Random. Street. Art.

/ June 13, 2023

Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Near Canal St, New York.

A Shade of Moebius. Paris. XIIIth arrondissement. Artist: Malakkai.

Coatlicue, the Goddess of snakes. (Left.) Tepoztlán, Mexico.

A man’s (and a woman’s) best friends… Place Saint-Michel, Paris.

Insight 1. Acapulco.

“Nurture peace, listen to science, practice the order of truth.” San Francisco. Near Mission street.

I suspect each sentence may say something different. The Spanish version says something like “Always peace. Think. Take responsibility for your education. Let the spirit guide you.”

Anybody who can read some of the other scripts and languages, be my guest, “enlighten” us. 🙏🏻

A goldfish memory. Bogotá, Colombia.

Insight 2. Artist: Jallal. Paris. Lots of his works near Beaubourg, but not exclusively. This van was unexpected.

“Sorry is not enough”. (c)ourtesy Alex. Montreal.

Daydreaming. Acapulco.

Honey, have you pulled the curtains? Paris. Ménilmontant Theatre.

Eyes without a face. (Billy Idol). Or ‘Insight 3’. Bogotá, Colombia.

“The scream of the butterfly.” The Doors. Paris. Latin Quarter. (I know, I’ve used it before…)

“In your eyes.” Peter Gabriel. (‘Insight 4’). Mexico city.

“Je déteste les jours où je n’aime plus rien.” (I hate the days when I don’t like anything anymore.) Mr. Cohen. Montreal. (c)ourtesy Alex. Artists: Gene Pendon, El Mac, 13 assistants, 240 cans of paint… (Or so I’m told.)

This is the second time I am presented with a picture of this wonderful mural of Leonard Cohen. Different angles though. I hope to see it some day, in person. Meanwhile: Let’s hum a few words of an old song of his.

“So long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.”

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112 thoughts on “Random. Street. Art.”

  6. Excellent collection of street art. I wholeheartedly agree with the in San Francisco mural! And Cohen must never be gorgotten. I played his music a few days ago (I’m leaving the table, I’m out of the game) and I shook my head. No mr Cohen, you are still here. Tot ziens Brian.

    Reply

    • Dankje wel Peter. It is strange isn’t it in our little community of bloggers, spread across the world, how we have so many tastes in common. Cohen is one. And yes he’s still here. As long as one of us remembers his songs.
      Tot ziens

      Reply

    • PS. I am very much convinced street art is changing the world. Not tags or graffiti, street art. I saw a Banksy in Paris, a few years back. Challenging indeed.

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      • My feeling is based on the total deconstruction of “conventional” art in the 20th century by Picasso, Braque et al, all the way to Pollock. After them, there was nothing left to paint. You go to the Museum of Modern Art in NY, (which I adore) they’re all dead. So where are the new “Moderns”? On the street. 😉 Banksy is one.

      • Very true. Though it seems to me (I might be wrong) that the first half of the 20th century was so destructive it precluded any significant artist to really emerge in the second half. With exceptions. Nikki de St-Phalle being one…

      • The events of what later historians may call The Fifty Years Wars (and then argue whether it was actually Sixty Years or Seventy Years) left marks that are deep within the Western Experience and echoes in its consciousness.
        (I understand that Nikki de St-Phalle used to shoot at paintings).
        Again It may well take later monumental works of literature in this case by Art Historians to fully review the impact on all of the arts, and the impacts within the impacts (like ripples in a pond). Of course such a work will be contradicted by other historians 🙂.

      • Historians will always argue won’t they? 1945 was a landmark. 1989 another of many. As a “Frog”, looking back, 1981 and the election of MItterrand was another. Today’s France is light-years away from the France I knew when I started College. (1970!!!)
        And yes, Nikki shot at paintings. Interesting…
        Now since we’re observers inside the model our vision is necessarily distorted. My only hope is that new actors (in all fields) will soon emerge, and take other -unforeseen-courses… (In all fields again…)
        Take care. (American sense. Brit sense is a tad different. LOL)

      • To escape from of the wasteful, hateful and pettiness which are facets of Human societies I like to visit the Cosmological and its Opposite The Quantum, places where Human Failing count for nothing and yet we must dance to their tides.
        One lesson is that all is dynamic, and will always be in flux. It can be supposed, therefore, your hope will be realised, and will always be realised.
        You take care too
        (I think in the Un-united Kingdom we are generally moving to the American ‘Take Care’ instead of our more stern admonishment to ‘TAKE CARE’, that is being replaced by ‘Have A Care’….by those not fixated by text-speak🤔)

      • Not familiar, apart form Quantum theory which flies way above my head… 😉
        Yes all is dynamic. A recent lesson I learnt, or did I? is that Peace is probably not the opposite of War but quite possibly a consequence. In other words War is a condition of Peace. Only when survivors have exhausted most ways of tearing each others throats can Peace emerge… Only not so much for those who were killed in the process. I did write something along those lines a while ago. I can send you the link if you like. Or care? 😉
        So as they say, South of the Mason-Dixon line: “Ye be good naw, ye hear?”

