History of a Graffiti Wall in Paris – rue Jean Poulmarch

Over the last year I have been walking down the Jean Poulmarch street near the Canal St Martin. And I noted that there is a huge canvass in that street for graffiti artists. Every time I noticed something different I took a shot of it and recently thought I would post them all here.

Realize that all these changes happened within one year. I also linked to the Google map for anyone who is going to be passing by at the bottom of the post.

Here’s how it looked like when I first saw it back in 2008. I blogged about it then in a post entitled Graffiti: Art or Vandalism in fact the photo I had on that post shows two guys doing something I can’t quite figure out… well, back to the post – here is a better version of that photo.

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2008

Then later on it got tagged on and postered on and eventually it was all painted white. And someone did a photo expo on the wall. That lasted a few days and looked like this (not my photo – credit goes to Fondarmental)

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, winter 2008

Later in early 2009 I walked by and saw someone what totally redone the wall, by that time the photo expo had been gone for a while and taggers had returned to mark their territory once again. But someone came and made a massive poster with great lettering, for a sentence I had a hard time deciphering it reads “I am everywhere” I think the artist is called The Atlas.

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, early 2009 - I AM EVERYWHERE by ATLAS

But that didn’t last very long either, for reasons I don’t know. And more recently an association called Fondarmental (see their blog here: http://grafflapointepoulmarch.over-blog.com/) redid the wall entirely. I spoke to two of the artists that were doing the wall and they were telling me they get authorization from the Paris City administration to do these paintings. The reason Mr Indy is still in the picture all the time is that he is over the 5 meters limit, above which the City isn’t allowed to paint over.

So here is what it looked like more recently when the artists were working on it:

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2009

And how it is complete:

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2009 completed

If you are in Paris, here it is on a map click on the image below:

Click on the link to see this on Google Maps

Seeing the T.A.G. Expo – Paris, Grand Palais

Check out that roofing

The contrast between the classic beauty of the Grand Palais and the tags and throw-ups on the poster

The beauty of the Grand Palais stairs up

There were two long walls like this with sprayed canvas pieces down both lines.

Liked the one in the middle that could almost have been a stencil

Like the simple strokes of the couple kissing simple but clear.

Nice lettering – probably not sprayed

Ok so I went to visit the expo and I can say it was not what I expected, but hey that doesn’t mean it was all crap.

When you come to the place the setting is amazing. It is THE Grand Palais in Paris, off the between Alexandre III Bridge and the Champs Elysees. Some of the most amazing architecture in France is in that area. I could ramble about it but the picture will explain better.

I thought it would be pictures of great pieces and a wide variety of graffiti types. Actually I thought this would be a sort of overview on graffiti. As the name T.A.G means Tag and Graffiti, however that isn’t what it is. It is a collection of graffiti by a variety of artists that Alain-Dominique Gallizia has managed to collect. There are some big names in there such as PhaseII and others. Gallizia basically contacted the artists and had them do a standard size piece for him on a theme.

My objection to this is that as it is done on a canvas in a workshop the quality should be 100%, the point is that it’s got to communicate. That’s probably why I like stencils so much (and to my disappointment there wasn’t a single stencil in the whole expo).

[addition]

I re-read my post and thought I would ad this (after the amazing comment from gmozz22) and want to make sure my post is somewhat objective.
1. If you like spray pieces then this is the expo for you. It has many many different styles – of the spray variety.
2. I would have preferred the pieces to be bigger as I felt they didn’t convey what a full graffiti piece is, but I understand it makes it difficult to transport.
3. What I didn’t know when looking up the expo on the net is that it is litterally two large wall panels of same-sized graffiti canvas’ – the entrance fee is 5 EUR which is about half the price of a normal expo.

Voila, now that was my view and up to you to make your own.

[;-]

Added: Lisa Forman (lisaforman.com) sent me a link to the photos she took when seeing the expo which I am publishing here (they are a lot better than mine) enjoy them http://lisaforman.zenfolio.com/p761974343

Human Rights can also be well designed and communicate

We are celebrating the 60 years of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights this year. Which is great, actually that document means more to humanity than most people realize. Probably because the general understanding of what Human Rights are is just not understood well enough. 

