8/17/2012

Perth Street Art - 1 (Perth WA)


In our contemporary world, Art has become a Mass product, another commodity that needs to be sold and marketed, usually by middlemen, not the artists themselves, and bought by people who buy Art as it was a Gucci bag or an Alfa-Romeo -as a sign of status- or as an investment, in the best case as a whim.  Artists have to make a living out of their talent, but Art, the way I see it, the way I like it, is free in conception and genesis (no ties but you and your creative world) and gratis. In that regard, Street Art is what Art should be, especially when it is non-commissioned.

Perth Street Art is beautiful, colourful and very artistic. Our Street Art is not very subversive in its visual language as it moves around well-established formats and ways of expression. It is polished in forms and structure, rarely dirty, and it reflects the artistic tendencies in vogue among paper illustrators and comic book illustrators, just expressed on big walls. Our Street Art is not subversive in its message either, and it is more an artistic individual expression than a political or social way of protest. We are not San Francisco or New York, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Granada, or Barcelona, Melaka or Kuala Lumpur. Our street art is a reflection of what this country and this city is. We do not have the same culture, the same problems, issues, or lifestyle of those cities, our street art, per force, is going to be different.

There are a few regular artists who have left and leave their imprint on the walls of the city, with a cult following fan-base: Creepy, Stormie Mills, Rough, TwoOne, Beastman, Numskull, Robert Jenkins, Yok, Kid Zoom, Ryan Boserio, Daek, Hurben, Timothy Rollin, blackgreyviolet, Jeto, ROA, among others, which are talented artists painting on wall but exhibited authors too.  Some of them are locals, some others are visitors from the eastern states or from overseas.
 
There is a great deal of commissioned street art in Perth, mostly sponsored by government, city councils and Universities. However, non-commissioned pieces are spread in abandoned buildings, empty walls and public spaces throughout the city, some of them quite cute, artistic and even funny: murals, individual scenes, artistic tagging, simple tagging, stickers, and stencils can be found everywhere.

Business have also embraced Street Art as a way of cool, and they use themes and styles that suit the vibe, name or atmosphere of the place. It is a modern way of  patronage, of which Art History is full. On the other hand, movies have given an halo of funkiness and edge to street art, to the underground culture,  which is what many new places want to have because, well, Perth is not especially naughty for anything, but it is certainly becoming more edgy thanks to its Public Art. Examples can be found everywhere: The Flying Scotsman, Daily Planet, Lemon Lane, LTN - name it.

There are awesome murals in the Grand Theatre Lane, This Walk Talk and Wolf Lane (CBD), Street Art Gallery Building (Roe corner with Miligan St), Gold Lane (Off Rockeby St, Subiaco), various car parks and back streets in Northbridge and Highgate, some creative studios in North Perth an Northbridge, Collie St and Henderson St Mall (Fremantle), McGiver and Shenton Park's train Stations, Lemon Lane in Claremont, Williams Lane and LTN cafés walls. So many places all over Perth! Just open your eyes: Indoors, outdoors, on the roof, on the floor, on the wall, whatever, wherever, whenever.

I love illustration and magic worlds, I love comics and graphic arts, so I love Perth Street Art. What about graffiti?... 



  Two slideshows with commissioned and uncommissioned artwork

 
THE SECOND ONE

8/14/2012

Musing About: Signs that you are a Coffeeholic

I would say, if you say yes to more than ten items in my list, you are also a hardcore coffeeist.
  1. You think coffee addict is a too-strong definition for your liking of coffee. 
  2. You need at least two cups of coffee for your brain fully functioning in the morning.
  3. Ditto for you being able to talk properly.
  4.  You ponder about how life was before coffee became a commodity. Think about it!
  5.  You look in shock at people who confess they do not love coffee. Do they have a problem?
  6. You read the word coffee and feel an inexplicable urge to drink coffee.
  7. You think the word coffee is beautiful in any possible language.
  8. You leave home in the morning excited because you are heading to your favourite café to get get a proper cup of coffee.
  9. You drink more than two cups of coffee a day.
  10.  You love tea and tisanes but mostly drink coffee.
  11. You go out of your way to get your coffee or try a new cafe's coffee.
  12. You sniff up for coffee smell at passing by an open café.
  13. You take a takeway coffee to the cinema instead of other drinks.
  14. You delight at smelling the empty cup of the coffee you had.
  15. You almost cry when you find a Nescafè machine when travelling in remote parts of the world.
  16. You think instant coffee is one of the best inventions in the world.
  17. You think coffee in coffee bags is the second best thing in the world of coffee. 
  18. You think decaf coffee is the third best thing in the world of coffee.
  19. You get excited at seeing a beautiful coffee machine or traditional coffee grinders.
  20. You have childhood memories associated with coffee.
  21. You think barista is a brilliant profession.
  22. You like coffee flavour in lollies, cakes, ice-cream and liquors.
  23. You wish there was a perfume with a bit of coffee smell.
  24. You get excited at being given coffee beans to clean up you smell while perfume testing.
  25. You are fussy about the size of your cup and get cranky if it is small.
  26. Your coffee experience is enhanced by the container in which it is served.
  27. You have a list of beans brands that you love or hate with a passion.
  28. You drink coffee after 4pm or before going to bed.
  29. You consider a drama having to quit coffee for health or medical reasons.
  30. You think that flavoured coffees are a coffee derivative not proper coffee.
  31. Your iced coffee is generally a cold coffee prepared the usual way, without any ice added because ice is water, and too much water dilutes the coffee.
  32. You get annoyed at cups with too much froth, because there is less coffee in then.
  33. You know that you are expending too much money on coffee, but are happy  because you can afford it.
  34. You worry what is going to happen when you cannot afford paying for all the coffees you want. 
  35. You do not give four or five stars to any café unless the coffee is super-great. The most handsome barista will not make you forget how your coffee tastes like! Ha!
I am guilty of all...
How many did you score? Any other you feel it is missing and you'd like to add?

