Leporine lord of the shadows Barry the Bastard has once again crash landed in my life and decided to make my life a complete misery by invading my dreams and trashing the place.
Like a lot of these things it all started innocently enough. I was chatting to a friend on Zoom without realising they had their pet rabbit Mr Snugglebus on their lap and was I telling them about my well founded fear of rabbits when he hoisted the sneering rabbit into view and tried to tell me they were cute. That was my first mistake. The second was to think that Mr Snugglebus might keep his big trap shut. Now, I’m not calling Mr Snugglebus a grass but I’ve now had six consecutive nights of rabbit based nightmares featuring Barry. Sleep is my enemy. The Moon Rabbit is coming…
I think perhaps I need to get out more. This lockdown is getting to me…. It is A3 in size and made using the magic of one’s sleep deprived imagination, oil paint, paint pen and acrylic. Drop us a line if you’d like it to grace your walls…
So we here at id-iom didn’t really do anything related to the BLM movement when it jumped to the forefront of popular consciousness after the death of George Floyd. We weren’t really sure of our place in the narrative.
Anyway, it just so happened that at the time I was going down the rabbit hole that is the Youtube sidebar and to my surprise a song by Body Count came on. Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in LA and fronted by rapper Ice-T. In my youth, I listened to a lot of Body Count but hadn’t come across them in years. The song that I came upon was ‘Body Count’ and whilst listening realised the parallels between what Ice T was angrily rapping about in 1992 and what is going on in America right now.
This whole saga has been going on for years. Let’s just hope we can get the message through to the next generation…
Eagle eyed viewers will be aware we have previous with rabbits and their leporine brethren. Somehow they’ve managed to convince the majority of the world into believing they are cute and loveable creatures but in reality they are actually maladjusted and homicidal megalomaniacs.
I can’t trash talk them too much however as we have entered into a pact whereby we won’t provoke the other side. That doesn’t mean I won’t slander them when they come at me first though!
They’ve been in the vegetable plot and eating my flowers again and I’ve just had enough. I know they’re doing it on purpose. Now, it’s full on war…
As you can see I’ve donned my bunny outfit and now it’s time to try and lull them into a false sense of security so that they could be manhandled into a sack and sold to Pets At Home. It’s only because of the pact that I don’t sell them to the fancy food market nearby…
In the Isle of Man there is something of a superstition whereby Manx people can’t say the name of one of those little furry things that were blamed for the Black Death, pestilence in general and a whole host of other nefarious things. The reasons for this have dissipated into the mists of time but the superstition remains and due to this quirk in Manx folklore there are a number of socially acceptable local alternatives which include joey, longtail, ringie, iron fella and roddan.
Recently young people have also begun saying ‘r-a-t’ owing to the influence of English immigrants but older people on the Isle of Man don’t tend to listen to those Jonny come-overs too much and certainly not on such serious subjects as these little buggers. There is a comparable taboo against uttering the word ‘rabbit’ on the Isle of Portland. Here ends the lesson.
Cheers
id-iom
Title: Mickey or a ringie?
Size: A2
Media: Acrylic and paint pen
We had a small competition a little while ago on Facebook where I posted the image below (with the caption at the bottom cropped off) and had people guess what the rabbit was up to.
The answers regarding what the bunny were up to were pretty much uniformly bad suggesting that he was a serial killer or perhaps some kind of drug addict. Personally I think it’s the look in his beady little eye that gives that impression. The poster suggests otherwise. Patrick (for that is his name) is actually putting in or otherwise adjusting his new hearing aids. Assumably it’s so he can hear the blood curdling screams of his victims or hear his dealer when he calls him up.
