Tag: Spain

1450. Jardins de Walter Benjamin (1)

Hot on the heels of my last post which featured a piece by Oreo, I found this one about half an hour later on another legal wall not far from Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies. At this spot, most of the work is by graffiti writers, occasionally punctuated by street art pieces like this one.

Oreo, Jardins de Walter Benjamin, Barcelona, March 2018
Oreo, Jardins de Walter Benjamin, Barcelona, March 2018

I love this. Mickey mouse with a badass bear head and a spray can at the ready and of course a halo to cap off the character. The piece keys in nicely with the writing to the right of it, and I wonder if they were sprayed at the same time. If not, then the two pieces have been cleverly integrated. More from this spot to come in due course.

1449. Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona (3)

Just about everything I know about this wonderful artist, Oreo, I have found out from the excellent No Grey Walls blog, written by Lewis Duncan, who was pivotal in directing me to some great legal walls in Barcelona for my trip there just before Easter.

Oreo, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Oreo, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The artist of this bear character is French artist Oreo (also painting under the names of Zack aka the scientist and Badassbearz). His works, which are instantly recognisble, appear all over Barcelona, and I managed to bag a few during my stay of which this was the first. In this piece Oreo presents us with the good and the bad bear and cleverly uses the box in the middle of the wall to separate out the two sides. Nice crisp work.

Thursday doors

Door 29

I usually like to present one door at a time in my Thursday doors posts to allow for a thorough examination of the door, without the distractions of others. However, sometimes it is appropriate to look at several at once – besides which, how else will I be able to clear out my archive of doors?

On a recent trip to Barcelona with my daughter, I noticed that in the old city many of the doors to apartments above shops were extraordinarily thin and tall. Some were so slender that you wonder how larger people might manage. Were they designed this way to maximise the space for the shop front? or was there some other reason for this architectural design? Answers on a postcard…

Here are a few of the many doors we saw:

Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018

 

Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018

This door was open, and what I saw inside was not at all what I expected. This is not a place for those afraid of confined spaces. Immediately behind the door, there was a stone spiral stairtcase, tighter than any I have ever seen before. By the look of it on the doorbell, there are eight apartments through this door. The mind boggles at the logistics of meeting people travelling in opposite directions, and looking at this through the lens of the British pre-occupation of health and safety – isn’t this something of a horrific fire escape risk? Interesting as it is, I fret every time I look at this picture.

Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018

by Scooj

More doors at: Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0

The wall

 

Ancient memory

holder of secrets untold

mosaic of time.

 

by Scooj

1405. Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona (2)

Once again I find myself in unfamiliar territory presenting a beautiful collaboration in Barcelona without knowing a single thing about it. Writing about street art away from home is a challenging enterprise and one that requires research time that I have difficulty freeing up. I seem to be much happier improvising my copy when writing about Bristol street art. What I am clumsily saying is that I am way out of my comfort zone with this one.

Bumble and Worm, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Bumble and Worm, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

Firstly I goofed taking pictures of this collaboration between ‘Bumble and Worm’ and Meisone – I don’t have an image with both of the fish side by side. My bad.

The fish on the left is by Bumble and Worm who are Sarah Charlotte Watson and and David Goode Hill, who I think are a couple and collaborate as B&W. They are from Mallorca, although they sound like expats to me.

Meisone, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Meisone, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The fish on the right is by Meisone, a Chilean artist living in Barcelona. Regular readers will know that I am particularly partial to fish street art, tapping into my marine biologist roots, and this collaboration ticks all my boxes.

1404. Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona (1)

This is the first of my posts from an Easter trip to Barcelona with my daughter. Although it was not a street art hunting break, I managed to come across some great spots thanks entirely to the great advice and help from Lewis Duncan, author of the excellent ‘No Grey Walls‘ WordPress site, to whom I am indebted.

I do not pretend to know anything about the artists in this collaboration and Lewis writes much more authoritatively about this piece in his own recent post about it, so I will direct you there for more detailed information. Instead I will leave you with some pretty pictures to look at. If I knew this spot better, I would know to come at a different time of day, as the sun was behind the wall making photography a little challenging.

Christian Blanxer, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Christian Blanxer, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The left hand side of the collaboration is by Christian Blanxer.

Saturno, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Saturno, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The middle section is by Saturno

Erase, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Erase, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The right hand section by Erase.

The collaboration really is a treat, and one of the best pieces I saw in Barcelona – I’m just so glad that I timed my visit to perfection.

Christian Blanxer, Saturno and Erase, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Christian Blanxer, Saturno and Erase, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

Thursday doors

Door 26.

Barcelona 'not door'
Barcelona ‘not door’

First: I can’t believe that I have been doing doors for 26 weeks, half a year, it feels like no time at all.

Second: I expect that the phrase ‘when is a door not a door?’ has been used many, many times in Thursday Doors, but it feels appropriate here.

Third: I have not been as attentive this week as I might usually be due to a great many domestic distractions.

This door, in the heart of the old city in Barcelona, has for whatever reason been filled in. I have included it in the Thursday Doors series though because this is a common practice, and I find a great many of these ‘not a door any more’ kind of doors.

I love the textures of the bricks and cement surround and the inclusion of an iron ring, replacing where a knocker might once have been. If you look carefully, even a ‘not door’ can’t escape the clutches of graffiti and at some point in the past bunny ears have been added with the iron ring doubling up as a bunny nose.

The ‘not door’ is sandwiched between a more typical graffitied door on the left and a sliding gate on the right, offering more doors for your money (and plenty of contrast).

by Scooj

More doors at: Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0

Thursday doors

Door 25

Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018

I returned from a short break to Barcelona with my daughter last night, and my memory card is heavily laden with doors. Barcelona must surely be one of the great capitals of interesting doors.

In the older part of the city, and indeed throughout much of the rest of the city doors appear to be fair targets for graffiti, and what a lot of it there is. This first set of three doors gives you a feel for what is commonplace in Barcelona…ordinary city doors, covered from top to bottom in graffiti.

Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018
Barcelona door, March 2018

I will post more doors from Barcelona over the coming weeks.

by Scooj

More doors at: Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0

Monk parakeet

Screeching green flashes

fly from palm top to palm top

busy nestbuilding.

 

by Scooj

 

  • A native of Argentina, this parakeet is quite at home in Barcelona which boasts the largest European population. Probably not entirely welcome, but suitably exotic.

Barcelona

.

Planning our first day

DD and I on our hols

La Rambla to start.

.

by Scooj

  • DD=darling daughter in ‘Netmums’ speak