8/12/2012

Funky Cute Perth Blackboards

Perth is blooming with arty people, Arts and artsy blackboards, written with colourful chalks. New businesses are joining the "movement", and old ones are catching up, too, with chalkboards popping up like mushrooms in our Perthian urban forest. Forget about the traditional laminated ones with the logo, motto and open-close signs that are so widespread in Perth. Chalkboards are the latest coolest thing.

They are much more dynamic than the traditional ones - a cheap fun way of marketing any business in general by informing of opening hours, specials, sales, news, sending any message to the outer world or just a means to gave way to the creativity of the people behind the business. They are also more versatile and more beautiful! They have that old school feeling that is really charming. In general, they are cute with drawings, cartoons inspired characters, bold typos, and funny artsy details added to the written message. Some are truly artistic, others intriguing, others wordy and thoughtful, others kitsch, while others are as plain boring as the laminated ones. 

Blackboard spotting has become a visual hobby of mine when walking the streets.   When I take my camera or mobile out, people look at me as if I was landing from Pluto, but some of them really deserve my landing.

Keep up the good work and the creativity businesses of Perth!

A Little slideshow with some photos
 


Subiaco Railway Station (Subiaco, Perth WA)

Subiaco Square Road
13 62 13
Transperth

Buzzing with activity any time of the day, any day of the week, the Subiaco railway station is the only train station in Subiaco, and part of the Fremantle Railway Line. 

THE GOOD
- Subiaco Train Station is very clean and functional, quite open and luminous but still protected by a contemporary cool metallic structure and good lightning in the evening. 
- There are just two platforms, so it is easy to move around, and they have a simple and effective electronic information system.
- Moreover, the station is in the heart of the shopping and restaurant and café area, with several cafés, restaurants and a shopping centre at barely ten metres from the station. The vibrant Subiaco Street Markets, trendy Rockeby Road and the gorgeous St Joseph's Catholic Church are also a a few minutes walking distance from it.

THE DOWNS
- The multirider tagging machines are located outside, on the ground concourse level over the platforms not in the platforms. This is annoying at peak times, especially if you are tagging on and want to catch a train leaving in a few minutes but find a flood of people tagging off or on in front of you upstairs.
- The number of seating benches is limited. There is room for more.
- There are no public or pay toilets in the station. There is a close unisex public booth toilet very close at the corner between Subiaco Square Road and Brigid Road, but it is not good enough.
- There is no information booth in the premises, just a board with maps and info. 

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
- A toilet booth is needed. If people have an emergency, they could not get to the close-by public booth.
- There is space for at least for two more benches on each platform.
- More tagging machines needed, at least one on each platform. So the tagging is more fluid and faster at peak times.
- We like it tidy and clean, but also beautiful. Why not using the large grey ugly walls in the platform area as a canvas and have a mural painted on them?

8/11/2012

"Kirikou and the Sorceress" by Michel Ocelot (1998)

Kirikou et la Sorcière is a delightful French-Belgian traditional animation movie loosely based on a West-African folk tale.

The movie tells the story of newly born Kirikou, a special child who asks his mother to be born, and who, immediately after being born, starts talking, running, and offering a wise practical approach to life to his fellow villagers in their fight against Karaka, the beautiful wicked sorceress who has been impoverishing his village.

The story is entertaining and full  of magic, with great messages for children, but will enchant adults because is unique, it has soul and wit, it is clever and tells a West-African story that is respectful with that culture and philosophy of life. Even the approach to the wickedness of the sorceress is West-African, as Karikou tries to understand why Karaka is so evil to fix her, not to destroy her. Wining over and destroying are two different things, and the first gets better results  is a great message for kids. Even the ending of the movie is unexpected, still in tune with this same approach:  magical and very alien to Western Culture. 

The character of Kirikou is just adorable, a sweet know-it-all boy, and very naughty child at times. The rest of the characters are realistic, a mix of the human types we could find in a small African rural village.

The old-style flat animation is an artistic reinterpretation of the reality, in which landscapes, dresses, hairdos, architecture, and other elements directly mimic those of West Africa. That is, they are not a western modernised interpretation of them despite the movie being European. Ocelot used African Art as a direct and strong inspiration for the drawing of this film.  Especially beautiful is the detailed and artistic drawing of the landscapes -this is one of Ocelot's signature marks- in a naïf precious style, as eye-catching as the bright earthy bold colours of the film.