      • That’s one of my other interests (near obsession), International Relations relating to History, Politics and Conflict.
        I would be very interested in your link.
        Send it on down.

      • History is a major subject. Much neglected at school anywhere. No way to understand politics or conflict (aren’t those synonyms? 😉) without History.
        Looking for the link right now.

      • Heck! That was a very powerful anthem to Hope. The conversations between the men although brief was filled with meaning. ‘Never again’ were dominant words, the Hope.
        The anonymity of the time, place, the status and identity of the men adding to universal random horror of war. Which all suddenly stops. I did like the suddenness of that event, underscores the futilities that war can engender.

        Such bonds can grow up in quiet areas of a front line, even to the extent of senior officers complaining about fraternisation and a ‘live and let live attitude’ in some sectors.
        The stark and bleak illustrations of the wreckage of war adds to the whole atmosphere.
        Very good work

      • Thank you. It’s an old story I had in my head. Thinking more of the border between France and Germany, but any border would so…
        I put it down on “paper”, thinking of Ukraine of course. The thing is, after every war, those who survived swear it won’t happen again. But eventually, they die, or the memories fade away, and others think they can win… Tsss.
        Take care

      • And a lot does depend on the nature of the war and those involved. Some leave wounds which do not heal and thus prepare the ground for the next one. Others do indeed fade away into a cultural background: After all those centuries of warfare, these days the concept of military confrontation between the UK and France exists only in the plot of a satirical farce- may the concept never leave those realms.
        War, though, tragically as a concept and a choice remains with us.
        Many years ago I read a quote from an interview with a American soldier of WWII, whose role was the processing of the dead. I cannot recall his exact words but these are an approximation:
        ‘The dead have a particular smell, like nothing else. You know what I think? If more folk smelt that, there’s be less wars’
        You take care too.

      • Very true. I am well aware of the thousand years or so of war between France and England. I always “joke”, that we know each other so well, because we have fought so much… 😉 Now, hopefully that is a thing of the past. Same goes with Germany.
        I don’t know about the smell, but I can imagine… The so-called “leaders” should be sent to smell… But that ain’t gonna happen, right?
        Have a nice Sunday…

      • Maybe we finally realised the only useful way to carry out conflict was through trade and sport.
        No, it ain’t gonna happen not when some senior military officers can rise without having to face the business end of weaponry.
        Enjoy your Sunday.😀

  19. Pingback: Check out all the street art from Equinoxio | Rethinking Life

  22. These are all excellent but I especially love Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Daydreaming in Acapulco and In your eyes in Mexico City. And it’s always good to hear Leonard Cohen too.

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  24. You showed us some really beautiful specimens, thank you!
    I love the song, but my favourites of Cohen are “Bird on the wire”, which by the way I also have in Spanish with Mari Trini (como un gavilán), and “Lady Midnight”. I don’t think he has written anything I don’t like though …

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  25. Je ne sais pas lequel je préfère. Je crois que je les aime tous 🙂
    (Je ne connaissais pas cette chanson. Elle a fait monté mes larmes aux yeux.)

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    • La sélection a été difficile, mais le résulta, je crois est bon. 😉
      Ah! Marianne… (Je m’en voudrais de te faire pleurer, mais… c’est superbe…) way before tour time. J’ai dû acheter cet album en ’70 ou ’71… Magnifique.
      Allez. Encore une autre:

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  26. Love this art, and I adore Leonard Cohen.
    I’ve been meaning to reblog one of your street art posts, and I will soon.
    Thank you, Brian!

    Reply

    • Hi Resa. You showed me that mural of Cohen. Whom I adore too. I remember my father listening to a record of him I had, around ’71-72. He said “Who’s this guy? He can’t sing…” 😉. No point in arguing…
      Be my guest to reblog any street art you like. I would be honoured…
      Cheers.

      Reply

      • LOL – He can’t sing…” It’s true, but he was a poet using music to help convey his words’ meanings.
        Dylan couldn’t sing, either.
        Both are poetic geniuses.
        30 years ago, the Canadian music awards… The Junos … awarded him “Male Vocalist of the Year”. (not song, not album, not video, but vocalist)
        He laughed when he accepted and said Only in Canada could I win vocalist!

      • All very true. Including Dylan. (Baez sang for both).
        I didn’t know that story. Makes me think of another Cohen. His songs and words were so strong, one has difficulty thinking of him laughing but I’m sure he had a great sense of humour. He must have been a charmer.

  27. I’m so late getting to this post that I can promise you, you will see BOTH Leonard Cohen murals very soon, mon ami!
    Beautiful, all of them.

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  33. Some urban art becomes beloved to the masses who see it each day. The poem Eurydice adorned the pedestrian subway near Waterloo Station’s Victory Arch. Network Rail painted over the poem when they were remodeling the tunnel. Poetry-lovers donated towards the cost of reinstating the poem, which was completed in 2011.

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