View allAll Photos Tagged PERCEPTIVE
ALKHEMON - Zephyr Nest by Daniel Arrhakis (2025)
Zephyr is a friendly biomechanical bird of small size but it likes to have its nest full of eggs that are always very regular in size, color and shape.
Their lively and perceptive red and blue eyes do not miss any imperfections, which are soon thrown out of the nest!
Trayan Thelmer, a well-known metallurgical alchemist in the Century XXII, created fractal metal alloys with very special characteristics that had the ability to regenerate themselves.
Using bionics and quantum artificial intelligence, he created a whole world of amazing creatures and biomechanical environments in a fantastic futuristic Universe he called ALKHEMON.
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Work made for the challenge :
NESTS / AIA Challenge - March / April 2025 -LINK HERE www.flickr.com/groups/recreatingmasters/discuss/721577219...
Work made with AI and other Digital Arts techniques, artcollage, digital painting, textured layered techniques.
The Back Parlor in the Fall River Historical Society
December 5th, 2014
Here, the Victorian method of applying cotton batting to the branches of a tree is used, although amplified to great dramatic effect, creating an avalanche that cascades toward the ground. Nearly 6,000 lights glow through the 'snow,' and are reflected in the silver and the 'ice' below.
More information:
Each year, beginning the week before Thanksgiving, the Historical Society's mansion is lavishly decorated in the Victorian manner. Holiday spirit abounds from room to room, with the focal point being a magnificent 14-foot Christmas tree in the Music Room. Aglow with thousands of lights, it is a tree guaranteed to instill holiday spirit in both young and old.
Traditional decorations are creatively used, working with a variety of holiday themes, to create a display unlike anything to be seen in the Fall River area. Last year's theme, "Victorian Christmas Traditions," was very well received by the public and was photographed by VICTORIAN HOMES magazine for its Christmas 2003 issue. The Music Room's tree was illuminated by the glow of 4100 white lights, was laden with silver tinsel and decorated with hundreds of mouth-blown glass ornaments typical of the Victorian period. The concept of Christmas as we know it originated in Germany and was introduced to England by Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria. Americans, who strove to emulate the British traditions, quickly adopted the holiday and made it their own. Bavarian glassblowers created untold thousands of ornaments, many of which carry holiday lore. Replicas of many of these ornaments can be found on the Society's tree. Among the most popular are: the glass pickle, which was traditionally hidden on the tree, to be discovered on Christmas morning by the most perceptive child, who was rewarded with a special gift; "Crampus," a small devil-like figure with black horns made of coal, who followed Father Christmas rewarding naughty children with coal; the carrot, an ornament traditionally given to new brides to bring luck in the kitchen.
The parlor was banked with paper poinsettias. This plant was named as a tribute to Mr. Joel R. Poinsett, the American Ambassador to Mexico and amateur botanist, who so admired the Mexican wildflower that he brought it to North America and cultivated it in his own greenhouses. In this manner did it become a major part of our Christmas tradition today. The delicate hothouse plant was a great rarity in cold New England winters and so was often copied by nineteenth-century paper flower makers.
The dining room was ornamented with della robbia of sparkling crystal-beaded fruit, with the table set with a magnificent nineteenth-century Davenport china dessert service. The centerpiece of the table was a three-tiered cake traditionally decorated with candies, nuts and sugared fruit, surmounted by a pink peppermint pig. As the pig was a symbol of good luck in the Victorian era, candy-makers in Saratoga Springs, New York, began to manufacture small peppermint pigs. In observance of the tradition, those who purchased the pigs would, following the holiday meal, shatter the pig so that each family member could taste of the candy as a wish for good luck in the coming year.
In the bedroom stood a tree decorated entirely in nineteenth-century photographs and greeting cards, very typical of trees in Fall River homes during the nineteenth-century, documented by photographs in the Society's collection.
The first floor hallway was simply decorated using evergreens and holly, incorporating roses in tribute to the legend of the Christmas rose. As the story goes, a little girl happened upon the stable in Bethlehem where the Christ child lay. Upset because she had no gift to bring, she began to cry and, incredibly, her tears turned into beautiful roses.
While touring the museum, guests might also want to browse in the museum shop, which is filled with a vast number of unique gifts. Here you can find the right present for that someone special on your list. This year, many new mouth-blown glass ornaments will also be featured. Among our museum shop bestsellers are delectable sugar plums, the traditional Victorian candy meant to bring sweet dreams to any child that slept with one beneath its pillow.
The Fall River Historical Society hopes you will take advantage of this opportunity to visit. The museum will be "decked out" for the occasion in the grand manner of an elegant Victorian mansion and will be a sight to behold!
These are some of the highlights of the holiday exhibit last year at the Historical Society.
Museum hours are: Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museum will close at 12:00 noon on Christmas Eve and will be closed Christmas Day. For further information, please call (508) 679-1071.
For more info: www.lizzieborden.org/VictorianChristmas.html
Interestingly, both of the Boston area Banksy pieces are on Essex St:
• F̶O̶L̶L̶O̶W̶ ̶Y̶O̶U̶R̶ ̶D̶R̶E̶A̶M̶S̶ CANCELLED (aka chimney sweep) in Chinatown, Boston
• NO LOITRIN in Central Square, Cambridge.
Does that mean anything? It looks like he favors Essex named streets & roads when he can. In 2008, he did another notable Essex work in London, for example, and posters on the Banksy Forums picked up & discussed on the Essex link as well.
Is there an Essex Street in any of the other nearby towns? It looks like there are several: Brookline, Charlestown, Chelsea, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Medford, Melrose, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Somerville, Swampscott, and Waltham. Most of these seem improbable to me, other than maybe Brookline, or maybe Somerville or Charlestown. But they start getting pretty suburban after that.
But, again, why "Essex"? In a comment on this photo, Birbeck helps clarify:
I can only surmise that he's having a 'dig' at Essex UK, especially with the misspelling of 'Loitering'. Here, the general view of the urban districts in Essex: working class but with right wing views; that they're not the most intellectual bunch; rather obsessed with fashion (well, their idea of it); their place of worship is the shopping mall; enjoy rowdy nights out; girls are thought of as being dumb, fake blonde hair/tans and promiscuous; and guys are good at the 'chit chat', and swagger around showing off their dosh (money).
It was also the region that once had Europe's largest Ford motor factory. In its heyday, 1 in 3 British cars were made in Dagenham, Essex. Pay was good for such unskilled labour, generations worked mind-numbing routines on assembly lines for 80 years. In 2002 the recession ended the dream.
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This photo appeared on Grafitti - A arte das ruas on Yahoo Meme. Yes, Yahoo has a Tumblr/Posterous-esque "Meme" service now -- I was as surprised as you are.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banksy
• Birth name
Unknown
• Born
1974 or 1975 (1974 or 1975), Bristol, UK[1]
• Nationality
• Field
• Movement
Anti-Totalitarianism
Anti-War
• Works
Naked Man Image
One Nation Under CCTV
Anarchist Rat
Ozone's Angel
Pulp Fiction
Banksy is a pseudonymous[2][3][4] British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol[2] and to have been born in 1974,[5] but his identity is unknown.[6] According to Tristan Manco[who?], Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."[7] His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.[8] Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti.[9] Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[10]
Banksy's first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[11] The film was released in the UK on March 5.[12]
Contents
• 1 Career
•• 1.1 2000
•• 1.2 2002
•• 1.3 2003
•• 1.4 2004
•• 1.5 2005
•• 1.6 2006
•• 1.7 2007
•• 1.8 2008
•• 1.9 2009
•• 1.10 2010
Career
Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992–1994[14] as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), with Kato and Tes.[15] He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene. From the start he used stencils as elements of his freehand pieces, too.[14] By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a piece. He claims he changed to stencilling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stencilled serial number[16] and by employing this technique, he soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.[16]
Stencil on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat in central Bristol - (wider view). The image of Death is based on a 19th century etching illustrating the pestilence of The Great Stink.[17]
Banksy's stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects often include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.
In late 2001, on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, he met up with the Gen-X pastellist, visual activist, and recluse James DeWeaver in Byron Bay[clarification needed], where he stencilled a parachuting rat with a clothes peg on its nose above a toilet at the Arts Factory Lodge. This stencil can no longer be located. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phone-box), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.
2000
The album cover for Monk & Canatella's Do Community Service was conceived and illustrated by Banksy, based on his contribution to the "Walls on fire" event in Bristol 1998.[18][citation needed]
2002
On 19 July 2002, Banksy's first Los Angeles exhibition debuted at 33 1/3 Gallery, a small Silverlake venue owned by Frank Sosa. The exhibition, entitled Existencilism, was curated by 33 1/3 Gallery, Malathion, Funk Lazy Promotions, and B+.[19]
2003
In 2003 in an exhibition called Turf War, held in a warehouse, Banksy painted on animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[20] He later moved on to producing subverted paintings; one example is Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley floating in its reflective waters; another is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at a British football hooligan, dressed only in his Union Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These oil paintings were shown at a twelve-day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.[21]
2004
In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Princess Diana's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England." Someone threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some recipients then tried to spend in local shops. These notes were also given with invitations to a Santa's Ghetto exhibition by Pictures on Walls. The individual notes have since been selling on eBay for about £200 each. A wad of the notes were also thrown over a fence and into the crowd near the NME signing tent at The Reading Festival. A limited run of 50 signed posters containing ten uncut notes were also produced and sold by Pictures on Walls for £100 each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. One of these sold in October 2007 at Bonhams auction house in London for £24,000.
2005
In August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier. He reportedly said "The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin Wall and will eventually run for over 700km—the distance from London to Zurich. "[22]
2006
• Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, on the weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.[23]
• After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for £25,000,[24] on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in Sotheby's London for £50,400, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the model painted in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold for five times their estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same auction.[25]
• In December, journalist Max Foster coined the phrase, "the Banksy Effect", to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy's success.[26]
2007
• On 21 February 2007, Sotheby's auction house in London auctioned three works, reaching the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction: over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti works, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively, which were well above their estimated prices.[27] The following day's auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices: Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached £96,000; Glory sold for £72,000; Untitled (2004) sold for £33,600; all significantly above estimated values.[28] To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, "I Can't Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit."[6]
• In February 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.[29]
• In April 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy's iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Although the image was very popular, Transport for London claimed that the "graffiti" created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime" and their staff are "professional cleaners not professional art critics".[30] Banksy tagged the same site again (pictured at right). This time the actors were portrayed as holding real guns instead of bananas, but they were adorned with banana costumes. Banksy made a tribute art piece over this second Pulp Fiction piece. The tribute was for 19-year-old British graffiti artist Ozone, who was hit by an underground train in Barking, East London, along with fellow artist Wants, on 12 January 2007.[31] The piece was of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull. He also wrote a note on his website, saying:
The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic. Ozone - rest in peace.[citation needed]
Ozone's Angel
• On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work Space Girl & Bird fetching £288,000 (US$576,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.[32]
• On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.
• On 4 June 2007, it was reported that Banksy's The Drinker had been stolen.[33][34]
• In October 2007, most of his works offered for sale at Bonhams auction house in London sold for more than twice their reserve price.[35]
• Banksy has published a "manifesto" on his website.[36] The text of the manifesto is credited as the diary entry of one Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, DSO, which is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. It describes how a shipment of lipstick to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp immediately after its liberation at the end of World War II helped the internees regain their humanity. However, as of 18 January 2008, Banksy's Manifesto has been substituted with Graffiti Heroes #03 that describes Peter Chappell's graffiti quest of the 1970s that worked to free George Davis of his imprisonment.[37] By 12 August 2009 he was relying on Emo Phillips' "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."
• A small number of Banksy's works can be seen in the movie Children of Men, including a stenciled image of two policemen kissing and another stencil of a child looking down a shop.
• In the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up starring Clive Owen, Banksy's tag can be seen on a dumpster in the film's credits.
