Let’s Paint The Riviere Saint Pierre Across Turcot!!

Turcot won’t be available for long. There are hardly any cities in the world capable of doing this project – who has that kind of land empty so close to the city center? Does anyone have any ideas on how to proceed?

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Banksy

Just a tad late but this weekend he organized The Cans Festival in London.

From Wiki,

Banksy is a well-known pseudo-anonymous^[1] English graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol^[1] and born in 1974,^[2] but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details.^[3] According to Tristan Manco, Banksy “was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier engineer, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s.”^[4] His artworks are often-satirical pieces of art that encompass topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.^[5] Banksy’s work was borne out of the larger Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.” More here.

Probably thought of as a graffiti artist by many, Banksy takes it well beyond simple tagging. He has worked on a few continents including work on the West Bank Wall in Israel in 2005. Story here.

Banksy has been perhaps the most talked about artist on earth in recent years, and some of his works have sold for over 200,000 dollars. In fact there is a site that directly compares his work with that of Andy Warhol.

There is already a Flickr page with pictures from The Cans Festival.

Banksy is very concerned with social justice issues as seen in his “mainifesto” which is actually an extract from the diary of one of the first british soldiers to liberate nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

A couple of videos from this weekend.

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Patti Smith Art Show In Paris

Long time rocker is now a visual artist too with a show that just opened in Paris. Called “Land 250″ the show focuses on Poloroids, but also includes drawings, and spans the years 1965 to the present.

Patti Smith is also a well known activist concerned with human rights and the environment.

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Great Blogs Of Fire!

Well, maybe just cool blogs actually. Here are some that I have come across recently that I would like to pass on.

In The Rest Of The World is a photoblog by Andrew N. Grimes and family that has photographs from around the world over the last 30 years in over 100 countries.

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Renal Failure is a brilliant twist on everyday reality. Besides who wouldn’t like reading about characters like Samurai Cathy and Avonia the Wiccan Pimp? Here is an excerpt.

Polled by the Patriarchy

“Tina the Lesbian had a unusual visitor at her front door today.

“Hi, would you like to participate in a short poll?” says Lance Patriarchy, the living embodiment of male dominance and oppression. Usually women can’t see him, they can only feel his oppressive nature. But for some reason lesbians can see him.

“About what?” says Tina the Lesbian, wary of conversing with Lance, for the patriarchy is crafty.

“The Democratic primary candidates for President,” says Lance Patriarchy. “Which one will you be voting for? Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?”

“Obama,” answers Tina the Lesbian.

“Really?” says Lance Patriarchy, surprised.

“Yeah, really.”

Lance whistles then starts writing on his clipboard. “Okay…”

“What? What’s that all about?” asks Tina the Lesbian.

“Well, I had you pegged for Hillary,” says Lance Patriarchy.

“Why? Just because she’s a woman?” says Tina the Lesbian, slightly offended.

“Well, it is your gender’s best chance to put finally get one of your own into the most powerful position in the world,” says Lance Patriarchy.

“I just think Obama’s better than her,” says Tina the Lesbian.

“But how can you hope to defeat me if you won’t even vote for a woman candidate?” asks Lance Patriarchy.

“Because we’re waiting for a better one,” says Tina the Lesbian.

“Hmm… well, thank you for your time,” says Lance Patriarchy, looking a bit crestfallen.

“You sound almost upset about this,” says Tina the Lesbian.

“Well, usually I’d be happy about this,” says Lance Patriarchy. “But I was kind of looking forward to have a little verbal jousting with you. Then you had to go and pick my candidate.”

“So you’re saying I’m siding with the Patriarchy?” Tina the Lesbian says.

“Pretty much, yeah,” says Lance. “How does that make you feel?”

*blink* *blink* *blink*

“Shut the hell up,” says Tina the Lesbian. “You’re just trying to fuck with me.”

“Of course, I’m the Patriarchy,” says Lance. “But you do have to admit, it does sting a little knowing that you’re voting against the best chance for a female President ever.’

“Like I said, we’re just waiting for a better woman,” says Tina the Lesbian. “Unlike your camp that just throws any idiot up on the ballot.”

Lance gives Tina a smile and a wave. “Thanks for the tussle. See you later. I need to go make sure there’s still an unattainable standard of beauty for women to be pressured to strive for.”

Tina is going to stop answering her front door for a while.”

*

Darkly Dreaming David is a Montreal based blog that will, among other things, report on it’s author’s job over the next two years. Sounds pretty lame, right? Well, this guy will be the IT person for the American tour of Kooza by Cirque du Soleil! Here is a shot he took in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Leslie’s Blog (have known this one forever it seems actually) is a look through words, photographs, and illustrations from the wonderfully eclectic life of Leslie Hawes.

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And, finally, the Wooster Collective has a blog that looks at street art in New York City and around the world.

Enjoy!

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Meta Meme

A few weeks ago dreamlistener posted this image

And a few days later I strolled by and took this shot.

Anyone else?

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Fish Heads

Noticed someone has stenciled some fish heads on a cement block in this spot.

And, thanks to Raincoaster for bringing this classic back to our attention, Fish Heads!

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Outlining The Shore

In 2006 artist Ledia Carroll outlined Lago Dolores or Mission Lake in the Mission District of San Francisco which disappeared when the neighborhood was built in 1776.

Restore Mission Lake Project

I have had the idea to trace an outline of the Riviere Saint Pierre which once flowed through Turcot Yards. Of course Otter Lake could also be outlined. If anyone wants to give this a try, please email me at neathatturcot@yahoo.ca

Or we could also ask Nicole Dextras to help re-create a frozen river or lake we could all skate away on.

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Recent Graffiti

 

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Cyens

Nice batch of images from this artist/urban explorer.

I have said elsewhere that there is not much in the way of paintings or drawings of Turcot Yards on the net, so here are some much appreciated ones.

When “DA” was the only large work around.

Advertising towers went down in November 2005.

Stairwell from the old tower.

Interesting framing.

East entrance of Dead Dog Tunnel at night.

To see more of Cyens work go here.

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