The English dubbing is lovey, as it was personally supervised by Ocelot. Still, when the characters sing, the wonderful original music and chants get lost a bit. The French original version with English subtitles is truly delightful.

Senegalese Youssou N'Dour and Cameroonian Manu Dibango provide an very cool, catchy and African soundtrack.

The movie being respectful with and true to the West-African reality, it depicts most women with their breasts uncovered, while Kirikou is naked during the whole movie, moving his bum and "willy" cutely. Puritans and morons of the world, especially out of continental Europe, thought that this was an offence and inappropriate for children viewing, and the screening of the film was banned in some countries; even the release of the DVD in the USA and the UK was not exempt from controversy either. Shocking but true. If you cannot explain to your child that mummy has breasts, that they produce milk, that they are a natural part of the human body, and that in some parts of the world they do not cover them, I feel sorry for your child. Children should be protected from this sort of people who try to "protect" them, and not vice versa. Show Kirikou to your kids, and seat side by side with them, to explain them what they are watching instead of parking them in front of a TV, unsupervised.

Seoul BBQ Café (Perth WA) - CLOSED

Shop 2/ 166 Murray St
Forrest Chase
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9221 1862

Seoul BBQ Cafe on Urbanspoon This open Korean barbecue café kiosk is occupying part of Forrest Chase's back corridors, and located in front of Crazy Clark's. There is a little kiosk with the counter and bbq kitchen, while the tables are spread by the wall and along the corridor. There is no waiter; so, once you pay, you get a number and wait for it to be called to go and collect your tray. 

Their meals include the most common Korean fast food specialities:  bibimpap  (bowl with a mix of rice, meat, an egg, some salad, and the very Korean sour cabbage Kimchi); Korean fried chicken ("karaage"), spicy barbecued squid and meats, grilled meat dishes ("bulgogi") etc.. The dishes are tasty, generous in size, and a decent quality for the price you pay. 

A set meal includes the main (tray with rice plus the meat/fish of your selection), plus three small sides (salad, miso soup, and bean sprouts). You can always order individual portions of marinated food, dumplings, or a bibimpap menu (with the rice bowl, miso soup and the chilli paste on the side just if you prefer to adjust the hotness to your palate yourself).

Average price is about 10 bucks, all menus below 15 bucks per meal.

The service is fast, even when the place is flooded with customers, which is most days at lunch time. They clean the place quite fast, and it is very clean and tidy despite the continuous movement of people. The staff are matter of fact, still very friendly and ready to help and explain anything to you.

The two main downs of the place are that they open just for dinner on Fridays, and that the seating area id in the open and, therefore, affected by the changes in temperature and pigeons occasionally wander around. 

This is not a glamorous gourmet place, but they deliver simple tasty Korean food cooked by Koreans at bargain prices in the heart of the city. Most recommended for fast lunches that are consistently good.

UPDATE
This place has closed down.

8/09/2012

1Up Microcinema Cinema (Perth WA) - CLOSED

312B William St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9328 3771
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Thu 10:00 - 18:00
    Fri 10:00 - 21:00
    Sat 10:00 - 17:00
    Sun 12:00 - 17:00

1Up Microcinema is one of those innovative and independent businesses that have a holistic approach to vintage. They sell modern nostalgia not granny stuff. They show Indie movies not mainstream stories. They sell clothing for edgy people, not edgy clothing for normal people. 
 
By the day, 1UM is a fashion shop for boys and girls who are cheeky, daring, cool and colourful. 1UMC has a great selection of funky female an male clothing. Cheaper than you can expect and with a mix of styles that go from the hyper-funky to the daring, from the cute to the cool, from the black and white to the super-colourful, from the hyper-sexy to the hyper-comfy. Prices are also cheaper than I expected. A pair of Ziggy jeans for 90 bucks is a good deal, I think. They also sell super-cute nostalgic toys with characters from 1990s cartoons and TV shows.

By the night, 1UM is also a super-cool cute and nostalgic cinema. It mostly shows independent films, documentaries and short films. You can visit on your own or book the whole place for your family and friends and have an unique personalised experience. It is so very cozy. They even have beanbags! Like a home-theatre room, but bigger. Like an underground cinema but smaller and in the heart of Perth. Their candy bar is actually full of candies! You can buy a few of funky sweets, like the colourful pop tarts, plenty of chocolate bars and other pocketable sweets, and take them up to enjoy with your movie. ]

1UM is also a vintage gaming place with two areas devoted to video-games that are already part of video-gaming history. Oh Gosh, I was transported to my young-errrr days and my three brothers competitions on those very games.They regularly organise Mario Kart competition-dating events ,too, for you and your future girl!

Not enough? 1UP has a couple of owners who have created something unique in Perth and, despite so, act like normal people and are lovely. That is super-cool, to me.

JUST A NOTE
The business is changing its name from 1Up Microcinema to Brown Class Cinema. Their Facebook site shows the name name. I love their original name! On the other hand, Brown is never a good colour for a cinema. What about purple!