• Banksy, who deals mostly with Lazarides Gallery in London, claims that the exhibition at Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York (his first major exhibition in that city) is unauthorised. The exhibition featured 62 of his paintings and prints.[38]
2008
• In March, a stencilled graffiti work appeared on Thames Water tower in the middle of the Holland Park roundabout, and it was widely attributed to Banksy. It was of a child painting the tag "Take this Society" in bright orange. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham spokesman, Councillor Greg Smith branded the art as vandalism, and ordered its immediate removal, which was carried out by H&F council workmen within three days.[39]
• Over the weekend 3–5 May in London, Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival. It was situated on Leake Street, a road tunnel formerly used by Eurostar underneath London Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn't cover anyone else's.[40] Artists included Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, C215, Cartrain, Dolk, Dotmasters, J.Glover, Eine, Eelus, Hero, Pure evil, Jef Aérosol, Mr Brainwash, Tom Civil and Roadsworth.[citation needed]
• In late August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster.[41]
• A stencil painting attributed to Banksy appeared at a vacant petrol station in the Ensley neighbourhood of Birmingham, Alabama on 29 August as Hurricane Gustav approached the New Orleans area. The painting depicting a hooded member of the Ku Klux Klan hanging from a noose was quickly covered with black spray paint and later removed altogether.[42]
• His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened 5 October 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror.[43]
• The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy "has no more right to paint graffiti than a child". Robert Davis, the chairman of the council planning committee told The Times newspaper: "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art". [44] The work was painted over in April 2009.
• In December 2008, The Little Diver, a Banksy image of a diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne Australia was vandalised. The image was protected by a sheet of clear perspex, however silver paint was poured behind the protective sheet and later tagged with the words "Banksy woz ere". The image was almost completely destroyed.[45].
2009
• May 2009, parts company with agent Steve Lazarides. Announces Pest Control [46] the handling service who act on his behalf will be the only point of sale for new works.
• On 13 June 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, including animatronics and installations; it is his largest exhibition yet, featuring 78 new works.[47][48] Reaction to the show was positive, with over 8,500 visitors to the show on the first weekend.[49] Over the course of the twelve weeks, the exhibition has been visited over 300,000 times.[50]
• In September 2009, a Banksy work parodying the Royal Family was partially destroyed by Hackney Council after they served an enforcement notice for graffiti removal to the former address of the property owner. The mural had been commissioned for the 2003 Blur single "Crazy Beat" and the property owner, who had allowed the piece to be painted, was reported to have been in tears when she saw it was being painted over.[51]
• In December 2009, Banksy marked the end of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference by painting four murals on global warming. One included "I don't believe in global warming" which was submerged in water.[52]
2010
• The world premiere of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop occurred at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on 24 January. He created 10 street pieces around Park City and Salt Lake City to tie in with the screening.[53]
• In February, The Whitehouse public house in Liverpool, England, is sold for £114,000 at auction.[54] The side of the building has an image of a giant rat by Banksy.[55]
• In April 2010, Melbourne City Council in Australia reported that they had inadvertently ordered private contractors to paint over the last remaining Banksy art in the city. The image was of a rat descending in a parachute adorning the wall of an old council building behind the Forum Theatre. In 2008 Vandals had poured paint over a stencil of an old-fashioned diver wearing a trenchcoat. A council spokeswoman has said they would now rush through retrospective permits to protect other “famous or significant artworks” in the city.[56]
• In April 2010 to coincide with the premier of Exit through the Gift Shop in San Francisco, 5 of his pieces appeared in various parts of the city.[57] Banksy reportedly paid a Chinatown building owner $50 for the use of their wall for one of his stencils.[58]
• In May 2010 to coincide with the release of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Chicago, one piece appeared in the city.
Notable art pieces
In addition to his artwork, Banksy has claimed responsibility for a number of high profile art pieces, including the following:
• At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in seven foot high letters.[59]
• At Bristol Zoo, he left the message 'I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.' in the elephant enclosure.[60]
• In March 2005, he placed subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[61]
• He put up a subverted painting in London's Tate Britain gallery.
• In May 2005 Banksy's version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection.[62]
Near Bethlehem - 2005
• Banksy has sprayed "This is not a photo opportunity" on certain photograph spots.
• In August 2005, Banksy painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall.[22][63][64][65]
See also: Other Banksy works on the Israeli West Bank barrier
• In April 2006, Banksy created a sculpture based on a crumpled red phone box with a pickaxe in its side, apparently bleeding, and placed it in a street in Soho, London. It was later removed by Westminster Council. BT released a press release, which said: "This is a stunning visual comment on BT's transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider."[66]
• In June 2006, Banksy created an image of a naked man hanging out of a bedroom window on a wall visible from Park Street in central Bristol. The image sparked some controversy, with the Bristol City Council leaving it up to the public to decide whether it should stay or go.[67] After an internet discussion in which 97% (all but 6 people) supported the stencil, the city council decided it would be left on the building.[67] The mural was later defaced with paint.[67]
• In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". Several copies of the CD were purchased by the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites such as eBay. The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog's head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption "90% of success is just showing up".[68][69][70]
• In September 2006, Banksy dressed an inflatable doll in the manner of a Guantanamo Bay detainment camp prisoner (orange jumpsuit, black hood, and handcuffs) and then placed the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.[71][72]
Technique
Asked about his technique, Banksy said:
“I use whatever it takes. Sometimes that just means drawing a moustache on a girl's face on some billboard, sometimes that means sweating for days over an intricate drawing. Efficiency is the key.[73]”
Stencils are traditionally hand drawn or printed onto sheets of acetate or card, before being cut out by hand. Because of the secretive nature of Banksy's work and identity, it is uncertain what techniques he uses to generate the images in his stencils, though it is assumed he uses computers for some images due to the photocopy nature of much of his work.
He mentions in his book, Wall and Piece, that as he was starting to do graffiti, he was always too slow and was either caught or could never finish the art in the one sitting. So he devised a series of intricate stencils to minimise time and overlapping of the colour.
Identity
Banksy's real name has been widely reported to be Robert or Robin Banks.[74][75][76] His year of birth has been given as 1974.[62]
Simon Hattenstone from Guardian Unlimited is one of the very few people to have interviewed him face-to-face. Hattenstone describes him as "a cross of Jimmy Nail and British rapper Mike Skinner" and "a 28 year old male who showed up wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a silver tooth, silver chain, and one silver earring".[77] In the same interview, Banksy revealed that his parents think their son is a painter and decorator.[77]
In May 2007, an extensive article written by Lauren Collins of the New Yorker re-opened the Banksy-identity controversy citing a 2004 photograph of the artist that was taken in Jamaica during the Two-Culture Clash project and later published in the Evening Standard in 2004.[6]
In October 2007, a story on the BBC website featured a photo allegedly taken by a passer-by in Bethnal Green, London, purporting to show Banksy at work with an assistant, scaffolding and a truck. The story confirms that Tower Hamlets Council in London has decided to treat all Banksy works as vandalism and remove them.[78]
In July 2008, it was claimed by The Mail on Sunday that Banksy's real name is Robin Gunningham.[3][79] His agent has refused to confirm or deny these reports.
In May 2009, the Mail on Sunday once again speculated about Gunningham being Banksy after a "self-portrait" of a rat holding a sign with the word "Gunningham" shot on it was photographed in East London.[80] This "new Banksy rat" story was also picked up by The Times[81] and the Evening Standard.
Banksy, himself, states on his website:
“I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.[82]”
Controversy
In 2004, Banksy walked into the Louvre in Paris and hung on a wall a picture he had painted resembling the Mona Lisa but with a yellow smiley face. Though the painting was hurriedly removed by the museum staff, it and its counterpart, temporarily on unknown display at the Tate Britain, were described by Banksy as "shortcuts". He is quoted as saying:
“To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up.[83]”
Peter Gibson, a spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy, asserts that Banksy's work is simple vandalism,[84] and Diane Shakespeare, an official for the same organization, was quoted as saying: "We are concerned that Banksy's street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism".[6]
In June 2007 Banksy created a circle of plastic portable toilets, said to resemble Stonehenge at the Glastonbury Festival. As this was in the same field as the "sacred circle" it was felt by many to be inappropriate and his installation was itself vandalized before the festival even opened. However, the intention had always been for people to climb on and interact with it.[citation needed] The installation was nicknamed "Portaloo Sunset" and "Bog Henge" by Festival goers. Michael Eavis admitted he wasn't fond of it, and the portaloos were removed before the 2008 festival.
In 2010, an artistic feud developed between Banksy and his rival King Robbo after Banksy painted over a 24-year old Robbo piece on the banks of London's Regent Canal. In retaliation several Banksy pieces in London have been painted over by 'Team Robbo'.[85][86]
Also in 2010, government workers accidentally painted over a Banksy art piece, a famed "parachuting-rat" stencil, in Australia's Melbourne CBD. [87]
Bibliography
Banksy has self-published several books that contain photographs of his work in various countries as well as some of his canvas work and exhibitions, accompanied by his own writings:
• Banksy, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall (2001) ISBN 978-0-95417040-0
• Banksy, Existencilism (2002) ISBN 978-0-95417041-7
• Banksy, Cut it Out (2004) ISBN 978-0-95449600-5
• Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005) ISBN 978-1-84413786-2
• Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005) ISBN 978-0-95519460-3
Random House published Wall and Piece in 2005. It contains a combination of images from his three previous books, as well as some new material.[16]
Two books authored by others on his work were published in 2006 & 2007:
• Martin Bull, Banksy Locations and Tours: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London (2006 - with new editions in 2007 and 2008) ISBN 978-0-95547120-9.
• Steve Wright, Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home (2007) ISBN 978-1906477004
External links
According to the Chinese Zodiac (Sheng Xiao, 生肖) the year 2014 is the year of the horse.
Each year is associated to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year cycle.These animal signs are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Those who are born in the year of the horse are clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy but stubborn.
Technically speaking the year of the horse does not begin until January 31, 2014 because it is calculated accoding to the lunar calendar. Nevertheless I would like to make my New Year Wishes today ;-)
You all have a happy, healthy and successful 2014. May the good light always be with you ;-)
Credit for their wonderful textures goes to:
Raven update:
Raven is doing a little better today.
For those of you that don't know the whole story, Raven injured both her back legs when she was younger. She has what would be the equivalent of tennis elbow for us. When she was a year old she jumped up to snatch a ball out of the air, came down back legs first and injured her left leg.
After treating it for months with anti-inflammatory meds, seeming to get almost better and then coming up limping again, we knew the only way to help her was surgery.
So she had her 1st operation at a year old, and of course, the other leg was feeling left out and decided to go out the following year, so she had her 2nd operation.
Through the years I've tried to limit her exercise.....mostly walking, which is a shame.....she LIVES to chase the ball and bring it back.
The problem wasn't with the running, it was the sudden, full force, putting on the breaks stops she would make when she caught up with the ball.
Arthritis has become a huge factor as she's gotten older.
Her "knees" are really bad.
Whatever she did to herself this time really aggravated her back right knee area.
I was relieved to know that she had not broken or fractured anything.
She got her 1st acupuncture treatment yesterday and is also on pain meds at the moment.
I see a remarked improvement in her demenor today, and her body posture indicates that she is feeling much better.
When I took her out this a.m., I was almost alarmed at how fast she wanted to get about!
We have to keep her fairly sedate for awhile, she can't afford to injure her other back leg, which by the looks of the xrays shows that it's not in that much better shape than the injured one!
I'm also completely modifying her diet. No dairy (not that she got that much of that anyway), it's bad for inflammation, but I should start substituting a cooked egg for some of her regular canned food.
They want me to start adding green beans and sweet potato in with her food too......and special liver treats.
Raven says she doesn't much like being laid up, but she is all on board with her new menu.
This is a wait and see situation. We are hoping that the acupuncture will alleviate a lot of her mobility problems.
If she responds to it well then no further surgery will be needed.
