Madonna Hangs Ten

[Chris Dodkin]

This would be pretty impressive in some coastal church, maybe on a window facing the ocean - the Virgin Mary rides a gnarly tube bro'

But consider the fact that this is a new piece of graffiti which turned up over-night last week in Encinitas CA.

Some guys dressed as a council work crew turned up, installed this stain glass piece under the rail bridge in town - and no-one knows who did it

Of course the jobsworths at the council say 'it has to go'...

Thought I'd better get it on camera before the jack-hammers finished it off

 

[Pete Askew]

Excellent. Seems a bit excessive as a tag, but that's the catholic church for you. Look at the Sistine Chapel!

Is it actually a mosaic of sorts? If so, what from?

 

[Glen Roberts]

When you get "Graffiti" as artistic s this why do they have to get rid of it, especially when it's an improvement on a blank wall.
I mean I undertand when it just the usual "Blogs was ere" or "Skinz Rule" like you used to get, but not stuff like this.

 

[Thomas brookes]

That is amazing. Love how vibrant it is!!!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Pete - looks like it's made from a mosaic of stained glass pieces - local paper says a few grands worth of glass at least!

Glen - I'm betting the council will pull some BS health and safety issue over it being glass as the excuse to smash it up

We'll see - it's certainly attracting a lot of attention

 

[Hamish Gill]

The justification, an I can kind of see why they do it, will always be "where do you draw the line?"
This is very impressive, and quite stunning really ... But allow it to stay and you open up the floodgates ...
A shame really, but I imagine the artist/s do it in the knowledge that it will be temporary, and that is in fact what gives it it's coverage... If done as a normal peice of work, by a normal artist, on a transportable medium, it would no doubt get lost in the vast sea of other art out there ... This way, it might not last, but at least it will get seen by people the world over!

 

[Thomas brookes]

Agree with you there Hamish, I suppose it all depends on how the panels are fixed but I think smashing it up would be a bit ott, if I was summoned to take it down it would be in my house by the evening!!!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Hold the presses!

After the weekend's breakout of guerilla street art, another item appeared just down the coast in Cardiff By tHe Sea.

SWMBO spotted it on the way to work, so I nipped down at lunch with the camera.

I give you Osama Bin Laden in Cardiff

By the time I got there, his AK-47 had already been nicked, but still a thoughtful work I'm sure you'll agree.

The statue is known locally as the Cardiff Kook - and is not a big hit with the local surfers as they say it looks too girly in it's stance.

Hence, it get's dressed up a lot - it had a wedding dress on for the Royal Wedding apparently!

It even has it's own 2011 calendar available in local shops - but again, no-one knows who's responsible...

Here's a good one from last year - as reported in the local paper

For a week before, there was a large shark fin in the central reservation, moving each day a little closer to the statue

Then this -

Picture courtesy of Surfermag.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/24/cardiff-surfer-statue-attacked-by-great-white/

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Well, to follow-up on this story, the surfing Madonna was taken down over night, at the direction of the local council.

They found the original artist who had put it up, and told him he needed to have it removed, at his cost, otherwise he would be prosecuted.

He also has to pay for a safety survey of the bridge it was attached to - in case the bridge was damaged...

Hopefully they'll find somewhere to put the mosaic permanently - it seems like it came down in large panels, so survived the drama!

 

[Pete Askew]

One would assume that if the bridge was built to withstand an earthquake it could proabbly cope with a bit of glue. Oh well, that's councils for you!