Sometimes it’s difficult to know where inspiration comes from. Was I listening to Joy Division’s ‘Love will tear us apart’ when I came up with this design? Or did I come up with it independently as it seemed fitting for the design? I really couldn’t tell you.
I can tell you however that the Joy Division version was released in June 1980. Apparently the lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis’ marriage problems and frame of mind before his suicide in May 1980. Which is really quite sad all things considered. I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this so maybe best just to leave the rest to you.
It is made using the magic of imagination, stencils and spray paint on 60 x 60 cm canvas
We were commissioned to produce a 1m x 1m canvas for a very discerning and influential couple for their new house (seriously, they’re the power couple behind one of the UK’s biggest soaps). The canvas was to be based on the song ‘Strawberry Letter 23’ by Shuggie Otis. It’s a great song and you really should give it a listen. With such fine pedigree to work with we knocked out some designs lickety-split and that was when it all really began…
This large commission now has the dubious distinction of being the picture that has taken the longest time from conception to completion than anything else we’ve ever produced. We’re talking well over a year. When it was finally deemed complete my relief was palpable.
She’s on a 1m x 1m canvas and has been painted using all the paint we could find seemingly. She’s now safely ensconced in her new home in sunny Manchester. Let’s all wish her luck…
When superheroes kiss strange things can happen. Never mind when they really go for it. Here we have Spanish superhero Limon Cojones getting it on with Miami based super strong wrestler Blue Thunder. What’s going to happen next is anyone’s guess. I’ve seen this kind of thing before but the only consistent thing is that it’s going to be unpredictable. Perhaps it will start raining lemonade and kittens. It’s happened before. Which kind of means it’s unlikely to happen again.
This is the first of some sketches for bigger pieces that all revolve around the strange but surprisingly mundane love lives of superheroes. Why? Well, I’ve got to fill my time somehow and this seemed like a good idea at the time.
As an aside, I’ve got no idea what the Japanese text says as I translated it ages ago and have forgotten. I’m going to go with something like ‘superhero kiss kiss’ but I wouldn’t be suprised if it said something else entirely. So, if you are proficient in Japanese maybe you could help me out…
Sometimes it’s difficult to know where inspiration comes from. Was I listening to Joy Division’s ‘Love will tear us apart’ when I came up with this design? Or did I come up with it independently as it seemed fitting for the design? I really couldn’t tell you.
I can tell you however that the Joy Division version was released in June 1980. Apparently the lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis’ marriage problems and frame of mind before his suicide in May 1980. Which is really quite sad all things considered. I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this so maybe best just to leave the rest to you.
They’re on A2 paper and are made using the magic of spraypaint, stencils and imagination. They’re £130 each if anyone wants to give either a new home.
What are you meant to do when the end of days is upon you? It all began in the 70’s with some demented genetic testing on Komodo Dragons. What we are left with is the gigantic nuclear-fire breathing colossus known only as Godzilla. He’s single handedly destroyed half the world and he’s headed this way. Some people will try things they’ve never done before but they always deemed a bit risky before they knew their world was going to end. This couple however felt that love was the answer and decided that all they needed before the reckoning was one final kiss. The irony of the situation is that poor old Godzilla is himself looking for some affection. He’s been roaming the globe looking for his one true love and is going to leave no stone (or tower block) unturned in his search for her. Silly humans.
A2 in size and made using the magic of spray paint, acrylic, paint pen and charcoal
I’ve already done a larger hand painted version of this piece but I couldn’t resist doing a mini me version of our ‘No Context Required – Vladimir Putin’ piece featuring a quote from Russian President Putin following an interesting bit of video where he kisses the stomach of a little boy whilst out and about in Russia somewhere. If you haven’t seen it then I suggest you put ‘Putin kiss boy’s stomach’ into Google and follow one of the links. To say it’s a bit weird is probably something of an understatement.
Anyway this quote is what he had to say about the incident but once you combine it with the angry looking man bear you have another quality id-iom piece. It’s laser engraved on wood and stands proud at 13 x 9cm and even features an out of context Hello Kitty character and I’ve even robbed the Honest Burgers logo just to really mix it up. Drop us a line if you’re interested – it’s going cheap…
For the second of our ‘No Context Required’ designs here we have a quote from Vladimir Putin following an interesting bit of video where he kisses the stomach of a little boy whilst out and about in Russia somewhere. If you haven’t seen it then I suggest you put ‘Putin kiss boy’s stomach’ into Google and follow one of the links. To say it’s a bit weird is probably something of an understatement. Anyway this quote is what he had to say about the incident but once you combine it with the angry looking man bear you have another quality id-iom piece. It’s laser engraved on wood and stands proud at 39 x 26cm and even features an out of context Hello Kitty character and I’ve even robbed the Honest Burgers logo just to really mix it up. Drop us a line if you’re interested…
This young lady has been on leave from work for about 3 weeks now for a small operation she had but don’t worry it wasn’t anything serious. It only took about 10 minutes in surgery and then another 10 minutes to heal yet she has still been signed off work for what seems like an eternity. So long in fact that she has now become quite bored and as a side effect become quite affectionate to any and all of those around her as she hungers for companionship. Her parents live up north, she doesn’t have a boyfriend, the cat’s already fed up of all the attention and to top it off all of her friends are on holiday in Croatia. Needless to say she’s completed the internet and is now itching for something or someone new to do…
Cheers
id-iom
Title: Bored & Affectionate
Materials: Paint pen, acrylic, ink, charcoal, Tipp Ex and spray paint
Size: A2
Amo, Amas, Amat (id-iom @ Whitecross Street Party 2015)
On Saturday it was that time of year again to once more make our way to the East end to paint at the Whitecross Street Party. We’ve done it a few times before so jumped at the chance to get the paints out again in central London. For ‘Amo, Amas, Amat’ we have a rather androgynous couple sharing a kiss but to make things a little more tricky for ourselves we thought we’d try something a little different and use pound shop polyfilla to try and add some texture to the faces. So with just a single tiny pallette knife with which to apply the filler and beer to keep it moist we set to work. Thankfully it was nice and sunny so the filler dried pretty quickly whilst we were busy chatting then it was time to re-apply the stencil, apply some shading then add some LED’s to give the eyes a little night time sparkle. As usual it was a great day out and the boards will be now mounted on walls around the area in the coming days so keep your eyes peeled…
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…
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