Keeping my fingers crossed BIG TIME!
Oh......btw.....I smiled at a few of the comments on her last picture. Several of you noticed the look in Raven's eyes......so perceptive and sweet of you!
That look wasn't pain or discomfort. That picture was taken before her injury! (GOOD LORD! I wouldn't be trying to pose her in front of the flowers if she was feeling under the weather!)
It was merely the worried/exasperated look she has when I try to get her to sit in a certain spot for a picture!
In this shot I'm talking to her. and her ears are up
Okay,lol, I cheated and used the word "treat"!....and she's a bit high from the medication I'm sure!
More info: www.edenwalkers.com
There is a roof corridor at the left side, which is extending from the Kaizando building. It has a little gathering place 'tsukimidai' for the purpose of a moon-viewing 'otsukimi'. Otsukimi is conducted by viewing moon at the sky in general but by a reflection upon water here! There is a water garden under the long roof corridor. What's a perceptive presentation of the Japanese garden designer, Kobori Enshu! It reminds me that people in the medieval period adored nature in such a poetic manner. :D
Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from ancient India who founded Buddhism. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (P. sammāsambuddha, S. samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.
Gautama, also known as Śākyamuni ("Sage of the Śākyas"), is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later.
He is also regarded as a god or prophet in other world religions, including Hinduism, Ahmadiyya and the Bahá'í faith.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha
Gupta Empire
-------------------
The Gupta Empire was known for one of the largest political and military empires in the history of ancient India. It was ruled by the Gupta dynasty during the period of around 240 to 550 CE. The area covered by the rulers was comprised of most of the part of northern India, current Pakistan and Bangladesh. The period of the Gupta Empire is marked as Golden age to Indians specially in the field of art. Various subjects covering science, astronomy, religion, and philosophy had reached to the level of excellence during this period. The peace and prosperity were existing in the empire under leadership of Guptas enabled artist to deliver their best. The decimal numeral system, showing the presence of zero was invented in India during the reign of the Guptas. Certainly, to a large extent the Gupta Empire was considered a great power.
This Gupta period is truly marked as the Golden age of Indian culture and art. The examples showing the excellence of their cultural creativity are magnificent through the creative architecture, sculpture, and painting.
The Gupta era was also a golden age for Buddhist art. Uniform artistic standards were set in this period resulted in creation of sculptures at Mathura and Sarnath. Mathura and Sarnath have produced some of the finest specimen of Buddhist art during the Gupta period. Gupta style of art featuring a finished mastery in execution and a majestic serenity in expression was spread to other countries and mainly responsible for influencing Buddhist art in all over Asia.
The period of Gupta dynasty seems to have been a time of relative religious tolerance. This can be pointed out as though the main religion of the Guptas was Hinduism, Buddhism received royal patronage and Jainism appears to have prospered as well.
The sculptures & wall paintings at the Ajanta cave are marvelous example of the greatest and most powerful works of Guptas. The themes of sculptures and paintings from the Ajanta dominate the influence of Buddha. Various art pieces of this place depict about various lives of the Buddha, but apart from it, these are the best source of studying the daily life of in India at the time. Sculptors from Guptas period had carved out of the rock to create these sculptures between 460 and 480 CE. And most of the part is filled with Buddhist sculptures.
The colorful and vibrant art pieces at Ajanta are famous not only for observing details of nature and the urban landscape, but the architecture and furnishing, elegant attire and alluring ornaments on the images are marked with importance. These sculptures carry importance for showing perceptive delineations of a variety of human characters, expressions and moods through its appearance. The most well known work from the Ajanta caves is the "Bodhisattva Padmapani." The colorful image portrays the Buddha in Bodhisattva holding a lotus flower.
The creation of monumental temples during the Gupta period remains as architectural wonders. The cave temples of Elephanta and structural temples of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu are enduring legacy Gupta rulers.
An another masterpiece of Guptas art is the rock temple at Elephanta near Bombay. The temple structure contains a powerful, eighteen-foot statue of the three-headed Shiva, known as Trimurthi. Each head of statue represents one of the roles of Shiva: that of creating, that of preserving, and that of destroying. The Gupta period also saw dynamic building of Hindu temples too. All of these temples followed the tradition of having architecture that comprising of a hall and a tower.
All the sculptures produced throughout the Gupta Empire can be marked for having the appearance of relatively uniform "classic" style. The style was spread in other parts of India and in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. The Gupta style in sculpturing has greatly influenced the art of north Indian kingdoms in later period after the end of the Gupta dynasty. There were two main artistic centers for sculpture production: At Sarnath, the images of Buddha with clinging drapery are produced while at Mathura the image following the pattern of string folds in the drapery are created.
Unfortunately, very few monuments built during Gupta reign are able to survive today. Some more examples of presentation of Gupta architecture are found in the Vaishnavite Tigawa temple at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which is built in 415 CE and another temple at Deogarhnear Jhansi, which is built in 510 CE. Similarly, at Bhita in Uttar Pradesh has a number of ancient Gupta temples, most of them are in ruins.
"Octave Thanet" was the masculine pen name of Alice French, who was famous a hundred and twenty-five years ago for her socially perceptive fiction. She and her partner, Jane Allen Crawford, hosted the literary and artistic life of Eastern Iowa at their home in Davenport. Ever expansive, French became fascinated with the art, techniques, and chemistry of photography. She set up a darkroom in her home and went on several photo expeditions. "An adventure in photography" is a travelogue as well as a manual, including darkroom formulae, advice on framing and shooting photographs, and copious reproductions of her own photos and Jane's. The Alice French house in Davenport is now landmarked on the National Register of Historic Places
El espectador
Muy seguido acostumbramos a ver, y no observar. La clave para hacer ciencia, inicia con la observación, un buen negocio, inicia observando los patrones y encontrando oportunidades donde otros aún no se enteran que existe. Muchas veces puedo ser muy perceptivo acerca de situaciones, muchas otras veces no, pero en fotografía estoy desarrollando una necesidad por observar más de lo que aparenta, más de lo que muestra esa primera impresión.
Me parece que puedo relacionar esa primera impresión con la vida diaria, y mientras busco que hay de más, que esconde una imagen, me vuelvo ansioso y quiero descubrir más de lo que quizás haya para mostrar. Creo que esa esencia, esa curiosidad es lo que me motiva e inspira para seguir creando fotografía. La necesidad de descubrir, el enojarme por no poder ver, esconder lo que no es aparente y mostrar lo obvio.
No les ha ocurrido, que intentando ocultar algo, muestran otra parte de ustedes? Cuando no quiero que alguien sepa algo, no lo escondo, lo enmascaro, y así lo ves y pasa desapercibido dentro de la amplia gama de cosas que quiero que veas.
Un mentiroso diferente.
The viewer
Very often we use to see, and not to observe. The key to making science starts with observation, a good business, start observing patterns and finding opportunities where others do not find out there. Many times I can be very perceptive about situations, many others not, but in photography I am developing a need to observe more than it appears, more than showing that first impression.
I think that first impression can relate to everyday life, and while I find that there is more hiding in an image, I become anxious and want to discover more of what you may wanted to show. I think that essentially that curiosity is what motivates and inspires me to keep creating photography. The need to discover, the angry for not being able to see and hide what is not apparent and show the obvious.
Haven't happened to you, that when trying to hide something, you show another part of you? When I don't want someone to know something,I don't hide, I mask it, so you see it and it's going unnoticed within the wide range of things I want you to see.
A different kind of liar.
Austria, Bregenz, lake stage festival theatre, summer festival 2011, “André Chénier”, opera by Umberto Giordano during the French revolution.
Lake Constance as bath tub, director Keith Warner & set designer David Fielding have chosen “The Death of Marat”, an iconic painting by the revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David, as the symbol & inspiration for their staging of “André Chénier”. It is the first time that a historical painting has served as the basis for a Bregenz stage set, which towers 24 metres high above Lake Constance.
Set against the background of the French Revolution, the opera “André Chénier”, which premiered at “La Scala Milan” in 1896, is a historical drama of sharp perceptivity & a human tragedy of devastating intensity; appealing both as a passionate love story & as a historical thriller.
👉 One World one Dream,
...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over
10 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments
I've gotten a few emails asking what's up, as my involvement lately has been sporadic at best. More information can be found on my blog as well.
I've been diagnosed with skin cancer. It's treatable and, health wise, I'll be okay. Financially, well, that's another story.
As anyone who has ever dealt with the United States health care system up close and personal knows - it's beyond fucked up. The cost of care is astronomical and benefits both expensive and sometimes limited. Being self-employed and starting a brand new business, I'm particularly vulnerable.
When I first learned of this a few weeks ago, I was horrified. Ironically, my distress wasn't even about my own health, but about how I could afford to move forward, how I could pay my bills and not throw in the towel, sell my gear (my only real assets) and trudge back to a 9-5 just to avail myself of the health care bennies. My client base is new, my connections in their infancy, and I knew I would lose it all if I stopped now.
So I sat there on the precipice and thought about it. I thought about how much it stinks that we don't have nationalized health care, that you have to be either very poor or very well off to not be crippled by medical bills, that if you take on more debt, you slowly crush that way. I thought about how hard I have worked to get this far and how defeated I would feel to give up when I can see such good things just around the bend.
My first instinct (unhealthily, I suppose) was to draw in my head and my legs and hunker under my shell letting it rain down around me, quiet, keeping the happy face firmly in place when asked why my phone always went to voicemail.
Then a few perceptive friends asked the right questions and I told them what I was facing. They made me understand that I am not alone, that there are people who want me to succeed as much as I want it myself, that the world is big and I eke a living out of showing its beauty. They reminded me of the support I have received in the past from this community as well. I read over the emails you send me and sniveled like a toddler and the encouraging words you have written, stuffed my head full of all the people who have taken the time to tell me that they are inspired by me. I was, in turn, inspired by you.
So I decided to use my passion to save my passion. I've made a page on my site to purchase prints, and I hope to sell as many as I can to raise the money I need to stay afloat. So if you have every wanted an image from the inside of my head, now is the time!
Thank you again for your encouragement, your support, and your affection. It really did mean the world to me very recently, and helped me make some tough decisions in a postitive way.
Visit my site here to learn more, take a look around, or make a donation. If there is a print you desperately desire that isn't up there, just ask, and I'll try to make it available. I will be adding more images in the next few days as well. And thanks, even if you can't help out, this community has been a bright spot in a very rough few weeks.
This tower room is filled with bookshelves. A bearded figure in a wizard’s cap and robes is tending to the books. The only thing disturbing this tranquil scene is that the figure is a skeleton with glowing red eye sockets. As it turns toward you it begins mumbling words of power …
Perceptive adventurers can determine that the figure is casting a ward to protect the books, not attacking the party. The skeleton was once Yust’d Kobos, a famed magic librarian. If attacked he is will do everything he can to protect the books, avoiding elemental spells in favor of mind-affecting illusions.
TBH....To Be Honest.
You know what bugs me almost more than anything else in life? It is people who say, "To be honest!" I could be half asleep, utterly bored by someone droning on and on about the night out they had with Wayne Rooney, but the moment they say, "To be honest" I'm instantly awake, cocked and ready to fire. Or fall about laughing. I forgive people if they say it once, but the more they say it the more you will see a grin appear on my face! I taught myself never to say "To be honest". I tick myself off if those three words ever slip out between my lips in a moment of carelessness. Because, to me, if someone says "To be honest" why should I believe anything else they have said up to that point? An honest person doesn't need to say, "To be honest". I am honest (well, being totally honest, most of the time I am).
