Down boy!

Down boy!

I was reading something about the artist Jeff Koons and the fact that his piece ‘Balloon dog (orange)’ sold for a world record auction price for a piece of work by a living artist in November 2013. It sold for a staggering $58.4 million. Art critics are apparently divided over whether he’s due to be historically important or whether his works are crass and kitsch and are the product of cynical self-marketing.

Personally I love shiny stuff and I also love things that are comically out of proportion so the massive shiny metal balloon dogs are something that really appeal to me. Although whether I’d pay the best part of $60 million for one (even if I had it) remains to be seen. Anyway, all that may seem beside the point but now here’s the segue back to today’s piece. I recently had a very strange dream which I think was influenced by the article on Koons that I had read. It made little sense – as dreams are wont to do but one residing image I had of that dream is pretty much what you see before you. A man staring quizzically at the large and shiny Koons balloon dog that he has on a piece of string. I’d like to think it some kind of sub-conscious commentary on art as a commodity but I’m pretty sure I’m far too shallow for that. So there you have it. Take from that what you will…

Oh, and it’s all done on some fancy handmade rag paper which is slightly more absorbent that I thought it would be but I guess you live and learn.

Cheers

id-iom

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Punch Drunk

Punch Drunk

If you’ve ever seen The Wizard of Oz (and let’s face it, everybody has) you’ll surely remember the cowardly lion pretending he’s tough and raising his fists whilst challenging scarecrow and the tin man to ‘Put ’em up, Put ’em up!’ Well, it would appear this guy has the same problem apart from the fact he’s usually incredibly drunk and an all round nuisance. He’s even swaggering around wearing a crown. Of all the cheek. Someone ought to teach him a lesson…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Punch Drunk
Materials: Paint pen, acrylic, watercolour and charcoal
Size: A2

He who seems most kingly is king

He who seems most kingly is king

So taking a look at these two who do you think is most kingly? I can’t tell myself as I think they both look as shady as each other and I’m pretty sure that’s not what you should be seeing in a king. That said I think the fella on the right just pips the other to the post but who am I to say. Now if we think about the UK we could say that William is most kingly but surely if Harry was king things would be a little more interesting to say the least, but, do you want that is the question. So when all is said and done I’m probably going to stick with Thomas Hardy who is responsible for the quote and stick with William. In fact does it not go to Charles first? Oh bugger!!

Cheers

id-iom

Title: He who seems most kingly is king
Materials: Paint pen, acrylic, biro, gold leaf and charcoal
Size: A2

To drink from your lips…

To drink from your lips…

Now if there is one thing I love it’s a good bit of wombling. You know; making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folk leave behind. Anyway, there i was heading to the pub one evening when I chance upon this piece of wood. I’m still unsure of it’s previous purpose in life but it now has a higher calling. It sat in the hall of my house for about 3 months before inspiration struck and I had an actual plan for dealing with it. After walking past it everyday an idea had percolated into my head. I came up with the idea of a couple kissing, now I’m not entirely sure where the idea came from but that’s the muse for you.

So far so good. But then ‘Iceberg! Dead ahead!’ The trouble lay with the fact that the piece of wood was incredibly uneven and paint just didn’t look good on it so, for a short while, it was back to the drawing board until a solution jumped out at me. That solution came in the form of some polyfilla from the pound shop, which just seemed perfect for my plans.

After applying two tubs of the stuff and sanding it down it was ready for the final touches which consisted of a little painting here a touch up of polyfilla there and voilà. There still seemed to be something missing though, which I rectified with some words around the edge of the piece saying:

“Finally I will drink life from your lips
and wake up from this ever lasting sleep”

The only problem now is what to do with it as its now quite heavy and pretty fragile. Hmmmmm? Choices!!! It may well have to end up on the street if I can think of somewhere suitable unless someone wants to give it a better home somewhere…

Cheers

id-iom

My story starts with Music to my ears…

My story starts…

It’s Music to my ears

Boards in situ

Boards in situ

There I was enjoying my regular afternoon nap when the big red id-iomphone rings rousing me from my slumber. After staring at it quizically for a while and hoping it would just stop I finally came to the conclusion it wasn’t going to stop and the only thing for it was to answer it. It was the world of PR and they needed our help, stat! There was an important pitch coming up that needed securing and our assistance was required to provide some artwork that would help convince the client that this PR company was the one to work with. Sounds like a job for id-iom…

As seems to be the case with these things it needed done, like, yesterday so the first thing we needed was to come up with a couple of suitable designs. A minimum of back-and-forth had us two approved images so then it was onto the task of putting the images on two sets of boards each measuring 1.2m x 2.4m. Which is pretty big. So we eventually went for three A0 boards stuck together for each piece. A good few hours stencil cutting followed by a night out on Saturday led to a somewhat later than planned start on Sunday. Thankfully though the hard work had been done by then and we managed to get it all completed and then installed in the office on Monday morning. I’m not yet sure if they got they succeeded with their pitch but they liked the pieces so all is well. What’s next?

