Rogue Fader

Rogue Fader! Even his name strikes fear into the hearts of evildoers. He was raised on the tough streets of the Isle of Man and now drifts among the denizens of London’s underworld looking to dispense musical justice. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire the Rogue Fader…

I’m joking of course as he’s usually pretty easy to find and deep down he really wants to be liked by all. He wants to be liked so much that he’s set up his own Facebook page where you too can like him too. And it’s full of free mixes for you to download and enjoy. And if you like him he’ll like you back. But not in his special way. He reserves that for more personal meetings. Be warned.

Anyway, his brand new id-iom logo fuses two of his main loves in life – parrots and Star Wars! What more could a man want…

Cue the Star Wars cantina music!

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Rogue Fader

Media: one colour screenprint and acrylic paint on paper

Size: 22 x 22 cm

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The mirror crack’d

In what i’m hoping will be my last post of the day we have this slightly odd commission. I’m not entirely sure how the mirror came to broken (i.e. I’m not the one with seven years bad luck!) but as soon as it was brought in for us to evaluate exactly I knew there was something just crying out to be put on there. We could not try and hide the crack as it would then look even worse than it did already so we thought the best thing to do was to highlight it’s imperfections.

The line ‘the mirror crack’d’ was floating around in my head and it turns out ‘The mirror crack’d from side to side‘ is the name of an Agatha Christie book starring the unflappable amateur sleuth Miss Marple but she originally got the line from a poem by Lord Tennyson called The Lady of Shallot and it seemed to fit perfectly:

“Out flew the web and floated wide

the mirror crack’d from side to side”

Once we’d found a suitable font, cut a couple of stencils and also got a couple of lightly glittered arrows on there to really put all the attention on the crack we realised that we had job done and to do any more would risk ruining it so we decided it was time to down tools. I’m particularly happy with the result as i managed to restrain myself before adding more and in hindsight it just fits perfectly. One more happy punter taken care of…

For reasons that are hopefully completely apparent it’s pretty tricky to photograph a mirror whilst: a) trying to make the mirror look relatively normal shaped b) trying not to get yourself or any other objects that just attract the eye in shot c) trying to highlight the big crack running across the mirror and the text either side of it. Now whilst i’m certainly not saying that Duffy, Donovan or Bailey couldn’t do better I think I did a pretty reasonable job considering my usual level of skill with a camera.

Cheers

id-iom

detail shot

A Fiery Soft Mess

I know, I know. It’s an odd title for both a blog post and a picture but there you have it. I’m not going to back down on this one…

What can i say about ‘A Fiery Soft Mess’? Well ‘A-mazing!’ and ‘Lovin it!’ are just two of the top-level superlatives already applied to this piece (albeit on our flickr page 😉 )  but if nothing else she is impressive in dimensions (over a metre tall/wide) although she is painted on a big piece of wood! What springs to mind when i say the words ‘A Fiery Soft Mess’? In fact don’t answer that and just enjoy the picture. In fact pointedly don’t answer the question of what springs to mind when i say ‘A Fiery Soft Mess’. At least we resisted the urge to colour her nipple in. I think i prefer it that way now although I was chief advocate of nipple painting at the time the issue was under question. It just goes to show that you do live and learn.

Keep tuned for the next week’s truism…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: A fiery soft mess

Media: Acrylic, spray paint and paint pen on wooden board

Size: 122 x 107 cm

I’m bored of vying for your love

I’m bored of trying to come up with pithy little comments to write to go along with our pictures.

No I’m not! I really quite enjoy it actually… I’m sure we’ve all become a little bored when we find ourselves in the unenviable position this young lady has managed to get herself into. Really, women these days what are they like? Mine barely knows how to tuck my microphone in properly! (see ‘Commentary career’ here if confused)

Looking at this kind of thing can not only make you go blind but can also have you up before the Personnel department if you’re not careful whilst at work. I know because it happened to me 😦 Happy viewing…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: I’m bored of vying for your love

Media: Ink, spray paint, newspaper, watercolour, glitter and paint pen

Size: A2

Chick lick dick splat!

Mmmmm… Not really sure what to say about this one. It’s kind of obvious and in your face (ho, ho – ‘in your face’ – geddit? Sorry, couldn’t resist that!)

Anyway i’m not sure if i need to comment on inspiration or message as I’m sure your filthy minds will have come up with some childish and puerile meaning behind this perfectly innocent although very meaningful piece and nothing i can say will sway that – so i’ll just leave it be.

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Chick lick dick splat

Media: Acrylic, spray paint, charcoal and paint pen on paper

Size: 48 x 42 cm

Not much to ask

An unexpected wink or smile can often go a long way to brightening an otherwise dull day. Living in London it’s hard to remember that sometimes as people shuffle mindlessly around on the streets like mindless drones – and especially on the Tube system. Although maybe i’m looking at it the wrong way? Maybe I should be marvelling at the fact that 8.5 million people can live in an area of about 600 square miles (according to wikipedia) without resorting to violence more often. Either way it’s not too much to ask for a smile occasionally is it?

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Not much to ask

Media: Acrylic, ink, spray paint and paint pen

Size: A2 paper

Never Underestimate Rabbits!

With the Chinese Year of the Rabbit fast approaching (it’s Feb 3rd in case you didn’t  know!) I thought it best to get this one out of the way. This is why i’m dubious as to what will happen in 2011.

I think the clue is in the title on this one. We all know that rabbits are hardly trustworthy at the best of times right? Well i can safely say that you can never underestimate one that tests make up on itself! They are definitely the worst kind and not to be trusted under any conditions. You can just see it in their beady little eyes.

Consider this more of a warning sign than anything else. You have been warned…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Never underestimate rabbits

Media: Acrylic, ink, spray paint, UV paint, interference paint, collage and paint pen

Size: A2

Grotesque affection

Wow! Today has already been busy on the blog front and is looking like it’s going to continue. I have been too busy doing other things recently to keep on top of this but now i’m working for The Man again for a short while it has given me time to catch up on the bits that have slipped through the net. This one is a bit of a funny one as it’s journey to completion was in fits and starts but i’m surprisingly happy with the end result (especially if you got to see the initial stages!) What it says or does is beyond my capability for explanantion so i’ll just leave it to you to make up your own answers…

Love it or hate it i don’t care – i’m just glad she’s done and dusted as it was something of a difficult birth.

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Grotesque Affection

Media: Ink, spray paint, paint pen and watercolour

Size: A2

Butterflies and Sunflowers

We were asked if we would come up with some sunflowers, butterflies and birds in order to brighten up an otherwise fairly gloomy corridor. They already had some fading and peeling sunflower decals on the wall and decided to upgrade to a more permanent version so we got to work and threw in a load of butterflies and birds just for good measure.

Cheers

id-iom

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face – A belated Burns Night!

A wee tribute to a friend of ours who has the surname Burns – and it just seemed fitting to give it to him on Burns Night. Although i suppose with the picture being called The Burns Unit it would probably be just as well to give it to him on Bonfire Night (although that is clearly too far away!)

Cheers

id-iom