Another DOLK work gone

the original Dolk Stencil

A classical Dolk stencil in the streets of Bergen is gone. The drummer boy marching towards a landmine refers to the traditional children brigades in Bergen marching in the streets of Bergen every spring. Loved by many, but also hated because of the noise they make in the streets on weekend mornings.

The stencil, made illegaly, have stayed for years but recently the owner of the building started to cut the piece out of the wall. The owner claims that the reason was to preserve the work, and everybody else thought it was done for economical reasons.

Vandalized and gone!

However, somebody wanted otherwise and destroyed the work with white paint before the the house owner finnished the extraction. A sad, but understandable action. An action against privatization of street art and economical motives for street art theft. Thats the second Dolk piece that disappears from the streets of Bergen lately. See my earlier post on street art theft.

ESPO: A love letter to Brooklyn

On my trip to New York this time, I planned to spend time in and get to know more about Brooklyn. I started downtown and some of the first things I see are painted words on an old concrete building. I recognize these words as made by Stephen Powers (ESPO).

Powers said ones that a word says more than thousand pictures, and Powers paint words, words that make you think, associate and relate. Earlier on, I've seen his works "Love letter for you" in Dublin.

To media Powers said that the building is “Really one of the ugliest pieces of architecture I’ve ever had the privilege of decorating. It’s just built for vandalism.” Powers got permission to paint the garage. The irony is that Powers have reversed the idea of graffiti as vandalism and says that: 

A neighborhood in decline has always been an ideal place to work. Generally, you are only improving the situation with a little bit of paint, and the work tends to last longer than in the pricey precincts of the city. Now that I’m getting calls to help revitalize areas, it’s not irony; it’s people seeing my work the way I’ve always seen it: as an improvement.

The parking garage belongs to Macy's and the works in Brooklyn was a following up on his A Love Letter for you in Philadelphia and Syracuse. The black and white letters gives the place a vintage and industrial look.

'A love letter to Brooklyn' was largely inspired by conversations he and his team had with people passing by the parking garage. The result are words and small sentences are 'existential' and gives associations to relational issues which is of concern to all of us. In addition to the car garage Powers painted the wall of a sneaker store front on Bond street and Fulton mall, it reads “All I Need Is You And New Shoes”.