Wednesday, July 12, 2006

High Art in High Barnet

I’m currently spending much of my time shuttling between my own bed and a chair next to someone else’s bed in a hospital in High Barnet, North London.

Anyone who knows Barnet will appreciate that the walk from the tube station to the hospital does not come anywhere near the top of the Interesting Ways to Spend 15 Minutes of Your Life Scale.

Or at least I thought so, until a couple of days ago when I started noticing peculiar things like this on the pavement...

Thanks to Rahid’s Flickr photoset and a couple of links he’s posted there, I was no stranger to North London acrylic chewing gum art but it was still a treat to find my own little stash of examples. I almost look forward to the walk now. I don’t even mind it when people start looking at me like I’m a lunatic as I’m crouching down on the floor; with my camera and nose three inches from the pavement.

I’ve bagged ten so far

Kudos to Ben Wilson, the Don of Painted Gum. He may be madder than a sack of ferrets but he’s brightened up at least one sad person’s day.

1 comment:

jackenstein of all trades said...

You've turned up some real beauties.
At some point Ben mentioned there were a bunch outside the McD's (i think that's the right location) that he occasionally goes back to and tidies up. Obviously not the kind of high street landmark you'd want to go out of your way for, but still... we get our small moments of joy where we can.

Blessings.