No Loitering, Smoking or Sitting on the Steps…

As bad boy urban artists there’s not much that stands in our way, especially not some passive aggressive sign trying to tell us what not to do. No loitering, no smoking or sitting on the steps. No one tells us what not to do. Take THAT sign. 

We make those kinds of rules up ourselves. And then break them anyway. That’s just the id-iom way.  

Cheers

id-iom

Caution!

I’m cautiously hoping it might well be about time we can dig our sign and ladder out and put them to some use as we get back to some sort of wall painting normality. It’s been fun painting my garden wall over lockdown and i’m sure there’s probably more to go but it would be good to spread the love and get to know some new walls too. Here’s to hoping…

Cheers

id-iom

Celebrity Quote – Chris Martin

It’s been a long while since we’ve delved into the murky world of celebrity quotes. Today we’ve got Coldplay front man Chris Martin with, what I think we can all agree, is a pretty odd quote. 

It  both shows his awareness of his popularity with a certain segment of the population whilst simultaneously showing disdain for the other part of the population that would like to shake him by the hand – assumably for bringing his music to the world rather than because they have a taser concealed in their palm. Gloves or helmet? What a modern dilemma. Who knows? If I were you Chris I’d go belt and braces and wear them both…

Love

id-iom

Art samaritan foiled…

It’s typical isn’t it? I try and do something genuinely nice and the world conspires to deny my effort. There I was walking down the street when I happened upon what must be in the ranking for worst sign in the world. There is so much wrong with it that I don’t know where to start – damaged, dirty and illegible to begin with.

I felt a sign like that was doing any business more harm than good so decided to engage in a little guerilla marketing and upgrade their signage for them.

I’d designed their uncommissioned new signage and got as far as looking for a local printer when I realised they’d removed their on street display. Maybe they’re just psychic and don’t want anything to do with my garish redesign. Or perhaps they’d realised the sign’s nefarious potential as it was. Who knows? That’ll teach me anyway.

Love

id-iom#

Give way to oncoming Motherfu*kers

Give way to oncoming Motherfuckers

Once every blue moon we here at id-iom like to go for a few cheeky drinks with none other than Sir Asmund Quayle, reprobate extraordinaire and disillusioned messiah of everything. To say a little fun is had is quite the understatement, in fact it takes the months in between theses drinking bouts just to mentally prepare for the next and to fully allow your fun levels to rise to a healthy amount. I’ve seen people who just didn’t have enough in the tank turn in to empty husks as Sir Asmund drains them of all they have.

This piece is based on a slight altercation we had with some disillusioned youths who thought that our merriment was an invitation to start some trouble. Needless to say by the end of our disagreement this gang of fools was soon singing to our tune with one meaning ful phrase rolling about in their undeveloped minds – ‘Give way to oncoming Motherfuckers’

It was made using the magic paint pen and acrylic on found street sign which is 56cm x 96cm. Drop us a line if interested.

Cheers

id-iom

The Band in Hand

With some new soundproofing being constructed to go over the windows in the back room of our local boozer they needed us to add a touch of id-iom design magic so it would also function as a sign to let people know a band night was on and which way the entrance is (it’s an old pub so has 3 possible entrances – only one of which actually opens). A couple of design variations later and we were left with the bearded hipster style guy staring imperiously at you along with a couple of Band in Hand logo’s and the yellow and white arrows. It’s pretty clean and straight forward all things considered. I think I need to go and make a proper mess somewhere now…

Cheers

id-iom

Self service child minder unit

Bemoaning the lack of affordable local child care seems to be something of a popular pastime for many of the young mums I know so I’m glad to see that the local council has decided to do something about it. They’ve had a multi-departmental brainstorming session and the self service child minder units are their experimental outcome. Simply deposit your child in one of the marked units and then retrieve them after work. It’s as simple as that. And it’s free. Although it should be noted that overnight stays are prohibited. I, for one, applaud this brave new move in domestic frugality…

Cheers

id-iom

Error 404: Advert not found

With the somewhat gusty weather we’ve had recently this billboard has managed to peel itself naked. And that, of course, is quite the affront to any self-respecting urban artist. So with our woolen thinking caps pulled down firmly on to our respective heads, we came up with a quick joke on the idea of the advert not being there.

We presumed the matter to be time sensitive as we weren’t sure when the ad man would be back to shove more tasteless shots of half naked women down our gullet so quickly set to work cutting a stencil. This is probably the reason why its so small compared to the actual billboard or at least that’s the story we’re sticking to. It was definitely nothing to do with the fact it was measured ‘by eye’…

Cheers

id-iom

Please No Dumping

Here we have Gerald. Although Gerald looks quite smart in his shirt, tie, trousers and spiffy white shoes he is, in fact, an absolute rapscallion. He’s not to be trusted further than you can throw him. If you give him the benefit of the doubt, just once, he’ll have your pants off you before you know it. And not in a good way either, just a straight up steal.

Here he is waiting in some less than salubrious area for one of his ‘associates’. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out who – but that was probably for the best. How do I happen to know Gerald I hear you ask? Well, knowing someone like this is a double edged sword but on more than one occasion he’s proved his worth. He knows a few useful people. Let’s just leave it at that…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Please No Dumping
Materials: Paint pen, acrylic, pencil, spray paint and charcoal on found street sign
Please email if interested

Related articles

• Kiss me quick – before i implode! (thisisidiom.wordpress.com)

Please leave quietly

Please leave quietly

Now although this isn’t exactly what you’d call art we thought we’d get it up simply because it’s quite a good photo and for us that is an achievement in itself. We were down at Brixton market because the boys from Seven had asked us to come down and paint a couple more of the ‘Please leave quietly’ signs on the main shutters to the market (as we’d already done it on their shutters) so we had the camera to record it for posterity and somehow actually got a decent shot. Stranger things have happened at sea. Or so they say…

Cheers

id-iom