Well I guess you live in a place where the majority of these rights are still somewhat respected, but scratch just a bit below the surface and you’ll probably notice one violation after the next.

Now I wont get on a roll about that, rather I wanted to show a few videos that I saw on Human Rights which I think apply the concept of practical design. You may wonder how that applies to graphic design – well the design is usefull if it is aesthetic enough to be admired while delivering the message. 

For example a well designed chair isn’t just comfortable (of course it is that too) but it is pleasing to the eye and does it’s purpose. Well a book cover should not just be pleasing to the eye (it must be that) but it should also communicate to the viewer enough so he picks it up and wants to get it, because it tells him enough about the story to make him want to read it. OK I dont’ want to bore you with these details. Let’s get to the point. 

I saw this video on Human Rights by www.humanrightsactioncenter.org and I really think it is just great. The design attracted me, the way the text merges into the message, into the illustrations, into the animations etc. is just great. And the essential point is that the communication comes across. (Btw, sign their petition to include the declaration of Human Rights into all passports) 

The only problem with the video is that it needs to be redone for every language, and it only works to those that can read. 

The Youth for Human Rights group (www.youthforhumanrights.org) have an amazing series of videos which overcome that (you can download the videos from their site or watch them on YouTube they are in short series and communicate well, the design in this case is the script which is great as it is short and to the point with a minimum amount of words. 

This one is on the Right to Play – the music is particularly good. It sounds like Beck but am not sure and can’t find any reference stating it is or isn’t him. In any case – I love it. 

So in summary, DESIGN TO COMMUNICATE.

Cheers,

[:-]

Paris in Color – surrealist photography

I recently showed my blog around and showed some of the amazing photography of JM Berts to friends. I am still startled by the photos he takes and the quality of the shots.

A friend of mine showed me some of his photography of Paris (and other places). Some of it is done using a technology called HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging) it’s pretty amazing. I invite you to check out his site (www.photoserge.com) and his blog (there are two one is http://sergeramelli.blogspot.com/ and http://photoserge.com/blog) for some of the shots.

He said he is doing an expo soon and that you can buy photos from him, unfortunately he doesn’t have an online store yet but that is coming soon.

Well Paris is a photogenic city that is for sure…  enjoy [,-]

A dedicated Dolk blog

Sorry for being so infrequent on my posts lately. Like most bloggers will say, have been busy…

What got me to blog was a blog (aside from the bad conscience) I saw called dolk.blogspot.com, this is a Norwegian blog (Dolk is Norwegian) that does just his stuff.

There are some great shots in there. I recommend it.

Here is one of the most recent ones that was posted, and once again he manages to put enough humor to make get the message through…

 

It’s good to be back [;-]

The Amazing Photography Series

I just noticed that the links to Jean Michel Berts’ blog are down for some reason.

He has another site with a great series of slideshows of his work which you can check out here:

http://www.jeanmichelberts.com/berts-photographer-paris.html

I got some of the Paris photos which are posted here:

Eiffel Tower black and white and amazing light show.

Is this Pont Neuf? Well it’s an amazing Bridge in Paris.

Arctic Monkeys track list … the Monkeys are really coming!

Here’s the listing for the new album, per my favourite Arctic Monkeys Site.

Entitled “Favourite Worst Nightmare” the tracklisting goes;

01. Brianstorm
02. Teddy Picker
03. D is for Dangerous
04. Balaclava
05. Fluorescent Adolescent
06. Only Ones Who Know
07. Do Me a Favour
08. This House Is a Circus
09. If You Were There, Beware
10. The Bad Thing
11. Old Yellow Bricks
12. 505

It will be released on Monday 23rd April with the first single “Brianstorm” hitting the shelves (or should it be download websites?) on Monday 16th April.

