As a memento to our now demolished studio a good friend of id-iom came down to document our work at the ‘House of Pain(t)’ before it was razed to the ground. Here’s a new video he put together in the final days of the house. After watching this I’ve come to realise quite what a place we had. We just need another now…
You can also see the video that Spraying Bricks put together below:
For individual shots of the pieces you can see them on our flickr page here.
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under street art, art, video, stencil, Music
The Letter Box Bandit
The Letter Box Bandit
The Letter Box Bandit (Before)
So once again we went east to paint up the wall that we have done before for Global Street Arts’s ‘The walls project’ because you guessed it, it got tagged up again. Although this time it was a little more tasteful than the word ‘Anus’ and we also didn’t have to fight with any film crews for the space this time either.
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 though why you would do such a thing because i know most of the letters i receive are bills or some such rubbish and hardly ever anything interesting and it seems just a complete waste of time. Supposedly this thief was quite determined though carrying his campaign of thievery on for years. He must of had a list of birthdays because why else would you do it?
Although there wasn’t a picture with the article i was thinking what kind of person would be a letter box bandit and i came to the conclusion he would look like some sort of primary 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
Filed under art, Graffiti, Painting, stencil, street art
The Curious Case of the Painted Sparrow
The Curious Case of the Painted Sparrow
After our previous visit to Sclater Street the piece we completed lasted for a week before some razor sharp wit decided to modify it and add the word ‘ANUS’ nice and large right over the middle of our picture (as seen below). Noboby likes a large anus on their picture so we thought we’d do our best to replace it with something a little more fitting.
Painted Sparrow (before)
A little research led to the discovery that Sclater Street used to be famous for having a thriving bird market so our new piece would be a little nod to the streets’ history. As we were painting it an old guy came round with his grandson and told me that he used to live nearby and the market was still there when he was a kid. He also informed me that they’d sell you a painted sparrow as soon as sell you an actual budgerigar or the like. I’m not sure if he was pulling my leg or not but I liked the idea.
Once we’d got the background sorted and the bird and hand up I had to get our little bit of sculptural graffiti put up and fix the ’2 and sixpence’ price tag right to the top of the wall. Which involved going right to the top of the ladder. Which is always a nervous moment on a blustery day. I gave it a good bit of duct tape as I didn’t want to be going up again so hopefully it’ll last a few weeks at least…
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under art, Graffiti, Painting, stencil, street art
id-iom business card @ Seven
We’ve previously done a fair bit of work down at Seven in Brixton Market and as they were having their bathroom area painted up they saw it as an opportunity for the artists who’d worked on the place to leave a bit of information about themselves to entertain any interested punters.
It seemed like a perfect opportunity to try out my new id-iom business card stencil so that’s precisely what I did. I’m pretty happy with how it looks so we may well be using this a little more from here on in.
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under art, Commissions, Graffiti, stencil
You give love a bad name (featuring a very angry robin!)
So it’s Valentine’s Day again and we’ve been busy. This shot has really got it all – something Valentine related, an earworm and even a bit of wildlife. A winning shot if ever I’ve managed to take one. Despite the fact that the robin looks cute he was, in fact, very angry. He didn’t seem to appreciate our work. Everyone’s a critic…
We’ve previously done an earworm and I thought it was about time to give it another go. The success or otherwise of this piece hinges on the fact that just about everyone is familiar with Bon Jovi’s ‘You give love a bad name‘ and so I’ve done my best to try and get it playing unheeded in your brain. For no reason other than I can. It’s difficult to know how successful I’ll be but them’s the breaks.
Cheers
id-iom
Brixton – you had me at whagwan…
Since living in Brixton I’ve become enamoured with the phrase ‘Whagwan‘. For the uninitiated, the phrase means ‘what’s going on’ in Jamaican Patois. The spelling can vary but the meaning doesn’t change. Anyway, once I’d combined that with a nice little romantic statement and a bit of traditional Claddagh ring design, hey presto, I had a fully formed idea that, after a little further work, became this little declaration of love for Brixton. Happy Valentine’s Day Brixton!
Cheers
id-iom
Be still my beating heart (close up)
Be still my beating heart
We did a version of this on paper last week (which has already been on eBay) but the street was always where I’d imagined this piece to live. And not only did we find a great spot for it but the location also gave us a great idea for extending this piece that we’ll follow up on as soon as we can. Anyway, i digress. Apparently the earliest citation for the term ‘be still my beating heart’ comes from William Mountfort‘s Zelmane from 1705:
“Ha! hold my Brain; be still my beating Heart.”
Now I quite like that quote and think it’s a nice romantic concept so I thought I’d give it a little id-iom twist just in time for Valentine’s Day. Apparently Sting did a song called ‘Be still my beating heart’ but I’ve neglected to link to it as I’ve taken a hit for the team and it’s really not that good. On the plus side though at least we got out on the streets despite the inclement weather.
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under art, Painting, screenprint, stencil, street art
Shot through the heart
Shot through the heart (close up)
With Valentine’s Day swiftly upon us we thought it best to turn our attention to affairs of the heart and see what we could come up with in recognition of this day of love. Bon Jovi once famously sang that they’d been shot through the heart and noted the fact that you were to blame. Well, short of the whole blaming you for it thing I thought I’d turn that sentiment into some art using the magic of stencils and spraypaint. I’m not entirely sure why but the side of a rusting fridge just seemed the right place to put it.
I’ve just realised that this is the second post i’ve written today mentioning Bon Jovi. Maybe i have a problem.
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under art, Graffiti, Painting, stencil, street art
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Some days things just don’t go as planned. Last week we were asked if we would like to paint up a wall for the Global Street Art ‘Walls Project’ and we readily agreed. So far, so good. We both set to work trying to come up with something suitable and then proceeded to bicker about exactly would be suitable, until the deadline was looming dangerously close behind us and as time, pressure and panic set in we finally got down to brass tacks.
Now we haven’t painted up in the east end for an age as we’ve had the house of paint to cover but times change, so to the east it was. That was about as good as it got. We jumped in the id-iomobile and, naturally, both front tyres were flat. A mile away from the garage, tires filled with air and another 30 minutes behind schedule we realise the car is running out of petrol. After pulling over and just managing to park up it was the somewhat familiar story of taking the empty petrol can and walking to the nearest petrol station. A good 20 minutes later we were on our way again.
After all these trials we eventually got to the East end and found the spot on Sclater Street which featured an unfinished piece by Masai that we were to go over. Finding and getting the ladders was our next task but considering our day that was easily accomplished. Finally we could get to work. Except that the other half of id-iom had forgotten to cut the outline of the stencil. Cue my fevered attempt to find something suitable for stencil cutting in a car park. With scissors duly purchased a hatchet job was then done on the outline and we could at least proceed.
Eventually the light was failing but we were in a position where we were happy. Finally it was time to grab a couple of photos and get home for a well deserved beer…
Brotherhood of the Wolf
http://globalstreetart.com/walls
Cheers
id-iom
Filed under art, Graffiti, Painting, stencil, street art
