Lascaux du monde

Beeton, Ontario

2011-10-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

A guest blog post from Yohn!

Lascaux is remembered because it was something new for humanity; an evolution in our brains that started off this whole thing called art and culture. While we in the 21^st century may impose ‘timeless’ narratives and themes of human nature onto these works, what is actually depicted is deeply rooted in the ‘pre-history’ huntergatherer world. When the artists set their hands to cavewall they did not paint spaceships, or computers, or molatov cocktails. They are Paleolithic images. The artists painted what they knew, believed, and what was generally of importance to them. Thus their graffiti is for us a window into their minds. It says something about them and their world.

The only piece of graffiti in my town is pictured above. It similalrly ‘says’ some things about the people living in this place, and about some art in general.

It is a picture of a man with a goatee and mullet, chewing a piece of grass, giving the middle finger, with a speech-bubble caption reading, though faded, “Ya can’t beat Beeton.” In the background is the command, typical of small-town conservatism, NO GRAFFITI ALLOWED.

Granting all the wonders of a small town, they can nonetheless be incubators of isolated and narrow-minded people. There is no better archetype that i know of than ‘the hick’ which captures this idea. The hick’s mantra is “My view of the world is the only correct one, and, if yours is different, it is wrong. You can’t beat me.” Of course, the joke is that the hick is always uneducated and out of fashion; two signs that their steadfast claim to what is right is decidedly behind the times. It is a parody of stupid, unfashionable rural people who somehow manage to still be assertive.

This one piece of summarizing graffiti is a message of caution to the inhabitants of Beeton; be aware, there is a lot more out there. The very act of art lets us know this: There are rules, NO GRAFFITI ALLOWED, but they can be broken. There is the world we know, but others to explore.

This is why i think most, if not all, “great art” is mind-expanding. It offers an insight, or new perspective, draws our attention to something we didnt see. True, we may turn to some art as history merely. But the art that we remember, that inspires, is taking us somewhere- somewhere we hadnt thought of before. It is an evolution or mutation. This is why art generally, and graffiti specifically, is ahead of, or critical of, its time, and why non-progressive small towns do not like it.

It is why my town choose to paint over its one piece of graffiti.

The Junction,Toronto

2011-08-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

found at the junction in toronto, canada. some nice bright orange stencils no? i wonder what the one on the right is supposed to be...

Je suis fière d’être Québecoise

2011-03-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

except I'm not. But here's some work from Quebec City by those who are!

59 Rivoli

2010-08-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

I promised another post from Paris a long time ago. But life got in the way.

Steph and I met up in Paris back in March, and went to check 59 Rivoli, which Steph had heard about from a friend. The city lets artists squat in this house on Rivoli (otherwise a street with lots of shopping) as long as they open it to the public during the day. It was a house full of graffiti, and it was beautiful.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2010-07-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

I went to Abu Dhabi, UAE in April to visit a good friend who lives there. There isn't much graffiti in the city but my friend pointed out the one spot she knew there was some! Here are the pics:

Belleville, Paris

2010-05-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

I was staying in the Belleville district (19e arrondissement) for my last weekend in Paris. It was my first time there and I have to say it's probably one of the coolest parts of the city. It's away from all the absolute insanity of the tourist hotspots and it just feels more real. Here a few snaps from the area.

écrit à Lyon

2010-05-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

a few friends and I were in Lyon at the end of March. Here is a bit of what I captured there.

Les murs de Paris

2010-04-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

There are two posts I'd like to make from Paris. The first, is this one with random graffiti. The second will follow shortly, and you'll see. ;)

Montmartre, Paris, France

The steps of Sacré Coeur, Montmartre, Paris, France

Red Light District, Paris, France

Montmartre, Paris, France

When in Rome

2010-01-31T12:43:00.000-08:00

Rome is a city FULL of graffiti. Here are a couple of favourites from my recent trip.

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Shout Out

2009-12-11T01:42:00.001-08:00

Shout out to this pic from Ghent 'cause it was also featured on Wooster Collective recently.

Hallo from Ghent

2009-12-11T01:17:00.000-08:00

About a month and a half ago I was on a week long trip to Belgium/the north of France. I have a bunch of good photos of that trip to put up here but for now here are a few from Ghent, Belgium. I have a friend that goes to school there and he encouraged me to visit, it definitely was worth it! I highly recommend a visit to this cool chic chill Belgium city. Only half an hour away from Brussels, it's close enough to visit a bigger city if you want, but the lively studenty atmosphere and the 200 or so pubs, bars and clubs are enough to keep you occupied in Ghent!

John Lennon Peace wall

2009-11-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

I am a guest writer in this blog- Stephanies friend SAHAR :). I recently went to Prague for a little holiday and paid a visit to the John Lennon peace wall. We had a picture of the wall in one of our tour books which was only dated 1 years old, but none of the same graffiti were to be found. Just shows how many visit the wall and paint over it.

