A Change of Art

Salaam, everyone ☀️

It’s an impromptu arts post for today as I haven’t done one for a while. I thought I’d share some photos from my archives. As usually happens when I’m searching for a particular photo I can never find, I come across another photo I was looking for that I couldn’t find, then I forget what I was looking for in the first place.

Thereby, I stumbled across these shots of a piece of art I was quite taken by whilst mooching around the Summer Exhibition in 2017 (Royal Academy of Arts, London).

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^{_{painting on a piece of toast, artist unknown, 2017 Summer Exhibition}}

Yes, it is as it appears, a painting on a piece of toast. Depicting snowcapped alps in the foreground against a dark sky background. And yes, the orange dot does mean it is sold. How on earth is it preserved? It’s toast, how can it be? Surely it’s ephemeral, and will deteriorate as old toast inevitably does. But what will happen to the painting on top of it? Who knows? The buyer clearly didn’t care. The artist took a risk and it paid off, literally.

Stuff like this charms the pants off me. I like the classical fine arts but I do love a cheeky turn-it-on-its-head piece too. It reminds me of the reason I always turn to art-making. That it can be made from anything. That no material is safe when the artist is around. That anything has the potential to become art depending on the slant you give it (or it shows you).

Also, here’s some street art for you…

_{^{Street Art (knittifi), digital photograph, © N. Nazir 2021}}

An example of knittifi. Basically, graffiti in the form of knitting. It appears overnight and may grace railings, public sculptures or lamp posts (as above). Sometimes it stays and weathers away, sometimes it disappears again overnight.

^{_{Street Art, digital photograph, © N. Nazir 2021}}

Someone was getting rid of a mattress. The next day I walked past this, someone else had sprayed a pretty Arabesque pattern across the face of it. I love that someone cared enough to do that. The next day it was gone.

_{^{Street Art, digital photograph, © N. Nazir 2020}}

The original street art, created overnight by artist spider unknown, nature’s geometry sunlit the next morning. Je l’adore.

Have there been any quirky works of art you’ve come across in your time? If so, do share. I’d love to hear about them 🙂

^{© N. Nazir 2021}