Graffiti tour May 12, 2016

Plenty of street art to post, but first i have some more strange packaging to share:

These are a cross between plastic sammich baggies & ice trays. Never seen that before~. Freeze the ice in tray-like compartmentals then break it into itself for an instant bag of ice. Clever yet wasteful!

Naughty charging Stichpimuli goat! …Really good save on her part.

Naughty Russian Sausage man!

Nothing says “i love Berlin” like a tiny heart-shaped bottle of artificially colored liquor.

La Vache qui rit = French for “The Laughing Cow.” Then German flavors: Mushroom, bleu cheese, onion. I like that it says “Hurra! [tasty] cheeeeese,” as though novelty cube-cheeses are just cause for celebration.

This fellow was hanging out next to our apt bldg one night. Halfway between packaging and graffiti, it seemed a decent transition into the wall art part. His body says something like “The world is small, the world is big, i have made up my mind, i’m leaving now [something illegible]” I’m pretending the last part says “mal zoo,” in which case the last line would be “I’m going zoo times.” The sign refers to a meadowy park land i think… “Hare heath” is how the Google translates it.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

Now, on to the tour. I am fascinated by graffiti and the more i learn, all the more do i want to know. Some of these people have a message behind their work, and many of the renowned muralists are famed in many countries. Once someone has literally made their mark in enough places and the public becomes enamored of the artist’s work/message, they sometimes become commissioned artists.

There are political messages, conservationist messages, woes unto drugs, capitalism, and beauty-falseness… One fellow does paste-ups of ice-pops with smiley faces, braces, and facial hair, to bring more happiness to a drab, urban sprawl. Another pastes wibbly-wobbly mushrooms to invite more nature into the midst of ramshackle. There is a man who goes by Sober who casually takes photos of women dancing in clubs, prints them out lifesize and pastes them on the walls, splashed with confetti… Many more besides, and the research i did opened up a world of history, going back to before the wall came down. There are more artists in this next gallery than i can name, but i’ll credit those i can.

The works Ben showed to me on the tour consist of some of these people. He explained some of their rationale and led us on a storied walk down… Let’s see… Dircksenstraße, say the internet maps.

: “Sewer [Something?]” There’s a signature in the green part, at the bottom corner of the ice pop that i can’t quite make out…

: Same guy who does the ice pops

: It isn’t wall art but the reflection looks nifty.

: One of Sober’s dancing girls

: #Bethedifference!.. This is commercialism trying to cut in on the scene. It seems like these pieces get torn down the fastest. They are not welcome, it would seem.

: Rolf does the

: Viva La Resolucion! These ones are done by an artist called Fancy.

: There’s El Bocho’s Little Lucy, based on a Czechoslovakian cartoon from the 70s. In El Bochos’s work, Little Lucy is often doing mean things to her cat.

: There’s another Little Lucy, this time inna tank.

: There’s Sober, Rolf, El Bocho, and ice pop person, all in one shot!

And what a trip that was!.. Abruptly, we reached the end of the tour. I don’t have pictures of it, but the wall art just ended giving way to clean brick, fresh façades, and new products in windows. There was a storefront across the street, looked like this:

Look out, it’s Amplemann! As ubiquitous as the Fernsehturm seems to be.

This building is clean as can be. I’m noticing that it’s the older buildings that are covered with graffiti and the fresher, renovated ones are usually kept clean.

As it turns out, we weren’t done with the tour at all! We walked Rosenthaler Straße and after part of a block Ben stopped to tell a story. The allyway, right next to the clean walls in the picture above, is well decorated. Check out the video below; there was a busker having a good go of it, and you can still hear fragments of Ben’s story–

Here are some pictures of the walls after that point…

: Holy wow! That woman exiting the building appears to be levitating! …Also, the envionment is exceptionally pretty.

: Cool phrase on the left in red: “Das, was geschieht, geschieht in dir, und nur in dir, oder es wird nicht sein…” = ” What happens, happens in you, and only you, or it will not be …”

: No wall art, just walls that looked cool on their own~

: Go get ’em, Magpie P.I.!

: More pretty wall art, and a vaguely suspicious-looking exchange of money for a pink case of some kind.

: This dude was taking as many pics as i was. We kept having to take turns and not get in the others’ way.

: Inspiring image, that! I would proudly wear that image on a shirt, the middle one with the guy praising the idea-bulb.

: Anne Frank! If you look closely, you can see how many different colors of squiggly lines it took to make this piece come to life.

: At night, the camera’s flash turns on as the hall light. Didn’t see that happen but i bet it’s pleasing!

: That profile of hte woman in the bottom right looks like an example of El Bocho’s other style of work… But his are usually colorful and often have a wistful phrase involved… Not sure if it’s one of his or not.

: The gas-masked people, vintage potos with the masks superimposed… I want to figure out that artist’s name. Cool stuff!

: I like this one~ myriad hands grasping the dark crystal.

: Little Lucy again~

: Behind that metal thing are stairs which lead to a welded metal monster museum. Sounds awesome, right? It was closed, i believe. Also note the Hermaphrodite, Santa Divertida

: The woman on the left filled that chalkboard with exceptional script, all for a special board. The man on the stairs, well, i really wish i’d gotten photo evidence of his amazing facial hair. Imagine a handlebar moustache, only, it’s his whole beard that curls up on the sides.

: Sticker collection!

: Everyone was getting their photo taken, standing next to Santa Divertida…

: But then i saw this weird little Grand-monster, ust hanging out in the garden. It was a surprise, probably the intended effect, too.

: The bar here served Budweiser Budvar, the original Budweiser, of Czech origin. This Bud actually has flavor, unlike the kind i remember from home!

: More cool architectre

: Many of the bathrooms i have seen here have their share of graffiti and stickers too.

: Not a wall unmarked…

: These fuzz-o-grams are harder to read in person. When i held the camera up to them, i could clearly read them through the viewfinder. Oh, and i have definitely seen the cheese grater paste-up by my place, too.