‘I always feel like somebody’s watching me’ sang Rockwell in his 1984 hit (which features Michael Jackson on backing vocals assumably because Rockwell’s dad was Motown CEO Berry Gordy). And he wasn’t wrong. In today’s always-connected society the feeling that you’re being watched is very real indeed. Because you probably are. Being under lockdown hasn’t really helped to allay this anxiety for Marcus here but he’s getting on with things as best he can. Aren’t we all.
Well, there it is. My first solo mission. I’m pretty pleased with the final product – from the skin tone to the wallpaper. Now I just need some sunshine again and I can move on with some modifications before whitewashing and starting all over again.
We haven’t seen one of the spheres out and about in a while. This one seems to have taken an intense interest in this young lady’s rainbow coloured hair and has been following her around for days now. Quite what it’s doing is entirely unknown.
Whilst most people may be a little concerned that a ominous orb has been shadowing their every move Emilia here doesn’t mind so much as it looks great as a mysterious background for her Instagram pictures. She’s been gaining followers at quite a rate but she has been having some rather odd thoughts of late…
She’s on a 40cm wide circular canvas board and was made using the magic of acrylic paint pouring, a touch of manual dexterity, some imagination, stencils and spray paint. She’s available to be rehomed so drop us a line if you’d like her to live with you…
It is said that if you gaze at the sunset and squint just so you can see Mount Olympus – home to the entire pantheon of Greek gods. Trying to achieve this so called ‘Golden Squint’ has led many a scholar to his doom but this lady seems to have nailed it without really trying. I wonder what she can see up there?
Cheers
id-iom
Title: The Golden Squint
Media: Pencil, gold leaf, pastel and acrylic
Size: A4
Well it would appear that I’m on something of a roll with 2 sided pictures. As with our previous one it’s on a 60 x 40cm wood panel and features laser engraving, stencils, spraypaint, paint pens, acrylic paint and laser cutouts. If that’s not enough I even managed to come up with my own patented industrial-looking hanging contraption from the hardware shop so it can be easily flipped to give your walls a new lease of life. How’s that for a win?
One side features a slightly aloof looking lady under an x-shaped logo for ‘The Golden Motto Series’ and the legend ‘People will stare. Make it worth their while.’ Which we all know is true. People are nosy and can’t help it. I guess it’s just the way we are. We love looking at just about anything be it out of the ordinary or not. Anyway, the thing I’m happiest about with this piece is managing to keep it pretty minimal (well, for us anyway) and restraining myself from adding more colour and embellishment. I’m happy with the result.
The other side was inspired by a quote from Nelson Mandela – ‘It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it’. It seems obvious but seem people seem to need that pointing out sometimes. I’ve taken him quite literally at his word on this one and so have a bemused looking lady holding the world in her hands with the stars and astral quotes providing a galactic background. Right on Nelson.
Sometimes, usually when I’m meant to be doing some work, I’ll catch myself staring out the window and am really not sure how long I’ve been doing so. I’d like to think it’s only a few seconds and that my brain has gone into some kind of immediate fugue state whilst my eyes wander around whatever vista is being presented in front of me but I really couldn’t be sure. It’s just as likely I’ve been staring gormlessly into space for the best part of an hour with no conscious thought interfering with my staring. I’d also like to say that when I come to from one of my staring episodes that I’m hit with some unusually brilliant insight into the workings of the universe but I don’t think that’s the case either. I’m sure sometimes it must have helped with some unconscious processing but I just couldn’t be sure. Anyway here’s a somewhat abstract version of what I think I must look like during a good stare…
A while ago we got in touch with Sr. X and asked if he’d be interested in doing a collaboration with us. We’d always liked his style and thought we may well be able to have some fun with a bit of street work. After knocking a few ideas round between us we settled on the idea of a stare off using the same image of a rather angry man as our starting point and seeing where we’d end up each doing it in our own style. So, with a somewhat unnatural day of sunshine promised for Sunday we packed up the id-iomobile and set off for the East End with hope in our hearts.
