Commissioned Wall Piece …Ooooo it’s pretty!

Last weekend I was commissioned to create some wall art for Durham’s City of Culture bid launch which took place at Empty Shop, an art space in Durham (which I also happen to run!).

I was asked to interpret their logo in a way which was accessible to all – so I did!

I also threw in a few references in to what I think the culture bid means to me, like the awesome independent music scenes that are happening and also a reference to the old Robin’s Cinema building which is sitting empty and could be an amazing venue for something, well, in the right hands!

Since these small scale pockets of creativity don’t really get a shout out too often I figure I’ll give a few of them a plug…

Empty Shop – An independent art space in Durham with a unique approach to the otherwise monotonous art world

Discount Horse – A group of boys and girls from Durham who are pretty much a self sufficient musical tour de force

Jam Jah – A monthly music night held in Allington House giving us a great alternative to the soul destroying clubs of Durham

Sex Deaths of Karen Novotny- These two guys are not frightened of putting riffs alongside washes of noise. Better than wtaching 2 mediocre breakdancers do the same thing every week!

That’s it for now folks – NOW LOOK AT MY PICTURES!!!

I am available for commissions so if you would like some wall pieces done get in touch…

Email: stufflooksgood@ratpasty.com

A Bit More Brass…

A few more Brass Festival  pics here, prob the last from this set. If you want to see more get in

Brass Festival website

L’Imperial Kikiristan website

Brass Festival: A Story in Pictures

This was the best part of the day when I followed Imperial Kikiristan at the Brass festival in Durham – I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Imperial Kikiristan website

Brass Festival website

Brass: Durham International Festival – A few Photos

The Durham International Brass Festival kicked off on Saturday and I was volunteering so I took along my camera.

There’s a whole bunch and the festival is on for another week and a half so I’ll add more later but just thought I would stick a few up now.

This guy is from the Band that I chaperoned around the festival. They are called Imperial Kikiristan and they are AWSEOME!

This photo was taken just after they were chased by a security guard for playing on top of a bin – when backup arrived they ran form the scene mimicking a police siren on their sax and set up on top of this bin down the street instead (just out of shot)…

Brass Festival website

Imperial Kikiristan website

This next photo I really like. It looked good in colour, B&W and re-touched but I really liked the idea of making it feel a bit ‘Seventies’. It was a super hot day and reminded me of old photos of may parents during that crazy heatwave that happened back then. Also with it being a brass festival it sounds a bit ‘old fashioned’ even though for the past three years it hasn’t been at all, but you know with the whole colliery bands and miners gala and all of that – it kind of felt right.