Cheers

id-iom

id-iom does Time Out

There I was having a flick through today’s print copy of Time Out and what do I find at the bottom of one of the first pages you come across? This little beauty. A nice little feature on some of the pop culture based subversions that we’ve been depositing in our local shops. Surely that means fame and fortune will be knocking on our door some time soon. Oh wait, who’s that ringing my bell….

No, it was just the neighbour demanding I turn the music down. I could barely hear him shouting over the smooth sounds of Nana Mouskouri. He really needs to calm down a bit.

Cheers

id-iom

Jack of Clubs

“There’s a guy in the place who’s got a bittersweet face. And he goes by the name of Ebeneezer Goode” sang The Shamen in their 1992 No.1 hit ‘Ebeneezeer Goode’. There was much controversy at the time about whether or not the song was endorsing recreational drug use. Which it obviously was. It hardly takes a genius to work that one out. Anyway, you may wonder what that has to do with today’s piece. Not much directly but it does allow me to segue nicely into the world of MDMA, Ecstasy, madman, X or Mandy. Call it what you will. Back in the late 90’s London’s club scene was buzzing with places like Turnmills, The Cross, The End and Fabric (to name but a few) having wildly successful evenings week after week. You’d only have to venture into one of those booming dens of iniquity to witness a large percentage of the crowd looking decidedly happy, chatty and sweaty. Now I’m not endorsing anything but I had some good times in those places myself.

So today’s piece is a tribute to those good times, wherever you were at the time. I’ve got a few favourite touches on this piece – the googly eyes, the Mitsubishi sign overlaid on the club and the thread which overlays the stencil of the chemical composition of MDMA. Winner. Now, if anyone wants to save this from an uncertain life on the streets it’s time to speak up now…

Cheers

id-iom

BONUS FACT – When the Shamen appeared on Top of the Pops, it was expected that Mr.C would tone down the song due to its being broadcast. The group replaced the final lyric “Got any Salmon?” with “Has anyone got any underlay?” He was later asked about this in a radio interview, to which he replied that it was not a drug reference but a rug reference

Hey Jude!

Hey Jude!

Hmmmm….. What does a gritty urban art duo do for a one year old’s birthday present? Well, after worrying for a while about exactly what you can and can’t do for a baby this is the end result. There was a lot of time spent thinking about whether we were doing something kid friendly or something that maybe he’d appreciate when he’s older and finally settled on this after finding a piece of glass to work on in the studio that seemed to provide some inspiration.

With a name like Jude it was hard to avoid the Beatles reference so we decided to get the opening notes from ‘Hey Jude’ on there along with his name and a little monkey logo (they’re all cheeky little monkeys aren’t they?) Cutting musical notes correctly at a small size however is probably not something I’ll be doing again. The main thing about painting on the back of the glass is remembering that everything has to be done in reverse – which can sometimes be a little frustrating as you can’t change things after you’ve done them if you have some mid piece brainwave. Oh well, there’s always next time…

Cheers

id-iom

Lady Sulina

Lady Sulina

It’s not very often that you get to paint a decent sized wall that’s only mere steps away from your front door but that exactly what happened this weekend. Whilst it seems everyone and their wife was in Birmingham for City of Colours we stayed very close to home and kept things real. There was a street party on the road where one half of id-iom lives and the lovely lady who arranges the party also managed to organise a wall for us as long as we kept it decent and saw to it that some of the local kids could get involved as well. Here at id-iom we believe you’re never too young to take up vandalism so jumped at the chance to give the little tykes a glimpse into the seedy underworld of the exterior redecoration specialist.

As the wall was mere moments away from both of our houses it was good to spend the day with all necessary conveniences close at hand. Including, of course, some speakers and chairs. It was a street party after all. After a few hours work with superb assistance from a number of local kids and adults it was time to try and make some finishing moves. The LED eye was installed and a few splashes of red were added before finally calling it a day and heading to the local hostelry for some well deserved refreshment…

Cheers

id-iom

Wash away your sins…

Wash away your sins…

Every year tens of millions of Hindu’s plunge into the sacred waters of the Ganges in order to wash away their sins. Every 12 years (as it happens once every 3 years in rotation with 3 other cities) the small(ish) city of Allahbad witnesses a temporay population explosion as more than 25 million visitors descend for the festival of Kumbh Mela. Just think of 25 million people descending on any city. it must be crazy. Anyway, I digress. This lady is in serious need of the Ganges’ help as she’s been a naughty girl, a very naughty girl in fact and it’ll probably take a good few hours soaking in the the sacred river before even the mildest of her sins will be washed away. I think she’ll be there for a while…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Wash away your sins…
Materials: Paint pen, acrylic, spray paint and charcoal
Size: A2