I was never designed to be a salesman. I wasn't the right image, was shy, didn't have the gift of the gab. But I knew it was the only way to get the rewards I wanted. Success would only come through hard work. And when you are in the business of selling airfreight services, moving goods around the world, it’s all about ‘You’. We had no tangible product to put before a potential client to see, examine check out. It comes down to your words and how you engage with the client. It was never in my nature to be pushy and not in my conscience to misrepresent what we do. Without big boobs or infectious lads bar room banter and a catalogue of jokes to tell I only had my product knowledge and integrity to rely on. I learnt it takes all types to succeed in airfreight sales. There is no doubt blond bimbos could succeed where the most astute male would fail. Sex sells, and a sweet smile from an attractive lady working for the competition could leave us losing out. But some buyers would dismiss our competitor only because they employed the blond. The reality was I had to look for the more discerning buyer who cared about the service they got and trusted my integrity to deliver the service they wanted. The key for me was to match up with the client and find something in common with them so that I could be on their level and gain their confidence. I met and effectively 'interviewed' thousands of people to find out what made them click. I became perceptive at weeding out the shysters who would say what they thought you wanted to hear and then do something else when you left. I could detect the liars, the skivers, the time wasters. But amongst them I found hundreds of genuine people who respected me and I respected back not just as clients. And in time I was proud to say to potential clients, “We don’t have many customers, but we have lots of friends”. That’s the degree of mutual trust we have established with so many. Now many competitors do not bother to approach our clients , knowing what their loyalty is to us and our company. I’m careful to make sure we never lose that trust. That’s why I never allow myself to say, “To be honest”. I am honest. End of.
Most of the time.
Built for Bio-Cup 2018
Preliminary round (Elements)
Sherbonk Holmes is a famed detective and deductionist who calls upon the power of the mind (and sometimes Stone) in order to solve crimes simple Toa aren't perceptive enough to. He also likes shouting the word "Elementary!" whenever he gets an idea.
It got old really quick.
We have Violet-green Swallows here year round, but they aren't numerous (or I'm not perceptive). The first three times I got a hot of one, I couldn't understand hy it was called "Violet-gree" when I saw no violet. Then we went to Yellowstone and it must have been breeding season. They were all over the place, sitting - as swallows will - on a cable where you couldn't see the back of the bird. I have one shot showing the violet. You need sun, luck, and sun, and luck, and a little luck wouldn't hurt. They don't seem to fly as much as tree swallows or barn swallows, but when they take off for a gnat meal, they're as swift as ... swifts.
I just got back from a couple of hours trying to get out Great and Snowy Egrets which were not cooperating. The weather was gorgeous - 74° - and any rain in the mountains that was supposed to be snow-melt come spring, is just rain. And me with a jacket. (Why does all weight loss revolve around sweat?)
Meanwhile, the White-crowned Sparrows are back and beginning to show their white-crowns. Beautiful puffy clouds. For those in the mid-west and east, we get excited about clouds in California. Wispy weak little things, and when we see puffy, we'll take 100 shots at least. Same goes for grass...both kinds, the stuff to mow, and the stuff on the ballot. Great, now they can text and get high while tailgating, and those are the 60 year-olds.
The Dalu form is nearly human, and can pass for one on a glance. Brynn is stronger in this form, and more perceptive but also a lot meaner...
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instagram.com/perceptive_imagination/
E-Mail :- pinkeshmodiphotography@yahoo.com
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Thank You... :-)
C.R.A.P.
Contrast, Repetition, Abidance, and Perceptive.
something to think about when taking a photograph!
n. *Casino*
1 A public room or building for gambling and other entertainment.
2 A summer or country house in Italy.
The history of the word*casino reveals a transformation from a cottage to a gambling palace. The source of our word, Italian casino, is a diminutive of casa, “house.” Central to the transformation is the development of the senses of casino in Italian. The word was first applied to a country house and then came to be used for a social gathering place, a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble.
Mandelay Bay Casino, Las Vegas, USA.
PixQuote:
"Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: "Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream?"
-Ansel Adams
It's been quite a while since I've seen a Downy Woodpecker around here. Perhaps the Nuttalls is competing and winning nesting sites, or perhaps I'm just not as perceptive as I used to be.
A relatively uncommon type in the Kelvin fleet, despite their fondness for the National, were examples of the 1B. Although some of Midland's OLS-T National 1's and 1B's were transferred to Kelvin upon its formation, OLS810T was a later addition, numbered in order after a varied collection of long, short, single door, dual door, DP seated, etc etc. Interesting fleetname.... very perceptive. The gap site behind the hoardings is now the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre and car park.
Interestingly, both of the Boston area Banksy pieces are on Essex St:
• F̶O̶L̶L̶O̶W̶ ̶Y̶O̶U̶R̶ ̶D̶R̶E̶A̶M̶S̶ CANCELLED (aka chimney sweep) in Chinatown, Boston
• NO LOITRIN in Central Square, Cambridge.
Does that mean anything? It looks like he favors Essex named streets & roads when he can. In 2008, he did another notable Essex work in London, for example, and posters on the Banksy Forums picked up & discussed on the Essex link as well.
Is there an Essex Street in any of the other nearby towns? It looks like there are several: Brookline, Charlestown, Chelsea, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Medford, Melrose, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Somerville, Swampscott, and Waltham. Most of these seem improbable to me, other than maybe Brookline, or maybe Somerville or Charlestown. But they start getting pretty suburban after that.
But, again, why "Essex"? In a comment on this photo, Birbeck helps clarify:
I can only surmise that he's having a 'dig' at Essex UK, especially with the misspelling of 'Loitering'. Here, the general view of the urban districts in Essex: working class but with right wing views; that they're not the most intellectual bunch; rather obsessed with fashion (well, their idea of it); their place of worship is the shopping mall; enjoy rowdy nights out; girls are thought of as being dumb, fake blonde hair/tans and promiscuous; and guys are good at the 'chit chat', and swagger around showing off their dosh (money).
It was also the region that once had Europe's largest Ford motor factory. In its heyday, 1 in 3 British cars were made in Dagenham, Essex. Pay was good for such unskilled labour, generations worked mind-numbing routines on assembly lines for 80 years. In 2002 the recession ended the dream.
• • • • •
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banksy
• Birth name
Unknown
• Born
1974 or 1975 (1974 or 1975), Bristol, UK[1]
• Nationality
• Field
• Movement
Anti-Totalitarianism
Anti-War
• Works
Naked Man Image
One Nation Under CCTV
Anarchist Rat
Ozone's Angel
Pulp Fiction
Banksy is a pseudonymous[2][3][4] British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol[2] and to have been born in 1974,[5] but his identity is unknown.[6] According to Tristan Manco[who?], Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."[7] His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.[8] Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti.[9] Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[10]
Banksy's first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[11] The film was released in the UK on March 5.[12]
Contents
• 1 Career
•• 1.1 2000
•• 1.2 2002
•• 1.3 2003
•• 1.4 2004
•• 1.5 2005
•• 1.6 2006
•• 1.7 2007
•• 1.8 2008
•• 1.9 2009
•• 1.10 2010
Career
Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992–1994[14] as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), with Kato and Tes.[15] He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene. From the start he used stencils as elements of his freehand pieces, too.[14] By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a piece. He claims he changed to stencilling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stencilled serial number[16] and by employing this technique, he soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.[16]
Stencil on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat in central Bristol - (wider view). The image of Death is based on a 19th century etching illustrating the pestilence of The Great Stink.[17]
Banksy's stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects often include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.
In late 2001, on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, he met up with the Gen-X pastellist, visual activist, and recluse James DeWeaver in Byron Bay[clarification needed], where he stencilled a parachuting rat with a clothes peg on its nose above a toilet at the Arts Factory Lodge. This stencil can no longer be located. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phone-box), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.
2000
The album cover for Monk & Canatella's Do Community Service was conceived and illustrated by Banksy, based on his contribution to the "Walls on fire" event in Bristol 1998.[18][citation needed]
2002
On 19 July 2002, Banksy's first Los Angeles exhibition debuted at 33 1/3 Gallery, a small Silverlake venue owned by Frank Sosa. The exhibition, entitled Existencilism, was curated by 33 1/3 Gallery, Malathion, Funk Lazy Promotions, and B+.[19]
2003
In 2003 in an exhibition called Turf War, held in a warehouse, Banksy painted on animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[20] He later moved on to producing subverted paintings; one example is Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley floating in its reflective waters; another is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at a British football hooligan, dressed only in his Union Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These oil paintings were shown at a twelve-day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.[21]
2004
In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Princess Diana's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England." Someone threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some recipients then tried to spend in local shops. These notes were also given with invitations to a Santa's Ghetto exhibition by Pictures on Walls. The individual notes have since been selling on eBay for about £200 each. A wad of the notes were also thrown over a fence and into the crowd near the NME signing tent at The Reading Festival. A limited run of 50 signed posters containing ten uncut notes were also produced and sold by Pictures on Walls for £100 each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. One of these sold in October 2007 at Bonhams auction house in London for £24,000.
2005
In August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier. He reportedly said "The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin Wall and will eventually run for over 700km—the distance from London to Zurich. "[22]
2006
• Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, on the weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.[23]
• After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for £25,000,[24] on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in Sotheby's London for £50,400, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the model painted in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold for five times their estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same auction.[25]
• In December, journalist Max Foster coined the phrase, "the Banksy Effect", to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy's success.[26]
2007
• On 21 February 2007, Sotheby's auction house in London auctioned three works, reaching the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction: over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti works, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively, which were well above their estimated prices.[27] The following day's auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices: Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached £96,000; Glory sold for £72,000; Untitled (2004) sold for £33,600; all significantly above estimated values.[28] To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, "I Can't Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit."[6]
• In February 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.[29]
• In April 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy's iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Although the image was very popular, Transport for London claimed that the "graffiti" created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime" and their staff are "professional cleaners not professional art critics".[30] Banksy tagged the same site again (pictured at right). This time the actors were portrayed as holding real guns instead of bananas, but they were adorned with banana costumes. Banksy made a tribute art piece over this second Pulp Fiction piece. The tribute was for 19-year-old British graffiti artist Ozone, who was hit by an underground train in Barking, East London, along with fellow artist Wants, on 12 January 2007.[31] The piece was of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull. He also wrote a note on his website, saying:
The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic. Ozone - rest in peace.[citation needed]
Ozone's Angel
• On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work Space Girl & Bird fetching £288,000 (US$576,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.[32]
• On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.
• On 4 June 2007, it was reported that Banksy's The Drinker had been stolen.[33][34]
• In October 2007, most of his works offered for sale at Bonhams auction house in London sold for more than twice their reserve price.[35]
• Banksy has published a "manifesto" on his website.[36] The text of the manifesto is credited as the diary entry of one Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, DSO, which is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. It describes how a shipment of lipstick to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp immediately after its liberation at the end of World War II helped the internees regain their humanity. However, as of 18 January 2008, Banksy's Manifesto has been substituted with Graffiti Heroes #03 that describes Peter Chappell's graffiti quest of the 1970s that worked to free George Davis of his imprisonment.[37] By 12 August 2009 he was relying on Emo Phillips' "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."
• A small number of Banksy's works can be seen in the movie Children of Men, including a stenciled image of two policemen kissing and another stencil of a child looking down a shop.
• In the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up starring Clive Owen, Banksy's tag can be seen on a dumpster in the film's credits.
• Banksy, who deals mostly with Lazarides Gallery in London, claims that the exhibition at Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York (his first major exhibition in that city) is unauthorised. The exhibition featured 62 of his paintings and prints.[38]
2008
• In March, a stencilled graffiti work appeared on Thames Water tower in the middle of the Holland Park roundabout, and it was widely attributed to Banksy. It was of a child painting the tag "Take this Society" in bright orange. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham spokesman, Councillor Greg Smith branded the art as vandalism, and ordered its immediate removal, which was carried out by H&F council workmen within three days.[39]
• Over the weekend 3–5 May in London, Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival. It was situated on Leake Street, a road tunnel formerly used by Eurostar underneath London Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn't cover anyone else's.[40] Artists included Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, C215, Cartrain, Dolk, Dotmasters, J.Glover, Eine, Eelus, Hero, Pure evil, Jef Aérosol, Mr Brainwash, Tom Civil and Roadsworth.[citation needed]
• In late August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster.[41]
• A stencil painting attributed to Banksy appeared at a vacant petrol station in the Ensley neighbourhood of Birmingham, Alabama on 29 August as Hurricane Gustav approached the New Orleans area. The painting depicting a hooded member of the Ku Klux Klan hanging from a noose was quickly covered with black spray paint and later removed altogether.[42]
• His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened 5 October 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror.[43]
• The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy "has no more right to paint graffiti than a child". Robert Davis, the chairman of the council planning committee told The Times newspaper: "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art". [44] The work was painted over in April 2009.
