Conor Harrington: The old and the new

Conor Harrington, originally from Cork in Ireland, combines his graffiti background with his training in fine arts. A common theme in his works are conflicts within modern masculine identity in the urban environment. He lives and work in London and have gallery exhibitions and do street art work all over the world. The picture above I took in East London. Harrington's works are not common in the streets, but when you spot one, you'll get surprised and just know it's his work. Last summer he also did work in the north of Norway. You can see more of his work and projects on conorsaysboom. 

Conor Harrington in Dublin

Some years ago I was sitting on a city tour bus i Dublin and had just passed st. stephens green and in a blink of a moment I spotted a painting on a wall in distance. What was that? I jumped of on next stop and went back to have a closer look. It was a mural of a 18th century man sitting in a chair with a sword in his hand and a dead animal in front of him. "Pity!" I thought. "Why have they ruined it?" Well, first of all the the old time figure on the painting seemed misplaced in a modern urban environment. Second, maybe the mural just where old, a kind of sign, logo or commercial for a guest house of some sort, or.... a whiskey?. My next thought was: "Why ruin it in this manner? Didn't look like vandalism. Aha!.., maybe it's not finished. Yeah, It's an ongoing work..... Nah,...this blue colour didn't quite fit in as a grounding colour. Hm... maybe its supposed to be this way? My god! This piece is rare and brilliant!" I was quite astonished and looked at it for a while. A figurative and abstract post-modern piece. It changed my perception of street art as form and what kind of possibilities and themes which are possible to do in the streets. A socio-psychological theme about masculinity, the old and the new, the urban environment as a hunting field or a battleground for archaic male figures. Harrington calls his work for 'post-graffiti'. I think Conor Harrington certainly takes street art in a new and interesting direction. The picture below (from London) is made together with Ronzo and made me laugh.

 Together with this piece I go for Gorillaz with 68 state. (Click on the link or the 'play' button in the box below).