Taking the Cure – id-iom x My Dog Sighs collaboration

id-iom x MyDogSighs – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 – Pic by Neil Tomlin

id-iom x MyDogSighs – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 – Pic by William Matthews

id-iom x MyDogSighs – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 – Pic by Alf Myers

id-iom x MyDogSighs – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 – Pic by Jay Sharples

We’ve already written a post about our time in Blackpool for Sand, Sea & Spray last weekend but we thought we’d do a little update on the piece as we had a little extra work on our piece done on the Saturday when My Dog Sighs popped over and added one of his great looking eyes to our lovely looking lady. He also managed to paint a few other bits and bobs down the same alley so if you’re in the neighbourhood it’s well worth a look.

Cheers

id-iom

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Taking the cure – Sand, Sea and Spray 2013

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Taking the Cure – Sand, Sea & Spray 2013 Blackpool

Last year when we went to Blackpool for Sand, Sea & Spray we had to work in the driving rain all day (but still managed to get a couple of pieces done) and despite the weatherman’s warnings that this year was going to be pretty similar we set off from London with hope in our hearts. This being the UK however our dreams were soon to be shattered. Despite waking to sunshine it soon became clear that was not going to be the order of the day and so after finding our billboard spot on the Winter Gardens we set to work in a steady drizzle. Soon this escalated to full blown torrential rain that stopped play for a while as we were forced to wait it out in a doorway. From there on in for the rest of the day it was a cycle of rain, a snatch of sunshine and then more rain. We had to get finished in a day however as we had a wedding to attend on Saturday otherwise a strategic retreat to the nearest hostelry would have been in order.

During the afternoon My Dog Sighs turned up and we all agreed that the addition of some of his eyes on our lady would definitely be a good thing so he added them on Saturday (in glorious sunshine i hasten to add) – and surely she looks good with her one real looking eye and one of our eyes? The title and text of ‘Taking the cure’ refers to the Victorian pastime of coming to Blackpool to bathe in the sea as it supposedly had healing qualities.

 

Photos Courtesy of Jay Sharples

Once we’d finished and dried off a little we went to have a quick beer, see what the Q&A session was like and catch up with whoever was about. All in all a good day out and we’d just like to extend our thanks to the S,S&S team who were all very helpful and accommodating.

Cheers

id-iom

Gravitas – Back to the Future mixtape project

Gravitas mixtapge slate – ‘let the beat see the street’

Gravitas mixtape slate – front

Gravitas mixtape slate – back

As we found ourselves in sunny Southsea on the weekend and knew we’d be hanging with the king of free art drops, MyDogSighs, we thought we’d best take a little something down to distribute. What better than a new instalment of our ‘Back to the Future’ mixtape project which sees us combine our two of our loves – music and street art. Our initial plan was to get some new mixes together, burn them on CD and then put them out on the street with some exclusive slate cover art. This will soon be followed by mixes from a (hopefully) eclectic range of other Djs.

Along with the legend ‘Gravitas’ (meaning seriousness or dignity) we have a couple of curious cats who have managed to make an appearance and peek interestedly round the slate. I haven’t really got a more in depth explanation than that currently… As were strolling down the promenade the pier came into view and we had a natural photo opportunity! After much fussing with placement and lying full stretch on the beach in order to get a good snap we had another piece live on street. I wonder what will happen to this one?

Free art beach drop (cheers to Korp for the photo!)

There’s some contact details on the back and we’re hoping that we’ll get a reply/critique/abuse via email from whoever found it and then hopefully they’ll upload it to the web and share it around for further praise/ridicule. So, if you see one of these suckers on the street feel free to take it home and then lambast us via email on our shoddy skills and poor tune selection.

We are also now open to submissions – so if you dj at all and fancy taking part just get in touch and if we like your mix then you’re in! You can find more information on our facebook page here.

Cheers

id-iom

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Southsea Head Jam – id-iom x My Dog Sighs x Korp Round 2!

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom x My Dog Sighs x Korp Round 2!

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom x My Dog Sighs x Korp Round 2!

On Monday we showed you round 1 of our collaboration with MyDogSighs and today we jump on in to Round 2 with the added inclusion of Korp. This piece had no planning whatsoever as we weren’t originally even meant to be painting that wall. Sadly, Snik was unable to make it down to Southsea which meant that we had an even bigger space to fill. Not being ones to shirk our responsibility when it comes to applying paint to a wall we jumped in enthusiastically. It started innocently enough as a quick play with a can on this spare wall with no intention of actually using it for the basis of a piece but on one occasion whilst I was up sitting on the roof basking in the sun MyDog decided to come along with the other half of id-iom to use what was there for another off the cuff collaboration wall. This was probably one of my favourite parts of the day due to the fact that it was a free for all wall with an anything goes attitude. Win all round.

Cheers

id-iom

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Futures past – Electric Social x Red Bull wall

Futures past – Electric Social x Red Bull wall

Futures past – Electric Social x Red Bull wall

Futures past – Electric Social x Red Bull wall

We’ve painted a few walls down at the Electric Social since it opened over a year ago and we were recently asked back to paint the back stair case which leads to the upstairs club area. After having a meeting with both the Electric Social and Red Bull we had some sort of idea what they were looking for – and that was pretty much leaving it up to us!

It’s always nice to have full creative control over a project and this one didn’t disappoint. So off we went to the lab to come up with a few designs to show both parties which was relatively easy for once as we didn’t have to try and shoehorn any ideas into the design as you normally have to do when doing commercial work. After a successful design was chosen it was time to get the paints out. Making one of our messy backgrounds is one of the small joys of our work as you get to make a kind of balanced, considered mess using whatever means come to hand (although we did have a design to follow so not too much freestyling!) Then it was onto the application of the giant stencil and before you know it we’re nearing completion.