• In December 2008, The Little Diver, a Banksy image of a diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne Australia was vandalised. The image was protected by a sheet of clear perspex, however silver paint was poured behind the protective sheet and later tagged with the words "Banksy woz ere". The image was almost completely destroyed.[45].
2009
• May 2009, parts company with agent Steve Lazarides. Announces Pest Control [46] the handling service who act on his behalf will be the only point of sale for new works.
• On 13 June 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, including animatronics and installations; it is his largest exhibition yet, featuring 78 new works.[47][48] Reaction to the show was positive, with over 8,500 visitors to the show on the first weekend.[49] Over the course of the twelve weeks, the exhibition has been visited over 300,000 times.[50]
• In September 2009, a Banksy work parodying the Royal Family was partially destroyed by Hackney Council after they served an enforcement notice for graffiti removal to the former address of the property owner. The mural had been commissioned for the 2003 Blur single "Crazy Beat" and the property owner, who had allowed the piece to be painted, was reported to have been in tears when she saw it was being painted over.[51]
• In December 2009, Banksy marked the end of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference by painting four murals on global warming. One included "I don't believe in global warming" which was submerged in water.[52]
2010
• The world premiere of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop occurred at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on 24 January. He created 10 street pieces around Park City and Salt Lake City to tie in with the screening.[53]
• In February, The Whitehouse public house in Liverpool, England, is sold for £114,000 at auction.[54] The side of the building has an image of a giant rat by Banksy.[55]
• In April 2010, Melbourne City Council in Australia reported that they had inadvertently ordered private contractors to paint over the last remaining Banksy art in the city. The image was of a rat descending in a parachute adorning the wall of an old council building behind the Forum Theatre. In 2008 Vandals had poured paint over a stencil of an old-fashioned diver wearing a trenchcoat. A council spokeswoman has said they would now rush through retrospective permits to protect other “famous or significant artworks” in the city.[56]
• In April 2010 to coincide with the premier of Exit through the Gift Shop in San Francisco, 5 of his pieces appeared in various parts of the city.[57] Banksy reportedly paid a Chinatown building owner $50 for the use of their wall for one of his stencils.[58]
• In May 2010 to coincide with the release of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Chicago, one piece appeared in the city.
Notable art pieces
In addition to his artwork, Banksy has claimed responsibility for a number of high profile art pieces, including the following:
• At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in seven foot high letters.[59]
• At Bristol Zoo, he left the message 'I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.' in the elephant enclosure.[60]
• In March 2005, he placed subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[61]
• He put up a subverted painting in London's Tate Britain gallery.
• In May 2005 Banksy's version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection.[62]
Near Bethlehem - 2005
• Banksy has sprayed "This is not a photo opportunity" on certain photograph spots.
• In August 2005, Banksy painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall.[22][63][64][65]
See also: Other Banksy works on the Israeli West Bank barrier
• In April 2006, Banksy created a sculpture based on a crumpled red phone box with a pickaxe in its side, apparently bleeding, and placed it in a street in Soho, London. It was later removed by Westminster Council. BT released a press release, which said: "This is a stunning visual comment on BT's transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider."[66]
• In June 2006, Banksy created an image of a naked man hanging out of a bedroom window on a wall visible from Park Street in central Bristol. The image sparked some controversy, with the Bristol City Council leaving it up to the public to decide whether it should stay or go.[67] After an internet discussion in which 97% (all but 6 people) supported the stencil, the city council decided it would be left on the building.[67] The mural was later defaced with paint.[67]
• In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". Several copies of the CD were purchased by the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites such as eBay. The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog's head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption "90% of success is just showing up".[68][69][70]
• In September 2006, Banksy dressed an inflatable doll in the manner of a Guantanamo Bay detainment camp prisoner (orange jumpsuit, black hood, and handcuffs) and then placed the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.[71][72]
Technique
Asked about his technique, Banksy said:
“I use whatever it takes. Sometimes that just means drawing a moustache on a girl's face on some billboard, sometimes that means sweating for days over an intricate drawing. Efficiency is the key.[73]”
Stencils are traditionally hand drawn or printed onto sheets of acetate or card, before being cut out by hand. Because of the secretive nature of Banksy's work and identity, it is uncertain what techniques he uses to generate the images in his stencils, though it is assumed he uses computers for some images due to the photocopy nature of much of his work.
He mentions in his book, Wall and Piece, that as he was starting to do graffiti, he was always too slow and was either caught or could never finish the art in the one sitting. So he devised a series of intricate stencils to minimise time and overlapping of the colour.
Identity
Banksy's real name has been widely reported to be Robert or Robin Banks.[74][75][76] His year of birth has been given as 1974.[62]
Simon Hattenstone from Guardian Unlimited is one of the very few people to have interviewed him face-to-face. Hattenstone describes him as "a cross of Jimmy Nail and British rapper Mike Skinner" and "a 28 year old male who showed up wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a silver tooth, silver chain, and one silver earring".[77] In the same interview, Banksy revealed that his parents think their son is a painter and decorator.[77]
In May 2007, an extensive article written by Lauren Collins of the New Yorker re-opened the Banksy-identity controversy citing a 2004 photograph of the artist that was taken in Jamaica during the Two-Culture Clash project and later published in the Evening Standard in 2004.[6]
In October 2007, a story on the BBC website featured a photo allegedly taken by a passer-by in Bethnal Green, London, purporting to show Banksy at work with an assistant, scaffolding and a truck. The story confirms that Tower Hamlets Council in London has decided to treat all Banksy works as vandalism and remove them.[78]
In July 2008, it was claimed by The Mail on Sunday that Banksy's real name is Robin Gunningham.[3][79] His agent has refused to confirm or deny these reports.
In May 2009, the Mail on Sunday once again speculated about Gunningham being Banksy after a "self-portrait" of a rat holding a sign with the word "Gunningham" shot on it was photographed in East London.[80] This "new Banksy rat" story was also picked up by The Times[81] and the Evening Standard.
Banksy, himself, states on his website:
“I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.[82]”
Controversy
In 2004, Banksy walked into the Louvre in Paris and hung on a wall a picture he had painted resembling the Mona Lisa but with a yellow smiley face. Though the painting was hurriedly removed by the museum staff, it and its counterpart, temporarily on unknown display at the Tate Britain, were described by Banksy as "shortcuts". He is quoted as saying:
“To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up.[83]”
Peter Gibson, a spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy, asserts that Banksy's work is simple vandalism,[84] and Diane Shakespeare, an official for the same organization, was quoted as saying: "We are concerned that Banksy's street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism".[6]
In June 2007 Banksy created a circle of plastic portable toilets, said to resemble Stonehenge at the Glastonbury Festival. As this was in the same field as the "sacred circle" it was felt by many to be inappropriate and his installation was itself vandalized before the festival even opened. However, the intention had always been for people to climb on and interact with it.[citation needed] The installation was nicknamed "Portaloo Sunset" and "Bog Henge" by Festival goers. Michael Eavis admitted he wasn't fond of it, and the portaloos were removed before the 2008 festival.
In 2010, an artistic feud developed between Banksy and his rival King Robbo after Banksy painted over a 24-year old Robbo piece on the banks of London's Regent Canal. In retaliation several Banksy pieces in London have been painted over by 'Team Robbo'.[85][86]
Also in 2010, government workers accidentally painted over a Banksy art piece, a famed "parachuting-rat" stencil, in Australia's Melbourne CBD. [87]
Bibliography
Banksy has self-published several books that contain photographs of his work in various countries as well as some of his canvas work and exhibitions, accompanied by his own writings:
• Banksy, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall (2001) ISBN 978-0-95417040-0
• Banksy, Existencilism (2002) ISBN 978-0-95417041-7
• Banksy, Cut it Out (2004) ISBN 978-0-95449600-5
• Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005) ISBN 978-1-84413786-2
• Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005) ISBN 978-0-95519460-3
Random House published Wall and Piece in 2005. It contains a combination of images from his three previous books, as well as some new material.[16]
Two books authored by others on his work were published in 2006 & 2007:
• Martin Bull, Banksy Locations and Tours: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London (2006 - with new editions in 2007 and 2008) ISBN 978-0-95547120-9.
• Steve Wright, Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home (2007) ISBN 978-1906477004
External links
There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit. ~ Ansel Adams
P.S. This is a non-HDR processed image. Taken with a hand-held black card to control the exposure.
an experiment gone awry.
"most people look for confrontation though, as a means
to reaffirm their own beliefs."
"but you have to wonder why that is? if a belief requires constant reaffirmation, how strong is it to begin with?"
"i think most people just like to argue their own 'right-ness'."
"that's true to an extent, but i'd put it more as - most people
just really want someone to listen to them no matter if their
opinion is wrong or right. they just want to be heard, to matter. and sometimes they misconstrue a confrontation as being 'heard'. i'm not sure many people know how to communicate on a subtler level. so you can take someone with a strong opinion about something and just let them talk. let them vent their passion, let them rant and rave. just be open and perceptive and you have to hear the voice behind all the smack talk. usually if people feel like they've really been heard, they are more prone to listening in return. i mean you can't change someone's mind about anything by constantly going for the throat. if you can see why someone feels the way they do about a particular subject, then you can have a real conversation about it instead of a shouting match."
"you ever done that personality test thing?"
"yeh."
"which one are you?"
"INFP - mediator/idealist"
"it figures. but no, that's good. you're needed."
"you?"
"not sure. i'm alpha personality type though."
"yeh, society puts you guys on pedestals. alpha, individual, self made, self, self, self. not saying it's a bad thing but
currently there's no balance. we elevate the self made millionaire as the ideal. the guys that alpha their way to the top. but there's no counter balance, it's all skewed. there's no praise for the community minded people that never invent the next billion dollar smart phone, but they've managed
to set up a vegetable garden in their neighborhood so
no one goes hungry. there's too much individualism that's praised and not enough community. people don't realize that there's enough for everyone, but everyone has to agree to share. and people don't want to do that. people have been taught to get theirs and fuck everyone else, and that's very sad to me. it's sadder to me that the altruistic personality isn't more elevated in the media. i mean let's take jay z or dre. no one needs that much money. NO ONE! no one needs 20 different porsches - jay leno and seinfeld, or five different lamborghinis, right? it's ludicris *ba dum chee*. no one needs a 50,000 sq foot house with rooms they've never even set foot inside, to live comfortably"
"but that's their money, they made it. the american dream."
"yeah, but for them to have it and hoard it, someone else has to go without it. money and resources are finite. community and caring is infinite. that's what people don't get."
"capitalism at it's finest."
"sometimes i wish life had a reset button. or at least one of those little minus signs that lets you minimize a window until you're ready to deal again."
"i wish you could minimize certain people until you're ready to engage again."
"someday there'll be an ap for that."
HWW!
The venerable old US Mint in San Francisco, completed 1879, side view. The building survived the 1906 fire due to perceptive leadership of those in charge and to having its own well!
Enjoyed an excellent tour of the building yesterday, sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle. Thanks, Katherine!
Inside those many windows = cast iron folding shutters--which helped save it from fire in 1906!