The wall is sorta hidden so make sure you bring a good map if you ever want to visit it. It took us a lot longer than we wanted to find it.

Saint Quentin Snippets

2009-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Saint Quentin is a small city (population of about 60 000) just north of Paris. I've recently moved here to work and hope to bring you some photos from France and the surrounding countries in the months to come!

Here are a few of my first snippets from Saint Quentin. There isn't too much surface area available to graffiti here, but I've managed to find some artwork as well as plenty of "tagging".

Magic Mushrooms and the like

2009-10-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

I just recently moved to England, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to be specific. I do promise to search out more graffiti here soon, but for now I give you the jems from my trip to Whitley Bay.

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK

New Links Section

2009-09-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Since my camera has been slowly dieing for the past month and I've been unable to update my graffiti photo collection, I've decided to add a new graffiti links section to our blog! Check it out on the right under "More Neat Graffiti Sites". I've only posted two links so far. The first is a section of the popular Toronto blog, 'Torontoist,' which focuses on graffiti art around the Toronto area. The Vandalist posts a new photo of Toronto graffiti each Friday that has been sent in by a reader. The goal is to bring awareness to Toronto's graffiti scene as it often gets overshadowed by other large North American metropolitan scenes such as New York, Montreal and Los Angeles. The second link, discovered by Hezabelle, highlights street art from around the world and showcases specific artists' work. Hopefully our blog will have become as international as Wooster Collective by the end of the year!

Snaps from my wanderings

2009-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

I was trying to think of a way to link these photos together, but there really isn't any. I just snapped them on some random days I was wandering downtown because I thought they were artistically interesting or aesthetically pleasing... or maybe because I just thought they were cool. Enjoy!

stroll down spadina

2009-07-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

After volunteering at a festival on Bloor St. West a few weekends ago I had to walk to the Eaton Centre to meet up with a friend. It's quite a long walk, but luckily I had my camera with me and made use of the time by taking pics of graffiti along the way. The wall piece below I found in an alley straight off Spadina. Everything about it just really struck me - the colour scheme, the detail, the subjects - that I thought it deserved its own little post on here. There's a piece in this post which I think may be done by the same artist, the style is similar.

High Up

2009-06-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

I've taken to carrying my camera around with me when I go out in the city now, just in case I run into some graffiti. Here are just a few shots of full wall pieces I've found along the way. I'm hoping to find some more.

by College and Spadina.

on a side street off Queen.

The Painted Back Alley

2009-05-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

I suppose you never do know what you're going to find hiding behind your favourite haunts in Toronto. After a cheap meal at Java house a few Fridays ago, some friends and I, unsure of what to do with our night, set out down the street discussing our options - only to be stopped short by a group of three biking policemen armed with j-walking fines. A little disheartened by our newly found expenses we took to wandering the sidewalk aimlessly. I'd noticed the graffiti in the alleys of Queen St. West before but hadn't really thought to explore it thoroughly. With no new plans on hand, we decided to head into the back alley and found ourselves completely surrounded by painted walls. The following pics are my picks from the 100 or so photos we took that night. It's hard to recreate the effect of walking down a long stretch of completely painted back alley, so instead I've decided to show the artwork I found most striking. The lesson learned from that Friday night? You never know where an unexpected j-walking fine can lead you, my thanks to the city's "mounted" police.

Caught in an alleyway

2009-04-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

I found these two at the edge of an alleyway on Queen St. West, Toronto. They go well with Hezabelle's previous post.

Mount Washington

2009-04-24T13:19:00.001-07:00

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

You're just jealous 'cause we're young and in love.

This reminds me of Stone Dead Forever.

Our love did slowly fade and now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all....

Abbey Road

2009-04-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

London, England. August 2007.

There are places I remember, in my life...

All these places have their moments, with lovers and friends...

"Living is easy with easy closed. IMAGINE. Hez Aug '07"

Bienvenue à Lascaux du Monde: The love child of bloggers Hezabelle and steph

2009-04-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Lascaux du Monde was born both out of a shared passion for street art and the need for two friends to stay in touch despite the current and future distances between us. Since our high school days, Hezabelle and I have both been slightly obssessed with an uncontrollable desire for adventure. Although very minimally satisfied by our past long term stays in both Ireland and Sweden (respectfully), we still feel the need to explore. Our planned 'embarkments' to both the U.K. and France have inspired us to create 'Lascaux du Monde' where we will send eachother virtual 'cartes de postes' of the graffiti art we encounter along the way.

To kick-start the blog here are some scraps from my past travels:

Berlin, Germany

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Braşov, Romania

Venice, Italy

'I Love you' wall: Verona, Italy