Kong's Urban Canvas

This is another classic piece of Cork street art. "My Urban Canvas" by Kong is painted on the Emmet Place side of the Crawford Art Gallery.

The piece seems to have been at the Crawford since at least 2010, from what I can see quickly "googling" around on the internet. But I think it is likely to be much older.... 

I found pictures of an almost identicle piece dating from 2006. The only difference I can see between the two versions is the sign, which reads "Hey Babe". I'm not sure where that piece was located, though.

Here's a link to that other version, posted on the Flickr page of Kieran Hynes:  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62305889@N00/163134964

Kieran has a wealth of Cork graffiti photos on his Flickr page, including other works by Kong, so check them out while you are over there! 

Also, here is a link to the Crawford Gallery's website:

http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/index.html

The first photo above was taken by me in May 2013 and the second in August 2012.

Episode IV - Shay Given and the Forlorn Hope

A long time ago, in a country far, far away....

Well, actually it was only last June in Poland when the Irish football squad valiantly took on the likes of Croatia, Spain and Italy with the hopes of finding a way out of Group C and into the quarter-finals of the Euro 2012 competition. Alas, It was not to be...

Anyway, at the time, Vincent Zara painted this great piece on the Tuckey Street side of Ziggy's Rock & Blues Bar. It shows a multi-limbed version of Shay Given, the Irish goalie, ready to defend his net like an angry Hindu god against the slinged (slung?) and arrowed shots of his opponents....

The piece seems to be based on Leonardo da Vinci's famous and fabulous drawing called "Vitruvian Man", which dates from about 1485 to 1490, give or take a few years....

There is a Wikipedia article on the Vitruvian Man, which says:

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.

If you wish to find out more about this work, here is the link to the Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

And here is a link to a "full resolution" version of the work on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg

I took the photos of Mr. Zara's Shay Given piece in September 2012, a good bit after the heady hopes of those bright June days had been utterly quashed.

But still, The Dream lives on. There's always next time....

Rory at Ziggy's

This is another fine Rory Gallagher piece by Mr. Vincent Zara. It is on Tuckey Street, painted on the side of Ziggy's Rock & Blues Bar.

These photos were taken by me in October 2012.

I admit I did wonder about the source material for this piece. It seemed a bit random to see Rory holding a flower (a carnation) instead of a guitar, not that one wants to pigeonhole the man. 

Upon further investigation, it seems the piece is based on a photograph of Rory taken in 1976 in Cleveland, Ohio. Here's a link to a copy of the photograph and some information on when and where it was taken:
http://www.rockarchive.com/rory-gallagher_photo_print_rg001jm.html 

Mr. Zara's exhibition at The Pavilion pub last year (called "Vincentzara Sells Out") included a big version of this Rory piece on canvas. Here are some links to pictures of the painting in situ on the walls of the Pav:
First, http://corkartsreview.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/rgvz.jpg

and also https://www.facebook.com/vincentzaracork/media_set?set=a.108445375932325.15212.100003005906098&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=295563590553835&set=a.108445375932325.15212.100003005906098&type=3&theater

Oliver Plunkett's Painted Bones

Here's a lovely skeleton stencil that was up on a wall along Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork, just near Pennys. A nice touch is that the pelvis and spine bones are actually little spray paint cans.

I took these photos in August 2012. Alas this piece has since been painted over....

Wellington Road's Locked Hearts

This is a simple piece, but it works for me... interlocked black and white hearts on Wellington Road in Cork.

I took this photo in July 2012, but I'm happy to report that the piece is still there so the romance continues!

LiveStyles, Cork, 2013 - Part 3 - White Street Carpark

Following on from my previous posts about the LiveStyles hip hop festival in Cork, which took place over the June Bank Holiday weekend, running from 1 May to 3 June 2013. I am now posting photos I took of pieces that I found in the White Street carpark after the festival.

I'm not sure if all of these pieces were done as part of the festival. Most of them were, but I know at least one piece wasn't. Does it matter? They are all good, and should be shared here in any event.... Unfortunately, I was not able to get shots of all the pieces in the carpark as, oddly enough, there were a number of cars parked around the place.

I won't be trying to identify the artists here, mainly as most of the pieces speak for themselves.... By the way, there are other photos of some of these and other pieces posted on the LiveStyles Facebook page. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/LiveStylesFest/photos_stream#!/LiveStylesFest

These photos were all taken by me in June 2013. Enjoy!

LiveStyles, Cork, 2013 - Part 2 - Camden Palace Hotel

I finally pulled together the photos I took of pieces painted by graffiti artists during the recent LiveStyles hip hop festival in Cork. This event took place over the June Bank Holiday weekend, running from 1 May to 3 June 2013.

Today, I'm sharing photos of pieces in the area of the Camden Palace Hotel. I also have photos of pieces in the White Street car park, but I will share those in a separate post in a few days.

I've tried to give the names of the artists where possible, but there are still a couple that I haven't been able to identify. If you can help me to fill in the blanks here, please drop me a line....

So, first, here are the new pieces on the front of the Camden Palace Hotel at Camden Place....
 

By Nieva (Niamh Leonard)




By Nieva (Niamh Leonard)



By Nieva (Niamh Leonard)

By Leeks (Darren Leeks Ellis)



By Leeks (Darren Leeks Ellis)

  

By Leeks (Darren Leeks Ellis)




By This Means Nothing



By This Means Nothing



On Pine Street...

By Nol (Michael Nolta)



By Nol (Michael Nolta)





By Nol (Michael Nolta)





By ADW


 

By ADW



By ADW



By ADW

  

By ADW


 

By ADW



By ADW





By Leeks (Darren Leeks Ellis)


 

By ADW


 

By ADW


 

By ADW




By ADW



By ADW



By Niamh Leonard



By Niamh Leonard

On Camden Quay....

By Foundry



By Foundry


 

By Foundry

On Coburg Lane....

By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)

By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)

By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)

By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)



By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)



By Four Pence Crew (Ventza and Darren John)

By The Gucci Boys

All of these photos were taken by me in June 2013.

There are other views of these pieces posted on the LiveStyles Facebook page. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/LiveStylesFest/photos_stream#!/LiveStylesFest

Many thanks to the folks there that posted those photos as that info helped me identify some of the above artists.

By the way, if you wish to feast your optic nerves on more great work by these artists, here are links to some of their Flickr pages and web pages:

ADW:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adwart/
http://adwart.com/

Darren Leeks Ellis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/observatoryleak/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/observatoryleak/galleries/72157624239282756/
https://mobile.twitter.com/Leeks78

Foundry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foundry5/

Four Pence Crew:
http://www.fourpence.net/
http://www.iamdarrenjohn.com/
http://iamdarrenjohn.tumblr.com/
http://www.iamventsa.com/
http://iamventsa.tumblr.com/

Michael Nol:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nol/
http://www.nolart.com/

This Means Nothing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoinmcginn/
http://thismeansnothing.net/

I will be posting the shots it took in the White Street car park in a few days..... Stay tuned.