But Seriously Dude… Where’s my Bike? (Some basics on color usage)

I took this shot of a bike in the snow the other day. Following my earlier post (Dude where’s my bike – a lesson in 3D font usage) I thought I would bring this sequel.

Just like the bikes can’t be found in the snow, so will your message if you don’t use your color harmony well. I found the following would be a good basic to start from.

What is color?

Technically we could explain color like some do in encyclopedias. Something like “physical phenomenon of light or vision associated with the various wavelengths in the visible portion of the electromagneticspectrum. As a sensation experienced by human beings and some animals, perception of colour is a complex neurophysiological process.” Per the Encarta Encyclopedia.

While this may serve a technical defition it doesn’t give us a better understanding of what color is and how to use it.

Color could be simply said to be a visible characteristic used to distinguish similarities and differences in an object, painting, picture etc.

Arguably more than half of the beauty in an object, painting, picture comes from the color. Think about a bouquet in black and white. It would be nice but it would just not quite be as nice as it could be.

But color can also turn a nice painting or object into something so repellent you just want to get rid of it fast. Imagine a room with beige walls with fine gold ornaments and a Bordeaux carpet and in the middle of that place the most expensive renaissance chair, a true piece of art, painted in bright green. Had your vision been in black and white you would still consider that a gorgeous room.

Almost everyone can somewhat figure out what fits and what doesn’t. But how can you be sure. And what do you do when you are told your Powerpoint presentation needs to feature the company logo which is bright green and simply doesn’t fit with any of the charts you made. Or after you found out at a recent seminar that the color that would best represent your company is red yet all your point of sale materials you have are green.

How can you know what other colors you can use or rather you must use to make the presentation attractive (and thus sell)?

Here is where the laws of color harmony come in. To understand color harmony you first need to understand the word harmony. Harmony is defined as a pleasing effect produced by an arrangement of things. It comes from the Greek word harmonia ‘agreement, concord’ which came from the word harmozein ‘to fit together’.

This is the secret of color using color; harmony. There are laws to color harmony, there are limits and boundaries and exceptions to these which are explained with the color wheel.

Let your bosses have at you, tell you that your presentation needs contain their favorite colors, let the marketing analysts present you their color surveys, no matter what color you are asked to include. With the color wheel you are never lost.

Just like any other field, there are laws to this game and knowing them and having the tools to use them replaces your rickety string ladder with granite steps of certainty.

There is no way around it. The color wheel is a basic to creation like a paint brush is to a painter. You can paint with your fingers but you won’t get a Monalisa.

The color wheel existed long before computers, but recently a company did a pretty neat little software called color-wheel-pro. You’ll find a link to it in my tools section on the right. Try it out – it works well the new version (2.0) fixed some points missng in prior edition. It’s soon perfect.

Old news? the Optimus 103 Keyboard – good news!

Art Lebedev studios are working on a project that is probably going to relieve thousands of people working on international relations… the Optimus 103 Keyboard.

Now the buys atEngadget (and I really love their blog) have been giving this one a hard time. But no matter all of that, this piece of kit will seriously work when it’s out.

A keyboard where every key is actually a little screen and depending on how you program it, it’ll show the characters needed. Switch between Russian, English, French, Japanese. Between lowercase and uppercase.

And better, you can set the keys so they have the icon of the tools you are using in Photoshop etc.

If you don’t get the importance of this announcemen, you just haven’t gone through the pain of multi-languages.

Now all we need to do is get the price down!

Want to see some amazing photography?

NOTE: JUST DISCOVERED THAT JEAN MICHEL BERTS’ BLOG IS DOWN, THEREFORE PLEASE SEE MY NEW POST ON THE AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY:
http://marcozna.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/the-amazing-photography-series/

Check out this blog from Jean Michel Berts. I am including some of the pictures here. He’s mainly in France but did some work in the US.

This is the new Ansel Adams!

Musee d’Orsay – Paris

Eiffel Tower – Paris of course

Park Avenue – New York

Enjoy! And check out his blog!!!