Alan Dein

Oral Historian

" Brick Lane has become an artificial construct, a pseudo China Town, disguising the fact that behind the façade are people living in terrible poverty".

Alan Dein lived in Brick Lane from 1979 to 2001 and he says that it used to be a place that " wrote its own laws and was run by the people who lived and worked there". Now he moved away because " there is no mystery left in the area any more".

" First things first: defend Brick Lane"

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2009/10/17/paul-trevor-photographer/

http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/08/04/archive-first-things-first-defend-brick-lane

The deportation of Afia Begum

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1984/may/08/mrs-afia-begum-deportation

Equality and Diversity Policies

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/851-900/861_diversity_and_equalities.aspx

Two Brick Lanes

" The battle against racism and fascism cannot be won by outsiders who march into an area, chant slogans, and then march out again; it can only be won by the most dedicated, rooted and persistent commitment to undermine and destroy the injustice and neglect on which such movements thrive."

Revd Kenneth Leech, Brick Lane, 1978: The Events and Their Significance

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=21520

Stories and mythologies of London's East End

Count Dracula's East End hideout was located in Chicksand Street ( novel writtten by Bram Stoker in 1897 )

Jack the Ripper

The ghost of Annie Chapman

Brick Lane Sunday Market

Taken on: April 1, 1976 by Jean Penders

Taken on: December, 1976 by Jean Penders


Taken on: September 11, 2006 by Fabio Venni

Taken on: March 26, 2006 by Quixotic54
http://flickriver.com/groups/44989944@N00/pool/interesting/

Jef Aerosol, stencil on poster, Brick Lane

Jef Aerosol hit up a few stenciled posters around Brick Lane in December 2005. Awesome.

http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/index.html

Stencil Art by Jef Aerosol

Jef Aerosol is a French stencil graffiti artist who has been one of the very first street art pionners of the early 80s. He has left his mark on the walls of many cities in the world including London.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefaerosol/

Fear

Brick Lane, London

http://www.back2mine.net/index.php/gallery/

Graffiti Art in Brick Lane

" For One Moment I Thought You Were Sad"

" Wild Cat Capitalist"

" Mystery Girl"

" Faceless Pinup Girl"

Recently, the East End street has become a popular focus for art, particularly in terms of street art.

http://samgolden.co.uk/blog/category/arts/

Welcome to Brick Lane

A place where feelings of fascination, fear and freedom of being different are strongly mixed like the vibrant and multicultural people who surround you.

http://www.urbanimage.tv/gallery/

Shopping Malls on Weekends

Tokyo Mosque

The interior architecture of the mosque is based upon the designs from Turkey.

Galleries Lafayette

The Galleries Lafayette in Paris has been my first association of a shopping mall with a cathedral. I had visited it some time ago and I remember that it had looked like some kind of sacred place: the beautiful glass dome, the painted windows and all the richness of each detail, even the balconies and its arcades of golden surfaces. Its architecture is absolutely amazing and it is very closely to the interior of a mosque. So I made some research about it and I found that the building was redesigned in 1906 by Ferdinand Chanut according to his predilection for oriental bazaars, inspired in a neo-Byzantine style. "A golden light was used to create a more intimate environment and to set the merchandise aglow" and from the start, the aim was to attract ladies of the high society and also working women who made time during their lunch break.

http://www2.galerieslafayette.com/international/goFolder.do?f=history_en&lang=en&fontLang=null

Damien Hirst

"The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Somebody Living " ( 1991 )

I have something to say about this Damien Hirst’s work.

Initially I thought it was definitely awful because of the dead shark suspended in the tank, but the true is that every time we visit a Natural History Museum we also find sharks and many other species of animals dead and embalmed.

When we keep away the idea of the using of a living being and pay attention to the work itself and its message, we understand that is incredibly fantastic, real and shocking. We can easily get its meaning: the fear of death. It’s awesome how he represents this fear using the image of a shark. The analogy is perfect: an ugly and giant animal with a powerful strength, kept inside of a limited space, our mind.

Henry Moore Drawings

http://www.henry-moore.org

Henry Moore Sculptures

How did he create objects as if they could only have been the result of natural processes over millions of years?

His work is amazing. Effectively, Henry Moore’s sculptures seem to be created by Mother Nature. Its relation with surrounding space is incredibly perfect and harmonious, and its shapes are extremely beautiful.

More about: http://www.kew.org/henry-moore/

William Blake, the " Glorious Luminary"

" The Song of Los"

" Ancient of days"

William Blake‘s work is extraordinary. Each one of his paintings is profoundly rich in meaning. Sometimes considered mad, he was very singular and expressive. His work shocked some conventional ideas in the 18th century. Somehow he can be compared with Banksy and his transgression.

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

"Faraday"

University of Birmingham

" Head of a Dongon Mask"

( modelled plaster )

" Vulcan"

Central Square - Newcastle

I would like to make reference to Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, one of the members that founded the movement of the Independent Group in Britain. Despite starting his career working with collages in the mid-1950s influenced by American mass media and populist art, there was a great evolution in his work. He had become a wider artist, particularly in sculpture, creating his own view about things. He highlights future, science, research, knowledge and change. “Faraday” has over five metres high and was a gift to the University to mark its Centenary.

Information Source:http://www.whitfieldfineart.com/

One & Other Project

http://www.skyarts.co.uk/site/plinth/

Art is somehow the way you express your own feelings, the way you get in touch with the others and especially with yourself. That moment is precisely the special moment you are making art, the moment you are dealing profoundly with yourself, the moment of reflexion, and the way you feel you can express it to get it known by the others or not . That is why everyone can somehow make a moment of art in their own life. You just have to explore your creativeness and keep in touch with yourself and what you are feeling about and then you find it… art.

And that’s why Antony Gormley is my favourite. I like the way he uses the human being form to express his own fears, doubts, thoughts, visions, his relations with the others, and particularly with himself and his identity. This is also what I feel about the project “One & Other”. I believe Antony Gormley actually wanted to give an opportunity to other people to express themselves, to let their feelings flourish and the result was simply unforgettable.

I do believe the purest way of making art is that in which the artist creates the simplest forms, and things are deeply profound and spontaneous.

Comment posted on:

http://web.me.com/paul_driver/Soapbox/English_Culture

Antony Gormley Sculptures

What I most like in Antony Gormley sculptures is that he works essentially with the human being form, its positions and relations with others and spaces. He is very simple but at the same time very objective. There is a message in each one of his works that surely has a strong meaning or at least I feel it that way. I really like a lot this one called "Witness". The man sitting, his head on the flexed knees and both arms crossed. The position of reflection. Is he the only witness of his reflection?

Angel of the North

I really really love this work! Antony Gormley is absolutely fantastic! I think is awesome such a simple structure can produce a magnificent illusion in surrounding space. The straight lines can effectively create the idea of someone's presence. I can even imagine its strength.. . One day I will certainly visit Newcastle to see and feel this Angel of Iron.