The main, pertinent and only real question you should be asking yourself right now is ‘is that a googly eye?’ I’ve done my research and can guarantee you it isn’t.
Just yesterday the other half of id-iom asked why I was using a googly eye as a weight to hold down a stencil. I told him I wasn’t but he didn’t believe me until I lifted up the much painted tuppence coin in question and showed him. He still didn’t believe me even after I had put the coin back down. So there you have it. People will believe what they want.
‘Less is more’ I hear people say sometimes. Here at id-iom however we tend to find that phrase a little strange as minimalism is not something we’ve ever really been able to practice. It could be that way because there are two of us each armed with our own opinions about what to do when a piece stalls. It usually involves adding some more mess and/or colour. Well today, for reasons unknown, we have managed to produce something minimal. He hasn’t even got a head. Just a suggestion of some hair and some disembodied eyes. And you can’t get more minimal than that. Well, you probably can but not if you’re us.
Cheers
id-iom
Title: The boy who cried
Materials: Paint pen and charcoal
Undercover Lover – ‘Back to the Future’ mixtape project
Undercover Lover – front
Undercover Lover – back
With Glastonbury coming up in just a couple of days we thought it about time to release 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 plan is to get some new mixes together, burn them on CD and then put them out on the street with some exclusive slate cover art.
Here we have a sea-side drop with some sexy looking eyes giving you a cheeky little wink. A brief promise of something that’ll probably never come to pass. Oh well, c’est la vie…
There’s some contact details on the back 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.
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.
I don’t think many people really enjoy getting out of bed in the morning. Even less if it’s cold and dark and 5am and you’ve got to drag your sorry carcass to the airport for an early morning flight. This lady looks a bit like that’s happened but, in fact, she isn’t catching a flight anywhere. She’s been up all night burning the midnight oil and partying with certain unnamed celebrities and apart from the unmistakeable case of red-eye shows no signs of flagging. Two totally different scenarios but with the same outcome and unluckily for her she’s got a nose like Rudolph to boot, she’s certainly not at her best that is for sure but she’ll keep going…
Cheers
id-iom
Title: Getting the Red Eye
Materials: Spray paint, paint pen and charcoal
Size: A2
Please email if interested
Occasionally we are commissioned to produce something which isn’t much like our usual output and today’s offering is a good example. A while ago we were asked to come up a picture for a 40th birthday present and I’d like to think we finally managed to succeed with our off-the-wall offering of ‘Grandad, a bohemian grenade especially for you!‘
So when we were asked to do something for a 30th birthday we thought we’d have a little check of the interweb to see what was no.1 on their birthday. Lo and behold it was Survivor’s ‘Eye of the Tiger‘ so with such a good birth tune we thought it prudent to keep things simple. With our time done and our chances taken we purchased the 12″ vinyl version from Ebay and it was then just a simple matter of cutting a stencil for the dedication then getting it passed to our framer. My favourite touch on the sleeve design is the fact the band are reflected in the tiger’s eye. Hang tough and stay hungry.
After realising that we hadn’t got anything on the internet for a while i decided to pick up a can and get to work on a picture on one of the walls of our studio. At this point in the studio things were getting scary though as ice was beginning to form on the windows and some of the gusts of freezing cold air coming from the gaps around all the doors and windows were just getting a little to much to take. Needless to say i had to be quick or I might become a permanent fixture down there and so i picked up the black and went hell for leather, dancing around when not actually painting so as to not freeze on the spot. The only goal of mine was to try and use the hole already in the wall but apart from that it was bang, get it up and get out. A small piece of advice though for anyone who has to work in a cold, cold room for any length of time i would suggest you listen to either some of the hardest thrash metal or some of the dirtiest drum and bass you can get your hands on, which is what i’m more partial to, as these types of music can really get you to motivated. Here is a little present for all those unlucky few:
Oooh a big malevolent eye gazing at you! How very frightening! The evil eye is a surprisingly widespread belief that a look is able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike. Be afraid, be very afraid for the eye is staring at YOU!
Working on cardboard is quite liberating as you can really let rip and let inspiration (if you can find any) take you wherever seems good. I think most of the cardboard bits are probably destined for the street although sometimes they can look good when framed. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see…
Using just about all the paint, pens, printing equipment and whatever else we have kicking around these are a lot of fun to work on and this one even features a (largley illegible) excerpt from Hans Christian Andersen‘s story ‘The Darning Needle’. So know you now.
Cheers
id-iom
Title: Am i staring?
Media: Acrylic, spraypaint and stencils, ink & paint pen
Size: Cardboard
We have been busy little beavers here at the Ranch knocking stuff out left, right and centre. An Eye for Trouble is our newest piece and features spraypaint, stencils, acrylic, glitter, paint pen and a googly eye. All top quality ingredients…
Cheers
id-iom
id-iom
Title: An eye for trouble
Media: Stencils, spraypaint, acrylic, googly eye and glitter
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