The Art of the Burrito

In the last year or so I have been overjoyed to see that, for some reason, burritos have come into fashion in Cork and at least three new burrito joints opened around the city centre. I am a big fan of Mexican food - or Tex Mex food at least - and burritos are a particular favourite of mine. I've said for years that if anyone ever opened a Taco Bell franchise here in Ireland, they would make a small fortune...

One of the burrito joints in the city is a place called Amigo Tex-Mex, located on Washington Street. I've eaten there a few times, and they do a very nice burrito, I must say. But the reason why I'm telling you all this is that behind the restaurant, on Tobin Street, the proprietors have painted some nice pseudo-Mexican art.

There's not much to say about it, but to post the pictures so you can see them. I took them in November 2014.

 

 

 

 

LINKS!!!

Here is Amigo Tex-Mex on just-eat.ie:
http://www.just-eat.ie/restaurants-amigotexmex-Cork

This is a Wikipedia article on Mexican art:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_art#Pre-Hispanic_era

These are some websites dealing with ancient Mexican art:
http://artgallery.yale.edu/art-ancient-Americas
http://www.nmai.si.edu/static/exhibitions/ancient/english/

These are a couple of videos about ancient Mexico, its cultures and its art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgeXsx_IncE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIpFTFREXEk

The Power of Paint

Through a friend, I discovered the fabulous TED Talks series of videos on YouTube. TED Talks are short videos presentations whereby people working in fields like design, art, technology, music, etc. share their experiences and insights in an effort to spread ideas that can improve how people live.

The website for the organisation (http://www.ted.com/) gives the following info about how TED got started:

TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I have been watching lots of TED Talks and I have come across two fine ones about how urban art - and actually, just paint itself - can transform communities. Given this blog's focus on street art, I thought the reader(s) of this blog might be interested. In fact, I thought it might inspire you somehow and give you - whoever you are, gentle reader - some ideas of how to use art and colour to improve your community.


The first talk I want to share is called "How painting can transform communities". Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXfJVCg1LA

The talk was given by artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn who create community art by painting entire neighbourhoods with the help of the local residents. They have carried out projects in various neighbourhoods from Rio de Janeiro to North Philadelphia.

Their projects gradually grew, becoming more and more ambitious, while seeking to involve the local people in the process of transforming their communities. One interesting idea in their talk above is the way they moved away from seeking grants for their projects to funding them through the method of "crowd-funding". In fact, they sought contributions from people through Kickstarter to paint one of the Rio neighbourhoods as part of their Favela Painting Project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1953408692/painting-an-entire-favela-in-rio-de-janeiro

Here is a video about how the artists' work has developed over the last eight years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTkxwcBGdaA

And here is a longer documentary on the artists, part of a series called 'Challenge the Obvious':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce5FMuH02LE


Now, here is a talk on a similar theme, give by Edi Rama, an Albanian politician and the current Prime Minister of Albania. He had been an artist in his young life and served as the mayor of Tirana from 2000 to 2011. During his time in that office, he decided to improve the city by bringing colour to the streets, starting by painting some buildings orange....

This is his talk about the experience and how it helped to start a transformation of the city:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDNgnrt_D8w


LINKS!!

Here is the website for the Favela Painting Project, run by artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn :
http://www.favelapainting.com/

And the Project's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/favelapainting

Here is a video of the artists persuasively pitching for funds for their project and showing clips of some of their previous projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvLOysYs6YU

Here is a BBC News story on Edi Rama and his efforts to bring colour to Tirana:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2069799.stm

And a similar story from France24:
http://observers.france24.com/content/20100428-artist-mayor-sees-crumbling-capital-turned-painters-canvas-albania-tirana-edi-rama

Also, here are some blog posts, with pictures, discussing the painting of Tirana:
http://favelissues.com/2012/08/05/the-politics-of-paint-tirana/
http://gadling.com/2007/10/25/the-bizarre-painted-buildings-of-tirana-albania/
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/color-buildings-of-Tirana

Keep Calm in Cork, Like

After our sunny Italian adventure, we're returning home again to the rain-swept streets of Cork.

The piece I'm covering this time involves a real Cork character: Bernard "Bernie" Murphy. He worked as a sandwich-board man, I see, but he caused a shock in 1985 when he got himself elected as in independent to Cork City Council.

The piece, of course, is a bright Cork version of all the "Keep Calm and ..." signs that have been around lately. It is located at the back of Ziggy's pub on Tuckey Street, just near South Main.

Mr. Zara based the image on a portrait photograph of Bernie Murphy that you can see on the Irish Independent website, accompanying a 2007 article on the Corkman at the time of his death. I have provided the link below.

LINKS!!!

You can see a copy of a similar piece on Mr. Zara's Twitter feed at 12 May 2014:
https://twitter.com/VincentZaraArt

And on his Facebook page at 13 May:
https://www.facebook.com/vincentzaracork?fref=ts

Here's a Wikipedia article about the original "Keep Calm" poster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On

Here are two stories from The Irish Examiner about Bernie Murphy:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/farewell-to-bernie-the-peoples-champion-43373.html
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/mayor-pays-tribute-to-a-great-cork-character-43371.html

This is a story in The Irish Independent about the man:
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/bernie-murphy-26321859.html

This is a link to a 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times about him:
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-11/news/mn-13266_1_bernie-murphy

Some related election literature:
http://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/famous-cork-independent-cllr-bernie-murphy/

Canvassing (Parts of) Tuscany - Part 4 - A Gate in Old Arezzo

While wandering around Arezzo looking for "street art", like that covered in my last two posts, I came across this metal gate that I find absolutely charming for some reason.

The gate is located on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, and it looks like it could form the back entrance to the Museo Statale D'arte Medioevale E Moderna (National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art), which fronts onto Via San Lorentino. It seems to be made of bronze, and it features four three-dimensional scenes on panels set into the gate.

The scenes probably have some symbolic meaning, which I haven't discovered yet. I do like them very much, though. I would say that the three-dimensional nature of the scenes, pushing out of the "traditional" two-dimensional space, echoes similar approaches in ancient Etruscan art. I know the Etruscans, and their descendants the Tuscans, made three-dimensional scenes in terracotta.

Anyway, here are the scenes on the gate, moving from left to right...

I did find a name etched into the gate. I haven't been able to fully work it out, though, and internet searches haven't turned up anything on it yet. You can see the artist's name (Sioni? Siorini? Siorivi?) in the photo below. It looks like the gate was made in October 2007.

If you know or find out who made the gate, please leave a comment as I'd love to find out who the artist was.

LINKS!!!

I am conscious I did not give any links for Arezzo itself in previous posts, so I will include a few here.

Here is a travel guide video, giving a good overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k47BX3m_2s

This video literally provides you with an overview of the city:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35eHnNXw2hg

Roberto Benigni's award-winning film La vita è bella was filmed in Arezzo, and many of the scenes take place in the beautiful old centre of the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUC1ezDoG5k

If you have two hours to spare for some cultural exploration, you can watch this video of the June 2014 edition of the Giostra del Saracino (Joust of the Saracen), a Medieval style jousting tournament that takes place in the city's Piazza Grande. Crazily cool stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PygpbesufWg

If you happen to be in Arezzo sometime, here are two of the best restaurants in the world, within 20 feet of each other on Via Mazzini:
Antica Osteria L'Agania: http://www.agania.it/it/index.php
Trattoria Il Saraceno: http://www.ilsaraceno.com/

Finally, a quick word on Etruscan art:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/etru/hd_etru.htm