… Sie hetzten zusammen die Straße runter und zogen sich alles auf ihre frühe Weise rein, die später so viel trauriger und scharfsichtiger wurde…aber damals kobolzten sie wie die Kielkropfe die Straße runter, und ich schlurfte hinterher, wie ich das mein Leben lang bei Menschen gemacht habe, die mich interessieren, denn die einzigen Menschen, die mich interessieren, sind die Verrückten, die verrückt leben, verrückt reden und alles auf einmal wollen, die nie gähnen oder Phrasen dreschen, sondern wie römische Lichter die ganze Nacht lang brennen, brennen, brennen. ⭕ On the Road (Jack Kerouac) They rushed down the street together, digging everything in the early way they had, which later became so much sadder and perceptive and blank. But then they danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to life, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" What did they call such young people in Goethe's Germany?
People often reject things based on what they are not aware of. I feel I'm blessed to have a wider range of perceptive ability, and thus allow me to be aware of more beauty and richness the Universe has to offer. To be able to have an opened heart and opened mind to experience Life is one of the greatest gift a human being can receive.
Location: Machu Picchu, Cusco Region, Peru
Developed originally to serve as a fast light armor asset for quick hit and run tactics as well as integrated reconnaissance fire-support, the Harasser quickly became popular as an all-encompassing multi-role 'mech. Variants ranged from basic front-line squad based units to domestic police law enforcement.
Channeled some Red Spacecat decal goodness and gave printing my own waterslides a try. Worked out reasonably well, although the perceptive will notice some bubbles. As always, fits a fig in a cockpit with a functioning hatch that I forgot to photograph.
(Oreothlypis peregrina) Belmont Pond, Kelowna, BC.
Rare for this location anytime, and especially at this late date.
This bird is fairly common in the northern half of BC.
Yes, he's still here, surprise, surprise! Thought I saw him yesterday, but wasn't sure. This morning I had another close encounter that lasted over 20 minutes along the south end of the larger pond....
Perceptive viewers will notice a little extra editing on the first two photos in this set.... ALSO, look for the note on image 3.... (soty15)
The Dining Room of the Fall River Historical Society
December 5th, 2014
This nine-foot tabletop tree is decorated in the traditional manner, with figural blown glass ornaments. The overwhelming number of ornaments provide a spectrum of the color that dazzles visitors.
More info:
Each year, beginning the week before Thanksgiving, the Historical Society's mansion is lavishly decorated in the Victorian manner. Holiday spirit abounds from room to room, with the focal point being a magnificent 14-foot Christmas tree in the Music Room. Aglow with thousands of lights, it is a tree guaranteed to instill holiday spirit in both young and old.
Traditional decorations are creatively used, working with a variety of holiday themes, to create a display unlike anything to be seen in the Fall River area. Last year's theme, "Victorian Christmas Traditions," was very well received by the public and was photographed by VICTORIAN HOMES magazine for its Christmas 2003 issue. The Music Room's tree was illuminated by the glow of 4100 white lights, was laden with silver tinsel and decorated with hundreds of mouth-blown glass ornaments typical of the Victorian period. The concept of Christmas as we know it originated in Germany and was introduced to England by Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria. Americans, who strove to emulate the British traditions, quickly adopted the holiday and made it their own. Bavarian glassblowers created untold thousands of ornaments, many of which carry holiday lore. Replicas of many of these ornaments can be found on the Society's tree. Among the most popular are: the glass pickle, which was traditionally hidden on the tree, to be discovered on Christmas morning by the most perceptive child, who was rewarded with a special gift; "Crampus," a small devil-like figure with black horns made of coal, who followed Father Christmas rewarding naughty children with coal; the carrot, an ornament traditionally given to new brides to bring luck in the kitchen.
The parlor was banked with paper poinsettias. This plant was named as a tribute to Mr. Joel R. Poinsett, the American Ambassador to Mexico and amateur botanist, who so admired the Mexican wildflower that he brought it to North America and cultivated it in his own greenhouses. In this manner did it become a major part of our Christmas tradition today. The delicate hothouse plant was a great rarity in cold New England winters and so was often copied by nineteenth-century paper flower makers.
The dining room was ornamented with della robbia of sparkling crystal-beaded fruit, with the table set with a magnificent nineteenth-century Davenport china dessert service. The centerpiece of the table was a three-tiered cake traditionally decorated with candies, nuts and sugared fruit, surmounted by a pink peppermint pig. As the pig was a symbol of good luck in the Victorian era, candy-makers in Saratoga Springs, New York, began to manufacture small peppermint pigs. In observance of the tradition, those who purchased the pigs would, following the holiday meal, shatter the pig so that each family member could taste of the candy as a wish for good luck in the coming year.
In the bedroom stood a tree decorated entirely in nineteenth-century photographs and greeting cards, very typical of trees in Fall River homes during the nineteenth-century, documented by photographs in the Society's collection.
The first floor hallway was simply decorated using evergreens and holly, incorporating roses in tribute to the legend of the Christmas rose. As the story goes, a little girl happened upon the stable in Bethlehem where the Christ child lay. Upset because she had no gift to bring, she began to cry and, incredibly, her tears turned into beautiful roses.
While touring the museum, guests might also want to browse in the museum shop, which is filled with a vast number of unique gifts. Here you can find the right present for that someone special on your list. This year, many new mouth-blown glass ornaments will also be featured. Among our museum shop bestsellers are delectable sugar plums, the traditional Victorian candy meant to bring sweet dreams to any child that slept with one beneath its pillow.
The Fall River Historical Society hopes you will take advantage of this opportunity to visit. The museum will be "decked out" for the occasion in the grand manner of an elegant Victorian mansion and will be a sight to behold!
These are some of the highlights of the holiday exhibit last year at the Historical Society.
Museum hours are: Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museum will close at 12:00 noon on Christmas Eve and will be closed Christmas Day. For further information, please call (508) 679-1071.
For more info: www.lizzieborden.org/VictorianChristmas.html
Witches on a bike "ride" in pre-Wizard of Oz Kansas (1903).
After considering the artistic merits of AI produced art, I decided to give it a try myself. These were produced with a artificial intelligence program called Dall-e 2. I won't bore anyone with the details. I will say there is some creative elements here. Certainly I had to have an idea, then I had to figure out how to instruct the AI engine. It is not difficult, you can generate a lot of similar results or tweak the model to get different effects. You do not have complete control over the outcomes. It feels like taking digital pictures to some degree.
These are the "originals" I have not done any other post production. Emotionally, ethically, these feel like "mine" my work, but that work is almost entirely mental and linguistic rather than physically and perceptive.
L&M News 1:1968 (Altrincham, Engand: Linotype & Machinery Limited, 1968), pp. 12–13.
Transcription:
Why yet another small ad. face?
To answer that we might first recall what Allen Hutt wrote in L&M News 1, 1967. He pointed out that the ‘smalls’ are “far from just money-spinners; they are circulation builders.” And he went on to say: “From all points of view it is worth while to give some thought to the typography of the classified columns. The problem is to secure economical (i.e. fast) setting, to get as much linage in as possible (i.e. to sell space dearly) and at the same time not to sacrifice reasonable readability.” That clearly indicates the significance of classified ads—their economic importance in terms of revenue and production, and the need to make them readable.
Economics first, then. A newspaper publisher who is interested in 15 lines to the inch must use a face designed for 4¾-point body. He will also be interested in characters-per-line—which means he will take careful note of the alphabet length of the faces available to him.
Next, readability, which is an aspect of design. There are two obvious kinds of type design for the purpose; the seriffed and the sans-serif. Which is more readable depends not only on personal taste but on what happens to the type in the rigorous conditions of newspaper production.
Until recently, the Linotype range included two 4¾-point faces of proven worth; Adsans (lowercase alphabet 84 points); and Claritas (alphabet 79 points). Adsans has been highly successful, chiefly because it stands up so well to newspaper conditions; but, naturally, a sans-serif design is best suited to ‘popular’ papers. Claritas, too, has been long admired; its elegance needs careful press-work.
Now L&M’s type design staff have created a third face in the 4¾-point range—‘Linotype’ Maximus. Its alphabet length is 88 points, which makes it not only wider than any other 4¾-point but wider than some 5-point faces. The economic effect of this will not be lost on perceptive newspaper men.
Maximus is a seriffed face with a companion bold. The serifs may look unusual in our enlargements, but they are designed to survive the inevitable loss in moulding and high speed machining. The extra width in the characters, which helps to make such a small face readable, has gone into the space outside the letters as well as inside, so the matrices ought to be reasonably durable. The figures are sans-serif, for maximum legibility.
We think Maximus is a very good type for a particular purpose. But don’t take our word for it: look at the classified columns of that great national The Daily Telegraph, which encouraged L&M to develop the face, was the first newspaper to adopt it (in January of this year), and is, we believe, very satisfied with it.
This was a rather brief encounter in the hallway outside the North York Public Library. The sun was pouring into this long passageway which was lined with highly reflective polished aluminum panels. I thought it might make a cool setting for a portrait and walked into the atrium to see if I could locate a suitable subject. This fellow was strolling by and I thought his dark skin and wintry hat would make a nice contrast and he was agreeable. His first move was to remove the hat but I told him I thought it would add to the portrait. Meet Jacob.
I walked him to the location and, though willing, he seemed a bit confused about the intent. He asked if I was doing this for “the church.” I explained the project more clearly but I think his grasp was still a bit vague. He heard that I would be sharing the portrait and it was to help me be a better photographer so I feel ok about using the photo.
We had very little time with which to work because I was just on a brief wander in the atrium following a meeting. Jacob told me he is 23 and currently living in a shelter. Although I hadn’t realized it at the time I approached him, I conclude that he is going through a difficult time in life and, like far too many young people these days, is not having an easy time establishing himself. When I asked what he was doing these days he said “not much.”
I found the photos challenging to work with as the unusual light that had intrigued me proved somewhat difficult to work with as did the lines between the panels and the reflections. I struggled with different crops and treatments and initially chose the black and white version. I had a change of mind (especially after reading Poupetta's perceptive remarks) and changed to this portrait for the submission. My initial reaction had been that Jacob was somewhat adrift and I think this photo conveys it best. Every encounter is a new experience to learn about both the interactions and the photography.
Thank you Jacob for agreeing to participate in 100 Strangers. You are #668 in Round 7 of my project. I wish you well in finding your way.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
P. 385 in: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a triumph by T.E. Lawrence.
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Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia—a title used for the 1962 film based on his wartime activities.
He was born out of wedlock in Tremadog, Wales in August 1888 to Sarah Junner, a Scottish governess, and Thomas Chapman, an Anglo-Irish nobleman from County Westmeath. Chapman left his wife and family in Ireland to cohabit with Junner; in 1914 he became Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet. Chapman and Junner called themselves Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, a name probably adopted from Sarah's likely father; Sarah’s mother had been employed as a servant for a Lawrence family when she became pregnant with Sarah. In 1889, the family moved to Kirkcudbright in Scotland where his brother William George was born, before moving to Dinard in France. In 1896, the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where Thomas attended the high school and then studied history at Jesus College from 1907 to 1910. Between 1910 and 1914, he worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum, chiefly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria.
Soon after the outbreak of war, he volunteered for the British Army and was stationed in Egypt. In 1916, he was sent to Arabia on an intelligence mission and quickly became involved with the Arab Revolt as a liaison to the Arab forces, along with other British officers. He worked closely with Emir Faisal, a leader of the revolt, and he participated in and sometimes led military activities against the Ottoman armed forces, culminating in the capture of Damascus in October 1918.
After the war, Lawrence joined the Foreign Office, working with the British government and with Faisal. In 1922, he retreated from public life and spent the years until 1935 serving as an enlisted man, mostly in the Royal Air Force, with a brief stint in the Army. During this time, he published his best-known work Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt. He also translated books into English and wrote The Mint, which was published posthumously and detailed his time in the Royal Air Force working as an ordinary aircraftman. He corresponded extensively and was friendly with well-known artists, writers, and politicians. For the Royal Air Force, he participated in the development of rescue motorboats.
