Raw and unedited_A Street Graphic or two

Walking around the revitalized inner city areas of any metropolis will have you find a wealth of 

uninhibited, free and easy, undisguised, spontaneous street graphics. 

Often created by non-professional visual communicators, they are more effective than the unending volume of 

slick, massaged graphic devices and communication that are pumped out by anyone with a desktop/laptop.

These examples were found just outside the old Gladstone Hotel, which is located on the Chippendale end of Regent Street. 

The hotel is undergoing renovations and someone has decided to bring the new energy of

the transformation out to the front as a call for attention.

Well it worked, as I have always picked up my pace when walking pass, 

what I imagined was a truly dodgy pub. 

Now I slow down a peer inside to see what interesting, brave changes they are implementing within.  

The power of graphics, raw or refined, if they are authentic, they are heard.   

Good design never ages

The 1960s was a huge decade for design.

From the Swiss grid of Muller Brockman to the amazing furniture of Herman Miller in the first half to

the ‘out of sight’, rule bending responses of Moscoso, Conran and Murdock, in the second half.

The influence of that time is still with us in either the form of its original pieces, found in many a

second hand store or in the design inspiration of contemporary design.

These particular examples of mid 60s interior design, in the form of ceramic lamp bases, are all to be found 

in those groovy second hand stores one finds along Regent Street, in Redfern, Sydney. 

There are at least 4 or 5 great treasure troves of shops packed with unique pieces to be saved by the likes of you all.

Good design never ages...does not have a used by date.  

Strange but familiar

In October 2013, shiftazine ran an article entitled ‘When is an icon, an icon?’. 

In the article the notion of, and definition for, an icon/symbol was discussed. 

To recap: Icons are symbols that represent an object in a literal sense.
 

Over the past several decades, due to the rising fascination with the notion of celebrity, the word ‘Icon’ has come to represent or 

encapsulate qualities of a person whose talent or persona is charismatic to the masses. 

We can look to the most recent ‘Madonna’ to get a handle on the contemporary usage of this semiotic term.

Examples of ‘iconic’ images are found in second hand markets and venues such as ‘tat’ stores around the world.  

The example above was sited just the other day at Mitchell Road Antiques in Burke Street, Alexandria, Sydney.

These images otherwise referred to as ‘holy pictures’ are strange in that they are not secular objects, and represent a philosophical belief, 

and yet there they sit, in very secular situations waiting to be bought by some person who 

sees their beauty other than a religious one.  

Is there a need for a sense of ‘mystery’ in people’s lives?
Why are people open to these old school images? Who buys them?

Under the Overpass_April's Wallism

Under the freeway overpass, near the GOMA in Brisbane, huge murals have been lovingly, passionately painted.
These works are grand in scale and effort.
They demand your attention both from an aesthetic point of view, as well as from a place of symbolism.

They are beautiful.

Issue No.15:C.O.L.O.U.R Observations

It's a pink kinda day

It is almost impossible for me to describe how I feel about the colour PINK. It is beautiful but sometimes its tacky. It holds a universe of meaning in its presence.

I will leave it to others to eloquently articulate in words what I feel about this hue.

I am oaring now 

In a pink river 

In a pink canoe

 with a pink feeling


On a pink Saturday!
Framarz Bagheri

Pink Trees

 – give seasons a severance

 – give growth a grace

 – give spring a scene


Pink Trees

 – give nature a nourishment

 – give trees a taste

 – give feeling a fervor


Pink Trees

 – give earth an element 

– give thoughts a thrill

 – give leaves a liveliness


Pink Trees...
give my vision a vibrant vibe 
&
 my heart a heavy hunger
Christian Hudak

Pink flowers; 
Pink pens;
 What about a pink life

; Pink stars
; Pink trees; 
What a pink life that would be; 



Pink shoes; 
Pink dresses; 
That is the pink fashion life for me!
Claudia Wilson

I have never see a pink cloud rain before. 
I have only seen a magenta bolt of lightening try to strike my heart,

 and
 Aqua tears trickling from my dazzled misty eyes, down my
 Flushed and lonesome cheek, though 
I have never see a pink cloud rain before.



I have never seen a pink cloud rain before.

I have seen spotted purple snakes crawling up my bedroom walls, and
 Transparent bubbles filled with dreams

 floating before my very eyes, though, 


I have never seen a pink cloud rain before.



I have never seen a pink cloud rain before, though 
I have seen a reddish sun cast shadows down upon a tortuous, rippling river; 


I have seen tears cascading down a sloping hill, and 
Gulls flapping their gentle, feathered wings atop some cragged cliffs, 

although 
I have never seen a pink cloud rain before.



I have never seen a pink cloud rain before, although 
I have heard eerie and commanding thoughts and voices 
That no one else could hear. 


I have had disturbing, stabbing thoughts that have injured me inside, 

though 
I have never seen a pink cloud rain before. 



I have never seen a pink cloud rain before, although 
I have slid down an icy mountainside on a very sunny night.


I have wept a sea of deep blue and purple tears, though 
I have never seen a pink cloud rain before.



I have never heard thunder clap behind a rosy cloud, or seen
Tears fall from heaven or have heard angels singing. 


I have had morbid thoughts of loss, death and suicide, 
While thunder clapped, and
 

These pink clouds could not rain.

 

Perhaps someday I shall see a pink cloud rain upon a 
Magnificent world, which I have created for myself,

 
Where tall green and golden reeds are surrounded by swirling water pools, and 


A hallucinogenic sun sets behind high and mighty mountains.


And there, people would be trustworthy and true to heart.

 No, I have never seen a pink cloud rain before,

 although, 
I have seen almost everything there is to see -
 Some good sights and some bad-


I have heard some screaming voices echo in my mind, although, 
Some quiet ones as well. 
I

 have seen some orange and, pinkish sunsets, and mirages in
 The fortress of my own mind, however-



I have never seen a pink cloud rain before, and 
I have never seen a pink cloud weep before….




Claudia Krizay