Check out the petition below for more details...


: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/graffiti-artists.html

It's been a while, & I slip in and out of love with the blogging world, intent on not believing the affirmation "Je blog, donc, je suis..." but there is something so delicous about documenting ones life... I can't seem to stay away.

Some thousand million hundred more bright worlds...