Mar 24, 2011 |
I was cycling home through the streets of Digbeth today, taking a few shots along the way of the ever-changing street art, when I bumped into local music industry chap Geoff Pearce. We got chatting about what he’s up to at the moment, which amounts to an interesting array of things.
He’s still working a lot with Ruby Turner, who’s an absolute legend around these parts (around all parts, actually – but she’s a local), and he’s also been leading a group under his own name for the first time in his life. Thanks to appearances on a number of BBC TV series recently, the Geoff Pearce Little Big Band is now being released as part of the Land Girls soundtrack album, and there’s no doubt more to come.
But Geoff’s also an educator, an organiser and a bit of an entrepreneur. He’s been working with a friend on a website project called Access All Bands. They had the opportunity to shop it around Midem and South By Southwest. It’s early days, but they have a bunch of musicians on board already and plans for an expansion into musician services. Be interesting to see where that ends up.
But it was just nice to stop and chat in the sunshine on my way home through the city. One of the very nice things about having a bike and not being in an enormous rush at that time of day.
Mar 9, 2010 |
Photo by Sharky1974
I’ve become quite a fan of graffiti art in recent years. I was always sort of aware of the quality out there, and I’ve long been an admirer of Otis Frizzell (who I commissioned to design my tattoo). In my travels in recent years, I’ve been struck by the different art lining the streets in different places. Marseille and Berlin, in particular, have some incredible works, there’s some amazing stuff right here in Birmingham (see above) and my hometown of Auckland has some brilliant artists.
And sometimes, they get in trouble for what they do.
But the thing that really got me interested was when a friend of mine in Berlin started pointing out how to spot works by particular artists. What their style was, what they were particularly known for, and in which areas of the city they tended to showcase their skills. And that got me thinking about the city as a sort of inside-out art gallery: with the paintings on the outside of the wall.
The only thing missing was those little white cards that tell you about the paintings.
(more…)
Mar 9, 2010 |
Photo by As_One
I particularly like this “not legal, but tolerated” bit of graffiti, by Tempo33 and AsOne. There’s something friendly about it that seems to be capturing a pretty cool mood in the city at the moment. Not sure whether the art helps create that mood or merely reflect it – though I suspect it’s a bit of both.
Have a look through AsOne’s photos of his work around Birmingham… and then have yourself a cuppa.
(via Created In Birmingham)