Once they get some new lights put in it should look pretty good down the back stairs…

Cheers

id-iom

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom V My Dog Sighs Round 1!

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom V My Dog Sighs Round 1!

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom V My Dog Sighs Round 1!

Southsea Head Jam – id-iom V My Dog Sighs Round 1!

Over the weekend we popped down to Southsea for a little paint jam organised by My Dog Sighs. On the drive down the weather improved and we arrived in glorious sunshine without a cloud in the sky. It only took us about an hour and a half in the id-iomobile and due to the other half of id-iom’s echolocation skills we found where we were meant to paint straight away. Along with us and MyDog we also had the illustrious company of Miss Wah Wah, Korp and Process Smith. Snik was due down but didn’t manage to make it due to car troubles.

We had the courtyard area to fill in a day and we were a man down so we all just had to work that little bit harder. We were very well looked after by the Strong Island crew who kept plying us with beer and food. What more could we have asked for? As the day progressed we started getting attempting to tie it all together and had a load of fun collaboration with Mydog on sorting the backgrounds out and he also painted the eyes in on one of our ladies. For no better reason other than we could we decided to give her a glass eye.

Cheers

id-iom

Thanks to MyDog for the detail photo

Pahnl ‘Do look down’ solo show

Team id-iom had a little outing to Pahnl’s solo show ‘Do look down’ at West Bank gallery last night. On arrival we were given a copy of the ‘Lowdown Times’ newspaper and a cardboard frame. All would soon become clear. The downstairs space had been transformed into ’40 metres of a sprawling stencilled city across the gallery walls’ featuring a huge selection of Pahnl’s small stylized stick men and animals up to all kinds of tricks – from bank robbers and graffiti artists to crane operators and rioters.

The ‘Lowdown Times’ newspaper was a 12 page edition in the style of a local newspaper for the stencilled city. All the stories in the paper related to events on the wall and it’s written with a certain wry sense of humour. I particularly liked the horoscopes and obituary section (below). The cardboard frames we’d been given were so if there was a section of the city you liked you could frame it with the cardboard and then Pahnl would reproduce this on canvas for you (there were various sizes of frame available). It was clear a lot of thought had gone into whole thing.

Lowdown Times horoscope page

Upstairs there was a small selection of prints, a couple of originals on canvas and some nice repainted metal street signs. These all looked good but my favourite touch was the little comedy write ups they all had on the walls next to them. There was also a screen showing his excellent ‘Nowhere near home’ video made using light stencils. Clever work and a good night all round. It’s open until next week and I’d suggest you pay a visit.

Cheers

id-iom

Ready or not, here i come!

Ready or not, here i come!

Ready or not, here i come! (front)

 

Ready or not, here i come!

So, it’s been a while since we’ve put one of our ‘Back to the Future‘ art & mixtape combo’s out. But that’s not entirely our fault. The weather has only recently begun to play ball again after a brief stint a couple of weeks ago. Anyway this one features the likeness of one half on id-iom just moments before he uncovers his eyes to witness the unbroken sunshine we’ve been having this week. Although by the time he’s blinked it’ll probably be back to winter conditions…

The musical accompaniment taped to the back of the slate cover art is a frothy little summertime mix guaranteed to get you in the mood to party. I can only hope whoever finds it appreciates it. We’ve got a few more of these in the barrel and ready to go so watch this space.

Cheers

id-iom

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The Letter Box Bandit

The Letter Box Bandit

You may have already seen something very similar to this image and that’s because we used it as the basis for a large scale wall piece we did on Sclater Street in the East End a few weeks ago. This piece was actually painted first and the wall was based on it rather than the other way round.

The Letter Box Bandit comes from a newspaper article I read, about someone who was going around stealing post out of peoples letter boxes. You have to wonder why you would bother doing such a thing because most of the letters I receive are bills or adverts. It just seems a complete waste of time. Supposedly this thief was quite determined though and carried his campaign of thievery on for years. Maybe he had a list of all the local birthdays…

Although there wasn’t a picture accompanying the article I was wondering what kind of person would be a letter box bandit and I came to the conclusion he would look like some sort of odd school teacher who has nothing better to do with his time after he’s been let out of school at 3 in the afternoon. He’s got a few hours before his wife or friends finish their work and he doesn’t want to spend it in the pub as he’ll just be drunk before anyone gets home, so he decides to embark on a criminal crime wave and become the letter box bandit…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: The Letter Box Bandit
Materials: Acrylic, spray paint, paint pen and charcoal
Size: A2
Please email if interested

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They’re just like candy!

They’re just like Candy

When I was growing up I had a t-shirt that featured anime hero ‘Akira’ with a pill on his tongue and the legend ‘They’re just like candy”. For some reason this has percolated in my mind over the years (update: I’ve now found the image and it’s at the bottom of the post) and it’s recently found a way to get out again.

We’ve done a similar piece to this one before and whilst it was in the studio waiting to be sent to its new owner, somebody else popped by and after seeing it commissioned us to paint something similar for him. We were a little reluctant to start with but after the client stated they didn’t want the QR codes of DJ mixes but instead wanted us to come up with some new text we thought we’d proceed with it.

So, there you have it. Pac Man munching through his power pills and enjoying them like a bad little Akira.

Cheers

id-iom

Akira: They’re just like candy