I was out strolling around where there once used to be a "book street". A downhill street lined with Soviet-style red brick buildings and uncontrolled trees and weeds. This wasn't your typical book store area. It in fact was, like its name, a book street. Street vendors, usually senior citizens, used to put up make-shift shops with a table and table cloth where a plethora of books was presented for sale.
I was out of luck. The book street had seemingly turned into just a street. No sign of books or vendors. I started reminiscing at how calm the vendors looked with their top hats, leaned against a wall, with a book in their hand. They never seemed too eager to sell anything.
I looked at the cat as a metaphor of anarchy against social norms. The expressions and colors may be a good reason to think of it as out worldly. But the human-like expression and "CAN" written under it makes it look like it is speaking to us in a human form. Almost as if, "I can do this, what are you going to do about it?".
The cat with cute colors can be very deceiving at first glance. But the more I looked at it, the more intimidated I got. The demonic teeth, the exposing pose, the "CAN", and mostly the satisfying look the cat had from exposing itself. Very strong.
Along my path, I found a bigger collection of interesting street art. The theme "Portraits and phalluses" seemed most fitting for this curation of street art.
Among all, my favorite was easily the neon blue cat. My favorite element was the bright pink "LOL" under the black and white abstract Chinese dragon.
A Chinese dragon by itself is an incredible artistic challenge. Doing it in black and white, in negative would be considerably harder. I honestly found this piece very loud because of how incomplete it is. It has an evil vibe to it. But I also believe the artist is a free thinker and doesn't confine him/herself. I only say that because of the bright pink phallus, smiley face, and LOL attached to this beautiful dragon.
It is as if the artist thought "Hey, I am gonna show off my incredible skill and spray control. But I am also going to show how normal I am. I want my skill to be appreciated but I also want to shoo away the squeamish folks. Let me add some bright pink nonsense."
If it means anything, I liked this piece even more because of the bright pink elements. It felt very grounding. How do I know the same artist did it? Because the pink and white lines are of the same thickness and they don't overlap each other. They are elements added by the original artist to complete the piece.
The "Purple Lips Girl" was hidden away in an alleyway. I would have missed her if I didn't continue exploring. I am leaning towards some brushwork on this piece. It would be rather difficult to obtain an even coat of blue with just sprays. I only wished whoever scribbled that stupid blue penis on her forehead had a little more artistic vision. At least center that thing! Or make it look like part of the piece! What a disappointment.
The green-fin fish, or ALBI, was part of the whole extraterrestrial theme of the street. If you look closely you can map out an outline of a phallus behind the fish. I think the artist went with a retake since a simple white phallus outline was just not doing it. So they decided to make an ugly fish with a human eye and smile in the shape of a phallus. Okay. I am reaching now.
I also found some incredible portraits. I can only imagine this is a portrait of someone with a reputation among the locals. Unfortunately, I am unable to ID whoever it is in the portrait.
It still doesn't take away from how incredibly well this portrait is done. A full black frame and a full white canvas were made for this piece. There is no way someone did this with a stencil. It has to be free-hand all the way! How many hours did this take? Any ideas?
This was another portrait I found just opposite to the first one. The shading looks similar so my money is on both pieces were done by the same artist. And my money is good because they are also signed by the same artist.
I just love the eyes! So beautiful! Getting that little white bubble of light reflection in free-hand takes some serious muscle and nozzle control. Also notice how lightly the cheekbones and other lines on the face were made, like the eyebags. So soft and subtle! What a beauty!
Another portrait signed by the same artist. This time they really took their artistic freedom to the limits. I am not sure if the person in the portrait has a history the made the painter go with this color scheme, but it is very loud. Or was it because they ran out of black spray paint?
Either way, it reminded me of "Rajakar" illustrations made in Bangladeshi newspapers many years back. They were drawn with demonic wings on their heads to represent evil in a similar color scheme. So I automatically assumed the guy in the portrait was not a good person but I could be wrong. Or maybe this person just has a real-life Sharingan.
Drawings of phalluses have always been very common in many civilizations. There is still a village in Bhutan where the houses have paintings of phalluses all over. Ancient Rome, Greeks, Chinese, and many other cultures have artifacts designed with phalluses. They are commonly thought of as a sign of fertility. It is also debated as a sign of power and strength. Hell, I had a friend who scribbled giant penises all across his anatomy book. We just thought he was crazy.
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