The truth is bad things just seem to follow Patrick wherever he goes. He was kicked out of his warren at the tender age of 2 when he was still a big ball of fluff but they already knew then what i’m telling you now. Nobody really knows what he was up to for the next few years. Some say he spent some time with an unorthodox Irish shaman trying to learn the mysteries of life, others that he was a ruthless pimp in Bolton and there’s one person who swears he was heavily involved with the creation of One Direction. Maybe all three are true? Anyway, the next time we have any concrete evidence of his whereabouts is from medical records suggesting he suffered some kind of traumatic ear loss. There are no details as to how or why.
Today’s piece was the prize for the closest guess as to what Patrick was doing and gives us some kind of update on what he’s doing now. Exactly what that is I’m not sure. It doesn’t look particularly good though. It’s called ‘Dead Bad Dibo Bunny’ and is currently in its new home in Germany. That’s all I know for sure…
Legend has it the Moon Rabbit comes in the night to steal children’s dreams. He must be stopped.
If you’ve been a long time follower of our work you may have noticed that we seem to have a disliking for rabbits – but that has not always been the case. It all started a few years ago when the younger member of id-iom was walking home from the pub a little worse for wear. Next thing he’s surrounded by a group of pint sized leporine hoodlums asking if he’s got a carrot he can lend them. Thinking it a joke he tries to push his way past. Big mistake. The rabbits take this as a personal affront and set upon him with their long teeth and comically oversized feet. He barely managed to make it away alive and he doesn’t like to talk about that day.
Now he see’s evil moon rabbits everywhere – including the random cracks in wall plaster. It’s all I can do to ensure he takes his medication and stays on the straight and narrow. Don’t say we didn’t warn you about rabbits when they finally launch their bid to become our new overlords…
Despite the fact that Bunny Drummer sounds like a porn name I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty apt description of today’s little piece. The other title I had in mind was Beat Bunny but I don’t think that has the same ring to it. Anyway, I was in the basement of the pub, which is also where the band rehearsal room is, doing the ‘Stars, hide your fire’ piece when I found this stencil in amongst the ones I’d brought with me and just knew I had to use him. Where better to put our little leporine hipster than the wall just by the rehearsal room as an inspiration to all the musicians passing by.
When I first found this piece of metal I’m pretty sure I had a good idea in mind for it. Fast forward a couple of months and I find it in a corner of my ‘studio’ (which is currently a shed) and can’t remember for the life of me what I was going to use it for. Hmmm, what to do next? Whilst racking my feeble brain for my original idea the song ‘Rabbit in your headlights‘ (by UNKLE featuring the dulcet tones of Thom Yorke) comes on the stereo. For those that are unfamiliar with the song and video I’ve posted it below.
Thankfully this inspired me to ditch the search for my original idea (if you read this please come home!) in favour of one inspired by the UNKLE song. So here we have a man sat deep in thought who can’t see the metaphorical headlights of the car that’s coming to hit him. It’s probably his girlfriend driving. The lights are metaphorical because otherwise this would be a precursor to a pretty grisly scene from ‘World of Rallying Gone Wrong’. Anyway, I think this piece will be joining the pile of street drop stuff to be deposited when I can find a half decent day in which to enjoy putting it out…
This picture was painted around Easter time when the thoughts of baby chicks, Easter eggs and, of course, bunny rabbits are all riding high in the popular consciousness. Now I have nothing against chicks at all and chocolate eggs are OK once a year but rabbits, rabbits are troublesome oiks at the best of times. It’s not like I’ve got anything personal against them but I can’t say I like them. Some people seem to think they are cute but I know better.
I’m not one to be taken in by this annual marketing coup, so I’ve tried to reveal a little of what rabbits are really like. Snide brutes of creatures who go around making a right old racket with there big clumsy feet. Like Thumper here. If i see him round my way I’ll set the cat on him…
Cheers
id-iom
Title: Thumper
Materials: Acrylic, spray paint, paint pen and charcoal
Size: A2
Please email if interested
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 (but beautifully made up) little eyes.
Consider this more of a warning sign than anything else. My work here is done…
It is A2 in size and is made using the magic of collage, acrylic paint and paint pen . Signed on reverse.
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