Lawrence's public image resulted in part from the sensationalised reporting of the Arab revolt by American journalist Lowell Thomas, as well as from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In 1935, Lawrence was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 in Tremadog, Carnarvonshire (now Gwynedd), Wales in a house named Gorphwysfa, now known as Snowdon Lodge. His Anglo-Irish father Thomas Chapman had left his wife Edith after he had a son with Sarah Junner, a young Scotswoman who had been governess to his daughters. Sarah was the daughter of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Junner, a servant in the Lawrence household; she was dismissed four months before Sarah was born—although she identified Sarah's father as "John Junner, Shipwright journeyman".
Lawrence's parents did not marry but lived together under the name Lawrence. In 1914, his father inherited the Chapman baronetcy based at Killua Castle, the ancestral family home in County Westmeath, Ireland, but he and Sarah continued to live in England. They had five sons, and Thomas was the second eldest. From Wales, the family moved to Kirkcudbright, Galloway in southwestern Scotland, then to Dinard in Brittany, then to Jersey. The family lived at Langley Lodge (now demolished) from 1894 to 1896, set in private woods between the eastern borders of the New Forest and Southampton Water in Hampshire. The residence was isolated, and young Lawrence had many opportunities for outdoor activities and waterfront visits. Victorian-Edwardian Britain was a very conservative society where the majority of people were Christians who considered premarital and extramarital sex to be shameful, and children born out of wedlock were born in disgrace. Lawrence was always something of an outsider, a bastard who could never hope to achieve the same level of social acceptance and success that others could expect who were born legitimate, and no girl from a respectable family would ever marry a bastard.
In the summer of 1896, the family moved to 2 Polstead Road in Oxford, where they lived until 1921. Lawrence attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys from 1896 until 1907, where one of the four houses was later named "Lawrence" in his honour; the school closed in 1966. Lawrence and one of his brothers became commissioned officers in the Church Lads' Brigade at St Aldate's Church.
Lawrence claimed that he ran away from home around 1905 and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall, from which he was bought out. However, no evidence of this appears in army records.
At age 15, Lawrence and his schoolfriend Cyril Beeson cycled around Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire, visiting almost every village's parish church, studying their monuments and antiquities, and making rubbings of their monumental brasses. Lawrence and Beeson monitored building sites in Oxford and presented the Ashmolean Museum with anything that they found. The Ashmolean's Annual Report for 1906 said that the two teenage boys "by incessant watchfulness secured everything of antiquarian value which has been found." In the summers of 1906 and 1907, Lawrence and Beeson toured France by bicycle, collecting photographs, drawings, and measurements of medieval castles. In August 1907, Lawrence wrote home: "The Chaignons & the Lamballe people complimented me on my wonderful French: I have been asked twice since I arrived what part of France I came from".
From 1907 to 1910, Lawrence read History at Jesus College, Oxford. In the summer of 1909, he set out alone on a three-month walking tour of crusader castles in Ottoman Syria, during which he travelled 1,000 mi (1,600 km) on foot. He graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a thesis titled 'The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture'—to the End of the 12th Century, based on his field research with Beeson in France, notably in Châlus, and his solo research in the Middle East. Lawrence was fascinated by the Middle Ages; his brother Arnold wrote in 1937 that "medieval researches" were a "dream way of escape from bourgeois England".
In 1910, Lawrence was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist at Carchemish, in the expedition that D. G. Hogarth was setting up on behalf of the British Museum. Hogarth arranged a "Senior Demyship" (a form of scholarship) for Lawrence at Magdalen College, Oxford to fund his work at £100 a year. He sailed for Beirut in December 1910 and went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under Hogarth, R. Campbell Thompson of the British Museum, and Leonard Woolley until 1914. He later stated that everything which he had accomplished he owed to Hogarth. Lawrence met Gertrude Bell while excavating at Carchemish. He worked briefly with Flinders Petrie in 1912 at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.
In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the Wilderness of Zin, and they made an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert along the way. The Negev was strategically important, as an Ottoman army attacking Egypt would have to cross it. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings, but a more important result was updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. Lawrence also visited Aqaba and Petra.
Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army. He held back until October on the advice of S. F. Newcombe, when he was commissioned on the General List. Before the end of the year, he was summoned by renowned archaeologist and historian Lt. Cmdr. David Hogarth to the new Arab Bureau intelligence unit in Cairo, and he arrived in Cairo on 15 December 1914. The Bureau's chief was General Gilbert Clayton who reported to Egyptian High Commissioner Henry McMahon.
The situation was complex during 1915. There was a growing Arab-nationalist movement within the Arabic-speaking Ottoman territories, including many Arabs serving in the Ottoman armed forces. They were in contact with Sharif Hussein, Emir of Mecca, who was negotiating with the British and offering to lead an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. In exchange, he wanted a British guarantee of an independent Arab state including the Hejaz, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Such an uprising would have been very helpful to Britain in its war against the Ottomans, greatly lessening the threat against the Suez Canal. However, there was resistance from French diplomats who insisted that Syria's future was as a French colony, not an independent Arab state. There were also strong objections from the Government of India, which was nominally part of the British government but acted independently. Its vision was of Mesopotamia under British control serving as a granary for India; furthermore, it wanted to hold on to its Arabian outpost in Aden.
At the Arab Bureau, Lawrence supervised the preparation of maps, produced a daily bulletin for the British generals operating in the theatre, and interviewed prisoners. He was an advocate of a British landing at Alexandretta which never came to pass. He was also a consistent advocate of an independent Arab Syria.
The situation came to a crisis in October 1915, as Sharif Hussein demanded an immediate commitment from Britain, with the threat that he would otherwise throw his weight behind the Ottomans. This would create a credible Pan-Islamic message that could have been very dangerous for Britain, which was in severe difficulties in the Gallipoli Campaign. The British replied with a letter from High Commissioner McMahon that was generally agreeable, while reserving commitments concerning the Mediterranean coastline and Holy Land.
In the spring of 1916, Lawrence was dispatched to Mesopotamia to assist in relieving the Siege of Kut by some combination of starting an Arab uprising and bribing Ottoman officials. This mission produced no useful result. Meanwhile, the Sykes–Picot Agreement was being negotiated in London without the knowledge of British officials in Cairo, which awarded a large proportion of Syria to France. Further, it implied that the Arabs would have to conquer Syria's four great cities if they were to have any sort of state there: Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. It is unclear at what point Lawrence became aware of the treaty's contents.
The Arab Revolt began in June 1916, but it bogged down after a few successes, with a real risk that the Ottoman forces would advance along the coast of the Red Sea and recapture Mecca. On 16 October 1916, Lawrence was sent to the Hejaz on an intelligence-gathering mission led by Ronald Storrs. He interviewed Sharif Hussein's sons Ali, Abdullah, and Faisal, and he concluded that Faisal was the best candidate to lead the Revolt.
In November, S. F. Newcombe was assigned to lead a permanent British liaison to Faisal's staff. Newcombe had not yet arrived in the area and the matter was of some urgency, so Lawrence was sent in his place. In late December 1916, Faisal and Lawrence worked out a plan for repositioning the Arab forces to prevent the Ottoman forces around Medina from threatening Arab positions and putting the railway from Syria under threat. Newcombe arrived and Lawrence was preparing to leave Arabia, but Faisal intervened urgently, asking that Lawrence's assignment become permanent. Lawrence remained attached to Faisal's forces until the fall of Damascus in 1918.
Lawrence made a 300-mile personal journey northward in June 1917, on the way to Aqaba, visiting Ras Baalbek, the outskirts of Damascus, and Azraq, Jordan. He met Arab nationalists, counselling them to avoid revolt until the arrival of Faisal's forces, and he attacked a bridge to create the impression of guerrilla activity. His findings were regarded by the British as extremely valuable and there was serious consideration of awarding him a Victoria Cross; in the end, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath and promoted to Major.
Lawrence travelled regularly between British headquarters and Faisal, co-ordinating military action. But by early 1918, Faisal's chief British liaison was Colonel Pierce Charles Joyce, and Lawrence's time was chiefly devoted to raiding and intelligence-gathering. By the summer of 1918, the Turks were offering a substantial reward for Lawrence's capture, initially £5,000 and eventually £20,000 (approx $2.1 million in 2017 dollars or £1.5 million). One officer wrote in his notes: "Though a price of £15,000 has been put on his head by the Turks, no Arab has, as yet, attempted to betray him. The Sharif of Mecca has given him the status of one of his sons, and he is just the finely tempered steel that supports the whole structure of our influence in Arabia. He is a very inspiring gentleman adventurer."
The chief elements of the Arab strategy which Faisal and Lawrence developed were to avoid capturing Medina, and to extend northwards through Maan and Dera'a to Damascus and beyond. Faisal wanted to lead regular attacks against the Ottomans, but Lawrence persuaded him to drop that tactic.
Medina was an attractive target for the revolt as Islam's second holiest site, and because its Ottoman garrison was weakened by disease and isolation. It became clear that it was advantageous to leave it there rather than try to capture it, while continually attacking the Hejaz railway south from Damascus without permanently destroying it. This prevented the Ottomans from making effective use of their troops at Medina, and forced them to dedicate many resources to defending and repairing the railway line.
It is not known when Lawrence learned the details of Sykes-Picot, nor if or when he briefed Faisal on what he knew, However, there is good reason to think that both these things happened, and earlier rather than later. In particular, the Arab strategy of northward extension makes perfect sense given the Sykes-Picot language that spoke of an independent Arab entity in Syria, which would only be granted if the Arabs liberated the territory themselves. The French, and some of their British Liaison officers, were specifically uncomfortable about the northward movement, as it would weaken French colonial claims.
In 1917, Lawrence proposed a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces including Auda Abu Tayi, who had previously been in the employ of the Ottomans, against the strategically located but lightly defended town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. Aqaba could have been attacked from the sea, but the narrow defiles leading through the mountains were strongly defended and would have been very difficult to assault. The expedition was led by Sharif Nasir of Medina.
Lawrence carefully avoided informing his British superiors about the details of the planned inland attack, due to concern that it would be blocked as contrary to French interests. The expedition departed from Wejh on 9 May. and Aqaba fell to the Arab forces on 6 July, after a surprise overland attack which took the Turkish defences from behind. After Aqaba, General Sir Edmund Allenby, the new commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, agreed to Lawrence's strategy for the revolt. Lawrence now held a powerful position as an adviser to Faisal and a person who had Allenby's confidence, as Allenby acknowledged after the war:
I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners and their mentality.
Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitering Dera'a in disguise, when he was captured by the Ottoman military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local bey and his guardsmen, though he does not specify the nature of the sexual contact. Some scholars have stated that he exaggerated the severity of the injuries that he suffered, or alleged that the episode never actually happened. There is no independent testimony, but the multiple consistent reports and the absence of evidence for outright invention in Lawrence's works make the account believable to his biographers. Malcolm Brown, John E. Mack, and Jeremy Wilson have argued that this episode had strong psychological effects on Lawrence, which may explain some of his unconventional behaviour in later life. Lawrence ended his account of the episode in Seven Pillars of Wisdom with the statement: "In Deraa that night the citadel of my integrity had been irrevocably lost."
Lawrence was involved in the build-up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war, but he was not present at the city's formal surrender, much to his disappointment. He arrived several hours after the city had fallen, entering Damascus around 9 am on 1 October 1918, but he was the third arrival of the day; the first was the 10th Australian Light Horse Brigade led by Major A.C.N. 'Harry' Olden, who formally accepted the surrender of the city from acting Governor Emir Said. Lawrence was instrumental in establishing a provisional Arab government under Faisal in newly liberated Damascus, which he had envisioned as the capital of an Arab state. Faisal's rule as king, however, came to an abrupt end in 1920, after the battle of Maysaloun when the French Forces of General Gouraud entered Damascus under the command of General Mariano Goybet, destroying Lawrence's dream of an independent Arabia.