We’d had to guesstimate the size of the gates based on a photo but it turns out that we’d got the measurement just about spot on. So far, so good. Once we’d made the requisite amount of mess for his face it was just a matter or adding the stencil again and getting some shading in there. Meanwhile, Sr. X was adding his signature paint splashes that give a certain motion to the whole thing. At this point I remembered the LED’s we’d brought along so it was decided to have some laser eyes that would hopefully give the whole piece a bit of a lift when darkness fell. I’m not entirely sure how long they last but I’m hoping maybe a week or so (if they haven’t been stolen or removed by that time). I’m not sure who’s going to win the stare off but all the loser has got to look forward to is some permanent retinal damage…
The centaur lady in this piece looks a little unnerved as she rears up with her WWI era helmet on. The text reads ‘The horse stares at its captor, barely remembering the free kicks of youth’.
I’ve been trying to write this for a while and that’s currently the best i’ve got. Which is far below the usual lacklustre standard of my posts. Sometimes it’s easy to do the write ups that accompany our pieces and some days it’s like pulling teeth. Unfortunately today is proving to be one of the difficult days. Do you know what? I give up.
Cheers
id-iom
Title: The horse stares…
Materials: Watercolour, spray paint, stencil and an orange felt tip pen!
Size: A3
Here comes the sun… (Mixtape with slate cover art)
Here comes the sun… (Mixtape with slate cover art – front)
Here comes the sun… (Mixtape with slate cover art – back)
Back to the Future – Exclusive id-iom mix tape with original slate cover art! All for the grand price of nothing! You’ve just got to find it…
It’s 2013 and we’re going back to the future with our street art take on the classic mix tape. It’s a combination of that old school hop with that new school hip! Although we have had to move with the times so we’ve gone and burned it on CD.
Both members of id-iom have been djing for more years than we care to remember and rather than go the inevitable route of uploading our mixes to Soundcloud and have no-one listen to it we’ve gone all experimental and attempted to fuse our street art activities and proclivity for making mix tapes. We’ve completed the hour long mix and then done the slate cover art to compliment the tunes. From there it’s just a matter of putting it on the street and seeing what happens.
Only a very small number of copies exist and ideally we’re hoping that we’ll get a reply/critique/abuse via email from whoever found it and then hopefully they’ll upload it to the web and share it around for further praise/ridicule. Really we’re just too lazy to upload it ourselves and are hoping that someone else will do it for us. It looks better that way. 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.
It’s the size of a standard roofing slate and has the CD securely taped to the back so she should last a reasonable amount of time out in the open. It has been completed using the magic of paint pens, spraypaint and stencils. They are signed on reverse with our trademark id-iom stencil and logo.
We are also now open to submissions – so if you dj at all and fancy taking part just get in touch and we’ll see what we can do. You can find more information on our facebook page here.
Happy hunting!
I’ve somehow woken up today with an awful cold but that hasn’t stopped me from doing a little art, it cures the soul apparently. So even if it isn’t going to get rid of my cold it will clear my soul. I’ll take whatever I can get at the moment to tell you the truth. Sometimes when I’m writing these posts the Muse just deserts me and I’m left wondering how to fill a small paragraph or two. Today would be a pertinent example of it.
You can probably tell as I’m halfway into my second paragraph and I’m still prattling nonsense unrelated to the picture above. This picture was in fact a small experiment at a more sketchy style stencil using a limited colour palette. I just thought a simple picture of a pretty girl would do it, no need to wallow in grimy hate filled pictures today, it just doesn’t seem right. There, whilst not under the Muse’s direct control and a little bit ill, that’s about the best I can come out with. It’s not funny, merely related information about the piece. I can also tell you that it’s hopefully to be used as a part of a larger piece but was initially done to see how the style would look once it’s sprayed. That’s all I can manage. Even I know when it’s time to quit so cheery bye for today…
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
thisisidiom.wordpress.com 
You must be logged in to post a comment.