Homie

My website needed a serious update with all the things I've been doing since I put it up and still were in the drawer. While redesigning it I came up with this character who will be waiting for any guests at the index page and guiding them around the contents of the website, making their visit more enjoyable. Sort of like a house-looking Nestor. His name is Homie.

Would like to play around with him in the future, but for now he'll be working full time guiding people in and out the website. Again, I designed it with Dreamweaver, with all the knowledge I could gather in a one week workshop while studying at Camberwell College. That means no html, it's entirely built with design view so expect simplicity and bugs here and there...

You can see it HERE

Hope you like it!

Battersea Power Station

Let's start with some fun facts... Did you know that Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect behind Battersea Power Station also designed the famous red telephone box and Bankside Power Station (aka Tate Modern)? And that his grandfather is responsible of St Giles Church in Camberwell? Yes, that church that sells booze in its crypt. Little it matters when one looks at the neglected ruin that is Battersea Station today... How could that happen to one of London's architecture myths?

This triptych is meant to satirize the decline of Battersea from a top-notch power station to a derelict site in its 53 years at London's service supplying electricity. Its demise was probably due to facilities becoming outdated and the overtaking of more efficient fuels (like nuclear power) rather than coal fire. However to me it looks like an early example of resources exhaustion due to let's call it progress. Will happen quite often in the future.

The set was produced for the solo exhibition I had last June at the Stables Gallery and makes the first original artwork in the architecture themed works. Continuing with the spirit of the Market Estate murals, I wanted to work on construction materials, in this case plywood sheets and experiment with textures. I'm really happy with the combination of wood streaks and acrylic paint so plan to take it further with more works.

Battersea Power Station Triptych

1955 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

1965 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

1985 - Acrylic and indian ink over waxed wood / 60.7 x 122 cm

Queen Victoria presents...

Back to drawing crazed buildings. More than my new year resolution it's this decade resolution to make an illustrated book of London's building characters. Wouldn't mind to have it finished this year though...

After the successful Great Exhibition of 1851 Albert, the Prince Consort, who had been much involved, proposed the construction of a Great Hall for the enjoyment of the arts and sciences. However he died of typhoid before the work was finished and Queen Victoria, deeply affected, commissioned a monument that together with this Great Hall would form a national memorial to her beloved husband.

This is the story of the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial. Although it's moving I wanted to focus on the fun 'enjoyment of the arts' side of it. Hope you like it.

The Destroyed Room + The Blackjaw + Ulises Lima

The new year has been here for only 10 days but it somehow feels we've been in it forever.

It's not that I have nostalgia for 2010 (I usually have it even for 4 hours ago), but I still have a lot of things from last year I want to post about. It's just am not a very good blogger.

I'll start with the poster I did during Christmas for The Destroyed Room who are soon touring Spain and wanted something for their next gig in Madrid. I was inspired from a picture I took many years ago of a demolished house in the Les Corts district in Barcelona. It's quite amazing the contrast between the high rise office buildings in Diagonal and the single story house bits in the streets behind. I believe they could be refurbished into great studios but instead they're being knocked down. Easy and cheap. Some are are a hundred years old...