I Heart Green » Banksy

Hoodies and street art

alena — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:40:28 +0000

If you’ve been following this blog for a little while you will know a few things about iheartgreen. You’ll know that some of the artworks on this page are for sale and you can buy either the original or a print for a very reasonable price (just leave a comment and we’ll get in touch if you want to know more). You may not know that some have already been sold (like the one shown here and the I Heart Green artwork below). One thing they all have in common is that they arise from an organic process – ideas gathered from experience and inspiration that randomly cross paths of artists transcribed into visual form.

This picture below is a semi-self-portrait, whipped up in response to a lingering image of a faceless man in a hooded jumper, and probably inspired by street artists around the globe who use this image, including but not limited to one of our favourites - Banksy. Apart from his amazing street art, he generously flew street artists from around the world to the Cans Festival in May last year (he was the sole sponsor). For more on this you can go to the official site or have a look at a wonderful Aussie blog called Images to Live By written by Melbourne-based academic Alison Young that I found today on the subject. The Australian street artists that were flown to London for the festival were Vexta, Tom Civil and DLux (have a look at a great collection of the work of theirs and others here on Flickr).

All those great things led bit by by to the formation of this image here.

hoodiegirl detail - pen, acrylic & crayon on canvas

hoddie girl self portrait

Please comment and let us know what you’re thinking, and a big shout out to my little bro who is the proud owner of this picture as of tomorrow. Happy Birthday little brother, you’re my hero.

‘Nuff said.

Oh, and hey bro’… did I tell you, you’re my hero?

Green means friendship

alena — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:30:20 +0000

What’s more environmental than Twitter? It’s run by the energy your computer uses anyway and the intentions of the people in your network of followers.

If you need to find ‘your ‘people go to the bottom of your Twitter page, click on search, and type in your interests. I’m on Twitter under the name cheekysoul if you’d like to ‘follow’ me. If you’d like a leg up finding environmental people who are on Twitter, here are 80+planetsaving Twitter people (tweeters) you can follow. One organisation, charity:water are known for using Twitter and Twestivals (real and face to face get togethers of Twitter users) to raise money and awareness for their cause very effectively.

Personally, I have discovered all kinds of things I would never have known otherwise, and also made some unlikely friends.

It’s great. And I’m so grateful for all the support my Twitter network gives me, like this message sent by Banksy (see my previous post about him) to his network for example:

twitter plug from banksy on world environment day

This blog is organic, so Banksy just fertilized it with his interest – I pinky swear it will grow as well as my garden is growing in all this Sydney rain.

Wishlist / Banksy

alena — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:02:29 +0000

There are some enigmatic artists out there who, thanks to the world of twitter, now literally come right into my living room. One is the phenomenon commonly known as Banksy whose impolite visual commentary is perversely appealing, and beautifully unpredictable. From graffiti to published books, Banksy is, if nothing else, unique. I will not presume to describe the art any further, though you can view the official Banksy website here, or view a collection of Banksy’s work around London here. (You can even buy Banksy stuff at the online shop.) There’s a detailed bio of him here which I will not seek to replicate. Suffice it to say he is a clever 34 year old manboy with a solid following and a necessarily well-cultivated air of mystery surrounding his name (especially considering many of his works are done ‘illegally’ in public places).

On the official site this ‘manifesto’ appears:

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.
Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole
one and prayed for forgiveness.

- Emo Philips

Via twitter we asked Banksy2 if collaboration on this I Heart Green project would be possible, could he ‘chuck in’? Here was the reply:

Peace back-at-ya Banksy, there’s something about getting my first rejection from such an upside down icon that seems appropriate.

‘Nuff respect.