Guido Van Helten : Huge portraits in the streets

I really like the architecture in Edinburgh and the dark colours of the soft limestone

I often visit Edinburgh, not because of the street art, but to see friends. However, as always, I have my eyes open for art works in the streets and surprises are always very welcomed. As I walk up Lieth Walk, I see the piece across the street. I don't recognize the artist, but the work is great and the location is perfect. By posting it on Instagram, someone told me that the work was done by Guido Van Helten. An Australian based street artist who travels the world and paint.

The motive is from the play 'Seven deadly sins' by Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill staged in Edinburgh in 1961. The women portrayed are Anna I and Anna II

The mural is a part of an art project supported by the city council and organized by LiethLate called The 'Shutter Project'.

I just love to hang out for a while and watch people passing by

I have later seen some of Guido Van Helten's work in London and the artist seems to choose motives from old pictures, pictures from theatrical plays which have connection to the place or location he is painting.. See more of the artist's works on his webpage.

An old mural in Glasgow

I have visited Glasgow once and I walked around from morning to late evening. My feet and legs were sore for a week afterwords. In the afternoon I walked along river Clyde up to the Scotland BBC centre. On my way I passed a derelict area and I "smelled" graffiti and street art. On brick walls of an old industrial site I saw the beauty among layers of spraypaint. Three goddesses, or three graces came through.  

I don't know the artist behind this, but the number three is a frequent aesthetic and spiritual structure present in mythology, religions and art: the Virgin, Mother and Crone; Sexuality, Fertility and Wisdom; Holy, Divine and Sacred. In hinduism there is the Tridevi: Saraswati (the goddess of learning, arts and cultural fulfillment), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth, fertility and material fulfillment), and Parvati (the goddess of power, love and spiritual fulfillment). In Greek and Roman mythology the Three sister goddesses, known as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm, beauty and grace. Carl Gustav Jung described the triple goddess as an archetype. Jung considered the general arrangement of deities in triads as a pattern which arises at the most primitive level of human mental development and culture. 

I felt spritual and graced with a beautiful evening in Glasgow.

"Where the streets have no name" by U2 is a special song and I connect the song with travelling (Click on the link or the "play" button in the box below). 

 

To June

June is the beginning of summer here north. The light time of the year with long evenings, festivals and midsummer night. You asked me to take a song or a poem with me from the highlands of Scotland back home. I am fascinated by the poetic Gaelic language. The old irish language which later came to Scotland and used during the middle age and still represents a big part of the cultural heritage in Ireland and Scotland. The Scottish Gaelic is influenced by Norse and is perfect for light northern summer evenings.

Street singer outside The Victoria Market in Inverness

In a record shop at the Victoria Market in Inverness, I found music from Julie Fowlis and immediately fell for her clear and tender voice and music. On her debut album «Mar a Tha Mo Chridhe», which is translated into «As my heart is» I found the most beautiful songs and Fowlis's music is romantic and steeped in the tradition of her Western Isles home (North Uist). The song I chose is «Tha Mo Ghaol Air Àird A' Chain» (my love is on the high seas). Hope you enjoy this voice and music and since Gaelic is unknown to us, I bring a translation of the words below.



Tha Mo Ghaol Air Àird A' Chuain
(my love is on the high seas)

On a quiet evening at the beginning of May
When the bat was in the skies
I heard a tearful young maiden 
Singing beneath the shadow of the green branches
The sun was setting in the sea
And no stars yet graced the sky
When the young girl sang sorrowfully
"My love is on the high seas"  

The night's dew began to fall
Each bloom yielding softly to the droplets
The wind blew in a fragrant breeze
Bringing life and renewal to each field
The girl tunefully sang her song
Quiet and peaceful like the June dew '
And this chorus constantly repeated
"My love is on the high seas"    

Day darkened and the stars shone
Setting their course amongst the clouds
the maiden sat, burdened by her sadness
Her singing could not have been more soothing
I moved closer to the young woman
Singing of her love sailing on the sea
Oh sweet was her sad lament
"My love is on the high seas"  

The music enticed me
Nearer to the brown-haired maiden of the warm eyes
And she prayed to the King of Heaven
"Protect my love on the high seas"
Her heart was breaking with love
When I took her by the hand
"Wipe your eyes, your love is safe
I have returned to you from the high seas"