One Last Mural From my Trip to Canada

http://www.gopherit.net/jeffhtml/jeffking1.html    

 

Born in 1961 in Grimsby, Ontario. Jeff King was one of those children who worried excessively about what he was going to be when he grew up. One night, a little voice spoke to him and it said "Jeff...... Jeff.... I want you to become an artist... I want you to paint marine wildlife". Jeff already had a great love for animals and marine life in particular. As the years passed, he prepared himself by becoming an expert scuba diver and underwater photographer. He began to paint everything he could get his hands on. But it was rough going. He practiced on gold fish, but the paint wouldn't stick. Tropical fish already were colorful enough and they were slippery to hold. The marine mammals were difficult to find and he was often thrown from the water or beaten with flukes (tail fin). Besides people seemed to like the beluga's white. Jeff felt by now he had misunderstood the voice that had inspired him so long ago?

 

After careful thought and deep meditation it came to him. CANVAS! yes I can paint marine life on canvas!....

This snippet doesn't precisely match the pictures that follow. But I love the humor in it.

 

I love when a mural comes with such detailed information.  Too bad websites don't always last as long as paint.

 

Visit to Canada

I found two Murals that incorporate graffiti writing. They are located somewhere east of Victoria BC's China Town. They are signed "Kwota," and dated "13". The level of detail in these murals gives me the impression that they were commissioned. There are links to other graffiti work that incorporates the word Kwota at the bottom of this post. Kwota is most likely the moniker of one or more graffiti artist/s.  More images can be found in a Google Image search for Kwota.

I like to imagine that only one person is using the word Kwota in their work.  If I could be sure of that then I could say that the pieces that I captured represent a major evolution in the artists work. 



 

This mural seems to say MATTER.

I'm not sure about this one.

 

http://graffd.com/kwota-tag/  

Kwota Graffiti image on Website That Maps Graffiti in Toronto

http://www.graffiti.org/vanc/vancouver_7.html

Kwota appears in graffiti image Copyrighted in 1997.  The Page name is Art Crimes: Vancouver 7.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26761583@N05/4149749917/in/photostream/

An image titled Kwota dc with the comment, “Get a new name, it’s already taken.  Since the early 90’s…”

Visit to Canada

This is a mural I found somewhere east of Victoria BC's China Town.  I originally thought it was an image of the lady of justice covered in stickers.  Upon closer inspection I found that it is made up of individual panels painted by different people who had agreed on an overall image-- but also each added something of their own.  I imagine that the construction of this mural was done by a group of young people going through the juvenile justice system of Canada.  Though I don't know for sure. 

 

 

Close Ups





This panel has four quotes on the themes of justice and peace written around the sides-- with a quote by Thomas Jefferson in the center.  The Jefferson quote deals with human possibility.     

 

In this block a figure appears to be climbing onto the hilt of lady Justice's sword, trailing greed, hatred, addiction, and violence behind him.

 

 

The phrase "Land of the Free and Brave" is one of three things that remind me of America in this mural.  The other two are the Thomas Jefferson quote I talked about above-- and the head of Abraham Lincoln which can be found in the top two images. 

 

 

 

CZ



I found out that the CZ’s in these two images, and the other ones that have made it into my past posts, are an artist’s Moniker. The artist is pretty good at making their mark around Olympia. Now that I am paying attention to such things the person behind the CZ’s really feels like a part of the local culture.

Recurring Creature



Description: Two Horns, Four Sort of Q Shaped Eyes, T Shaped Nose, Dracula Style Teeth

I have showed this first little devil before.  But it is interesting to show the other three versions.  I really like the version with the horns but I’m seeing more and more that don’t have them.  Maybe it isn’t intended to be a devil after all.  Though, it looks like each creature could have been drawn by a different hand.  So it’s harder to say.

Description: Four Sort of Q Shaped Eyes, Arrows Curving Down to the Right and Left, More Space Between Eyes and T Shaped Nose,  More Space Between Nose and Dracula Style Teeth

Description: Four Eyes, Arrow on the Right Side Only, No Nose, Still Has Those Nice Pointy Teeth

I just noticed that all the sets of eyes follow the same pattern.  They are circles with lines that enter them from the bottom.  Only the first and fourth have strait lines that make them look like Q’s.  The second Circle has two lines that make an upside down V, which are the first two lines of a capital N.  The third circle has the last line of the capital N and an extra parallel line. 

Description:  This One is More Loopy, Has no Nose, Has Rounder Middle Teeth and Narrower Fangs, and Lines Instead of Arrows Pointing to the Left and Right of the Eyes -- The Horned Creature at the Top Also Has Lines Instead of Arrows. 

 

 

Quality Over Quantity

I didn't take the volume of pictures I usually like to this past week.  But this shot is a prize.  It isn't very often that anything worthy of posting results from snapping pictures of crows in the sky.

Posting Old Photographs on a Low Productivity Week

I didn’t have a whole lot of energy or inspiration this past week.  One or another of the illnesses everyone has been hearing about this year broke into my apartment.  It’s a good time to post some old Evergreen free wall pictures I haven’t gotten around to yet. 

I can still find the alien I stumbled on in 2009, and here is another one of those CZ tags I have been finding around town.

This little devil caught my eye.  The hourglass figures that can be found in the last three images on this post reminded me of the work of the painter Joan Miro.  But my boyfriend is also a Miro fan, and he feels like this little devil is more Miro's style. 

And here is a close up of a second little devil.  I have been noticing this one all over the place in the last couple of weeks.

I love these little running hourglasses.

The words "Kill All" are usually followed by the word "Cops" or "Rapists," when they are written around the Evergreen campus.  The words and the hourglass figure next to them appear to have been written in the same medium.  I wonder what position or class of people the hourglass figure could represent. 

The hourglasses all have the number 12 and two 7's.  The sevens aren't all arranged directly next to each other.