During the closing years of the war, Lawrence sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, but he met with mixed success. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain contradicted the promises of independence that he had made to the Arabs and frustrated his work.
In 1918, Lowell Thomas went to Jerusalem where he met Lawrence, "whose enigmatic figure in Arab uniform fired his imagination", in the words of author Rex Hall. Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot a great deal of film and many photographs involving Lawrence, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative slide-show presentation that toured the world after the war. His lectures were "supported by moving pictures of veiled women, Arabs in their picturesque robes, camels, and dashing Bedouin cavalry", and he was well received by his audiences at Madison Square Garden in New York. He was invited to take his show to England, and he agreed to do so provided that he was personally invited by the King and provided the use of either Drury Lane or Covent Garden. He opened at Covent Garden on 14 August 1919 and continued for hundreds of lectures, "attended by the highest in the land".
Lawrence returned to the United Kingdom a full colonel. Immediately after the war, he worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation. On 17 May 1919, the Handley Page Type O crashed at the airport of Roma-Centocelle carrying Lawrence on a flight to Egypt. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; Lawrence survived with a broken shoulder blade and two broken ribs. During his brief hospitalisation, he was visited by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
In August 1919, Lowell Thomas launched a photo show in London entitled With Allenby in Palestine which included a lecture, dancing, and music and engaged in "Orientalism", depicting the Middle East as exotic, mysterious, sensuous, and violent. Initially, Lawrence played only a supporting role in the show, as the main focus was on Allenby's campaigns; but then Thomas realised that it was the photos of Lawrence dressed as a Bedouin which had captured the public's imagination, so he had Lawrence photographed again in London in Arab dress. With the new photos, Thomas re-launched his show under the new title With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia in early 1920, which proved to be extremely popular. The new title elevated Lawrence from a supporting role to a co-star of the Near Eastern campaign and reflected a changed emphasis. Thomas' shows made the previously obscure Lawrence into a household name.[112] Lawrence served for much of 1921 as an adviser to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office. He hated bureaucratic work, writing on 21 May 1921 to Robert Graves: "I wish I hadn't gone out there: the Arabs are like a page I have turned over; and sequels are rotten things. I'm locked up here: office every day and much of it".
Lawrence had a sinister reputation in France during his lifetime and even today as an implacable "enemy of France", the man who was constantly stirring up the Syrians to rebel against French rule throughout the 1920s. However, French historian Maurice Larès wrote that the real reason for France's problems in Syria was that the Syrians did not want to be ruled by France, and the French needed a "scapegoat" to blame for their difficulties in ruling the country. Larès wrote that Lawrence is usually pictured in France as a Francophobe, but he was really a Francophile.
In August 1922, Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an aircraftman, under the name John Hume Ross. At the RAF recruiting centre in Covent Garden, London, he was interviewed by recruiting officer Flying Officer W. E. Johns, later known as the author of the Biggles series of novels. Johns rejected Lawrence's application, as he suspected that "Ross" was a false name. Lawrence admitted that this was so and that he had provided false documents. He left, but returned some time later with an RAF messenger who carried a written order that Johns must accept Lawrence.
However, Lawrence was forced out of the RAF in February 1923 after his identity was exposed. He changed his name to T. E. Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps later that year. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally readmitted him in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert resulted in his assignment to bases at Karachi and Miramshah in British India (now Pakistan) in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time, he was forced to return to Britain after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.
He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. The hut was removed in 1930 when the Chingford Urban District Council acquired the land; it was given to the City of London Corporation which re-erected it in the grounds of The Warren, Loughton. Lawrence's tenure of the Chingford land has now been commemorated by a plaque fixed on the sighting obelisk on Pole Hill.
Lawrence continued serving in the RAF based at RAF Mount Batten near Plymouth, RAF Calshot near Southampton, and RAF Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. He specialised in high-speed boats and professed happiness, and he left the service with considerable regret at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.
In the inter-war period, the RAF's Marine Craft Section began to commission air-sea rescue launches capable of higher speeds and greater capacity. The arrival of high-speed craft into the MCS was driven in part by Lawrence. He had previously witnessed a seaplane crew drowning when the seaplane tender sent to their rescue was too slow in arriving. He worked with Hubert Scott-Paine, the founder of the British Power Boat Company (BPBC), to introduce the 37.5 ft (11.4 m) long ST 200 Seaplane Tender Mk1 into service. These boats had a range of 140 miles when cruising at 24 knots and could achieve a top speed of 29 knots.
Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist and owned eight Brough Superior motorcycles at different times. His last SS100 (Registration GW 2275) is privately owned but has been on loan to the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and the Imperial War Museum in London. He was also an avid reader of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and carried a copy on his campaigns. He read an account of Eugene Vinaver's discovery of the Winchester Manuscript of the Morte in The Times in 1934, and he drove by motorcycle from Manchester to Winchester to meet Vinaver.
Lawrence was fatally injured in an accident on his Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle in Dorset close to his cottage Clouds Hill, near Wareham. He was 46, just two months after leaving military service. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars. He died six days later on 19 May 1935. The location of the crash is marked by a small memorial at the roadside.
One of the doctors attending him was neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns, who consequently began a long study of the loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.
The Moreton estate borders Bovington Camp, and Lawrence bought it from his cousins the Frampton family. He had been a frequent visitor to their home Okers Wood House, and had corresponded with Louisa Frampton for years. Lawrence's mother arranged with the Framptons to have his body buried in their family plot in the separate burial ground of St Nicholas' Church, Moreton. The coffin was transported on the Frampton estate's bier. Mourners included Winston, E. M. Forster, Lady Astor, and Lawrence's youngest brother Arnold.
The grave of T. E. Lawrence in the separate churchyard of St Nicholas' Church, Moreton. The phrase Dominus illuminatio mea is from Psalm 27 and is the motto of Oxford University. It translates as "The Lord is my light."
Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life, a large portion of which was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day, and several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, Noël Coward, E. M. Forster, Siegfried Sassoon, John Buchan, Augustus John, and Henry Williamson. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife Charlotte are revealing as to his character. Lawrence's linguistic abilities enabled him to communicate throughout his travels; he could speak French, German, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Turkish, and Welsh, and he had demonstrated adeptness in learning other dialects and ancient languages.
Lawrence published three major texts in his lifetime. The most significant was his account of the Arab Revolt in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Homer's Odyssey and The Forest Giant were translations, the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.
Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919, he was elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. Certain parts of the book also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. He rewrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times, once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains at Reading railway station.
There is a long list of alleged "embellishments" in Seven Pillars, though many such allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson's authorised biography. However, Lawrence's own notebooks refute his claim to have crossed the Sinai Peninsula from Aqaba to the Suez Canal in just 49 hours without any sleep. In reality, this famous camel ride lasted for more than 70 hours and was interrupted by two long breaks for sleeping, which Lawrence omitted when he wrote his book.
In the preface, Lawrence acknowledged George Bernard Shaw's help in editing the book. The first edition was published in 1926 as a high-priced private subscription edition, printed in London by Herbert John Hodgson and Roy Manning Pike, with illustrations by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton, and Hughes-Stanton's wife Gertrude Hermes. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs, leaving him in substantial debt (Wikipedia).
Developed originally to serve as a fast light armor asset for quick hit and run tactics as well as integrated reconnaissance fire-support, the Harasser quickly became popular as an all-encompassing multi-role 'mech. Variants ranged from basic front-line squad based units to domestic police law enforcement.
Channeled some Red Spacecat decal goodness and gave printing my own waterslides a try. Worked out reasonably well, although the perceptive will notice some bubbles. As always, fits a fig in a cockpit with a functioning hatch that I forgot to photograph.
my fortune cookies seem to be especially perceptive this year. not that i'm eating take-out everyday but every single time, no joke, the fortunes have been eerily appropriate. i got this one last night after having a minor hiccup in planning followed by a brief nervous breakdown.
it's not just fortune cookies...
my horoscope this morning told me, in so many words, to loosen up.
(39/326)
If You Were Born Today, March 14: You are multi-talented, strong minded, and very versatile. At the same time, you give of yourself very freely to the people you care about, and to any cause you take to heart. Moody and changeable, nevertheless you are determined and responsible. There is always an air of mystery around you that others find intriguing. You are extremely perceptive, seeing things that most others fail to see. Famous people born today: Albert Einstein, Billy Crystal, Michael Caine, Quincy Jones, Hank Ketcham, Prince Albert. AND ME ;)
The Gupta Empire was known for one of the largest political and military empires in the history of ancient India. It was ruled by the Gupta dynasty during the period of around 240 to 550 CE. The area covered by the rulers was comprised of most of the part of northern India, current Pakistan and Bangladesh. The period of the Gupta Empire is marked as Golden age to Indians specially in the field of art. Various subjects covering science, astronomy, religion, and philosophy had reached to the level of excellence during this period. The peace and prosperity were existing in the empire under leadership of Guptas enabled artist to deliver their best. The decimal numeral system, showing the presence of zero was invented in India during the reign of the Guptas. Certainly, to a large extent the Gupta Empire was considered a great power.
This Gupta period is truly marked as the Golden age of Indian culture and art. The examples showing the excellence of their cultural creativity are magnificent through the creative architecture, sculpture, and painting.
The Gupta era was also a golden age for Buddhist art. Uniform artistic standards were set in this period resulted in creation of sculptures at Mathura and Sarnath. Mathura and Sarnath have produced some of the finest specimen of Buddhist art during the Gupta period. Gupta style of art featuring a finished mastery in execution and a majestic serenity in expression was spread to other countries and mainly responsible for influencing Buddhist art in all over Asia.
The period of Gupta dynasty seems to have been a time of relative religious tolerance. This can be pointed out as though the main religion of the Guptas was Hinduism, Buddhism received royal patronage and Jainism appears to have prospered as well.
The sculptures & wall paintings at the Ajanta cave are marvelous example of the greatest and most powerful works of Guptas. The themes of sculptures and paintings from the Ajanta dominate the influence of Buddha. Various art pieces of this place depict about various lives of the Buddha, but apart from it, these are the best source of studying the daily life of in India at the time. Sculptors from Guptas period had carved out of the rock to create these sculptures between 460 and 480 CE. And most of the part is filled with Buddhist sculptures.
The colorful and vibrant art pieces at Ajanta are famous not only for observing details of nature and the urban landscape, but the architecture and furnishing, elegant attire and alluring ornaments on the images are marked with importance. These sculptures carry importance for showing perceptive delineations of a variety of human characters, expressions and moods through its appearance. The most well known work from the Ajanta caves is the "Bodhisattva Padmapani." The colorful image portrays the Buddha in Bodhisattva holding a lotus flower.
The creation of monumental temples during the Gupta period remains as architectural wonders. The cave temples of Elephanta and structural temples of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu are enduring legacy Gupta rulers.
An another masterpiece of Guptas art is the rock temple at Elephanta near Bombay. The temple structure contains a powerful, eighteen-foot statue of the three-headed Shiva, known as Trimurthi. Each head of statue represents one of the roles of Shiva: that of creating, that of preserving, and that of destroying. The Gupta period also saw dynamic building of Hindu temples too. All of these temples followed the tradition of having architecture that comprising of a hall and a tower.
All the sculptures produced throughout the Gupta Empire can be marked for having the appearance of relatively uniform "classic" style. The style was spread in other parts of India and in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. The Gupta style in sculpturing has greatly influenced the art of north Indian kingdoms in later period after the end of the Gupta dynasty. There were two main artistic centers for sculpture production: At Sarnath, the images of Buddha with clinging drapery are produced while at Mathura the image following the pattern of string folds in the drapery are created.
Unfortunately, very few monuments built during Gupta reign are able to survive today. Some more examples of presentation of Gupta architecture are found in the Vaishnavite Tigawa temple at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which is built in 415 CE and another temple at Deogarhnear Jhansi, which is built in 510 CE. Similarly, at Bhita in Uttar Pradesh has a number of ancient Gupta temples, most of them are in ruins.