.
Avoid paying tax
avoid difficult questions
avoid decency
.
by Scooj
Tag: Trump
Stormtroopers
.
‘You are warriors’
the language of a despot
rallying his troops
.
by Scooj
* Over the last two weeks, my wife, daughter and I have watched all 11 of the Star Wars movies at my daughter’s request. It has been a real pleasure and a great way to spend our evenings.
The basic plot is good versus evil. What stands out are the parallels with our current times. The Empire presided over by ruthless self-interest in the shape of Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Putin, Assad, Kim and others, against the rebellion in the shape of Black Lives Matter, Greta Thunberg, science, medicine, law, faith and humanity. I wonder how the despots would cast themselves in the Star Wars analogy.
1790. Upfest 2018 (66)
Often humorous and always tinged with a bit of edge, John D’oh’s stencils can be found on walls all around Bristol (and Cheltenham) and of course at Upfest. This year’s ‘official’ piece was a double-header, the first part of which was a witty corruption of the Infinite Monkey Theory.
The second board is another pithy pop at Brexit, featuring Noel Edmond’s Deal or no Deal as its headline. I absolutely love these topical political stencils, and look forward to his injects about the place.
Coincidentally, his new book arrived yesterday and I can’t recommend highly it enough, it is one of the best graffiti/street art books that I have read in a while, intelligently written and full of photographs and commentary on his own work. Brilliant.
1119. The Bearpit (105)
This is the second of two wonderful pieces by Christian Hooker in The Bearpit which add a breath of fresh air to the place. It is a poster-sized paste up, with the same basic Trump design as the other piece I posted but the adornments are different.
There is something about this, the image, the colours and the subversive nature of the whole that I really like. As I said in my last post, it is a pity I didn’t see any of his work in New York. Maybe next time.
1105. The Bearpit (103)
Without doubt, this is one of my favourite pieces of recent weeks. Bright and garish, I first saw this when driving around The Bearpit roundabout, and made a mental note to take a closer look next time I walked into work. Fortunately this large wheatpaste was still there, and I was able to look at it more carefully and find out who it was by.
The artist is Christian Hooker who judging from his Instagram account handle is from New York (@nychooker). Quite what he was doing here I don’t know but I am really pleased that he visited the city and even more pleased that he left us a couple of gifts.
The pasteup itself is mocking Trump (I guess) and he posted it on Instagram under the heading ‘subvertising’ which is a term new to me, but I really rather like it. It is, a little like Lemak’s work, a stencil piece that has been printed off and pasted up. I simply love it. Having just visited NYC, I was a little disappointed not to see any of his work. Maybe next time.
757. Stokes Croft, the Carriageworks (24)
You can always rely on ObjectØØØ to be very present when there is some political action going on. At the start of March he and DNT took over several of the arches at the Carriageworks and posted a huge and rather crude protest banner piece for a march in London, protesting against cuts in the National Health Service (NHS).
While technically not as strong as the Paintsmiths piece, the image still has impact. Power to the people!
672. The Bearpit (45)
Photographing street art and posting it on digital social media can be a frustrating thing sometimes. Some bloggers or Instagrammers, put up their images within hours or minutes of finding a new piece. This is great for getting a picture of ‘what’s new’ but is usually unaccompanied by any sort of narrative, and rarely a location…I don’t understand why people are so guarded. Others like myself, like to add a little bit of a back story…sometimes a little tedious (I’m sorry)…to give the reader just a little bit more than a snapshot. The big disadvantage of the latter approach is that images about contemporary news events seem rather out dated by the time I get to post them. A case in point is this witty ‘love is’ piece by John D’oh in one of the tunnels of The Bearpit.
So my apologies to all for the tardiness of this post, but I think it is still worth including in the blog. I don’t need to say much about the subject matter – it has been world news after all. I love the subtle (?) reference to Trump’s hair. This is a fun piece ridiculing the ridiculous.
Explaining it to a child
.
We live in dark times
Where self-interest Trumps all
And hope is suppressed.
.
by Scooj.
Alea iacta est
Now the die is cast
there is no going back, no
second chance. It’s done.
by Scooj
298. New York, Orchard Street
I was reminded about this satirical piece by Hanksy, because Donald Trump has just made a rather unwelcome visit to the UK to inspect his Trump Turnberry refurbished golf course in Scotland. He really is disliked here, and no senior politicians were there to meet him, but I guess they were all too preoccupied with Brexit. He congratulated the Scottish people for leaving the EU, but clearly didn’t understand that The Scottish voted to remain. He really is so thick.
Hanksy is a New York street artist who seems to use parody and satire in his work, even the name is playful. He is famous enough to have his own Wikipedia page if you want to know more. While I was photographing the piece, a lovely local lady started chatting to me and my daughter. She said straight away that nobody likes Trump. That may be the case in NYC but he seems popular elsewhere.
This piece went viral globally, and has much in common with the Paintsmiths piece in Stokes Croft with Trump and Boris kissing. The first part of the nightmare is coming to pass, with David Cameron standing down and Johnson in the running for Prime Minister, the prophetic images may become a reality. I really hope that the USA comes to its senses and doesn’t fall for the populist propaganda aimed at the disadvantaged/disowned working classes. In the UK our citizens were duped by right wing fabrications about immigration and jobs and promises that the money diverted to the EU would all be spent on the health service – a promise already retracted within hours of a Brexit victory. So it was not a promise, but a lie.
The UK is in for a very uncomfortable ride in the years to come and I expect a lot of political graffiti/street art to emerge…which at this moment is the only positive thing I can cling on to.
Natural adventures 