Streetart Festival, Brugge: Nature

Portrait in Reds.
Kitsune Jolene

Although I did prefer the Legendz images in the Brugge Streetart Festival, one from the Nature section which truly impresses is Portrait in Reds by Kitsune Jolene in Hooiestraat. For my taste, perhaps a little too dazzling in colour but it is an incredibly accomplished portrait on a grand scale, and the artist attributes her huge masterpiece to having been inspired by an extract from a Longfellow poem, The Belfry of Bruges, written in 1845.

The Belfort rising majestically in 
Brugge Markt.

The Belfry of Bruges

At my feet, the city slumbered. From its chimneys here and there

Wreaths of snow white smoke ascending,

vanished, ghost-like into air.

Not a sound came from the city at that early morning hour

But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower.

From their nests beneath the rafters, sang the swallows, wild and high;

And the world beneath me sleeping

Seemed more distant than the sky.

Kitsune Jolene [Jolien de Waele] is inspired by emotions, nature and myths. She is from Ghent and always paints in a realistic, representational way using intense and hard colours for her portraits, flora and fauna. She recorded her appreciation of the Streetart Festival: ”Thank you for everything, Wietse, an artist and good friend from Bruges who organised the festival completely by himself. And thanks Mayli Sterkendries, a photographer, for letting me paint you”

Part of Wietse's mural of a
cartoonish duck.

Wietse, the Bruggean founder of this festival, contributes a splendid wall painting on a high gable at the junction of Rodestraat and Predikherenrei. He also paints in a realistic way but his work is more to the cartoon end of murals and he always uses black and white, mostly adding touches of one extra colour. He finds his inspiration in his travels, and in nature and history, always repeating himself. As organiser, it was Wietse who chose the two sections: Legendz and Nature. There are three more wall paintings in the Nature section outside the Egg: two in Assebroek and one in Sint Pieters.

In an extraordinary coincidence as I was writing the above, a friend drew my attention to The Crystal Ship, a street art festival soon to take place [19/12/20 to 3/1/21] in Oostende when a series of murals will delineate a new night-time walking route. I had no idea that the famous film actor, Matthias Schoenaerts, has been an accomplished street artist known as Zenith since he was 14, working mainly in his home town of Antwerp. He has just spent two days spraying his contribution to The Crystal Ship, on a high wall in Cardijnplein where he has depicted a headless version of King Leopold 11 on his horse. Schoenaerts feels his mural serves as an alternative to recent beheadings of Leopold statues in Belgium, in concert with the destruction or removal of Confederate statues in the Southern States of America, and similar anti-slavery moves in the U.K. In Belgium there has been the beginning of a confrontation of the horrors carried out during Leopold’s reign in the Congo Free State, and Zenith’s mural seeks to focus that conversation within the Oostende community about that traumatic time in Belgium’s colonial past.

Zenith's headless Leopold in Cardijnplein.

This mural is of special significance for the town of Oostende which benefitted greatly from the largesse of Leopold who made finance available for the foundation of Maria Hendrikapark; the building of St Peter and St Paul Church; the Wellington Racecourse and the Royal Galleries, all four of which remain big local attractions. The capital for these prestigious projects will undoubtedly have come from the Congo. The Mayor, Bart Tommelein, suggests that this mural demonstrates the stains on the character of Leopold and sharpens the debate on his legacy.

Matthias Schoenaerts,
Zenith.

One of the many splendid works of art gracing large buildings
in Oostende. By Strook, he of Bruges' fame who
constructs his portraits from reclaimed old wood.

Brugge Streetart Festival 2020

Thi

Detail from the Mary of Burgundy mural
showing O.L.V where her memorial lies.

This festival would have been planned in the confident expectation of thousands of tourists visiting Brugge in the summer, as usual. I imagine the idea of huge images on gable ends would have also been expected to appeal to the young in particular but, it was also suggested, they would help older people remember. There were two distinct subject areas for the artists to consider: Legendz and Nature. Having now seen examples of both I prefer the murals depicting Legendz perhaps because of my interest in history though the objective is to re-shape and re-connect  the old and the new within the city. The most dazzling mural for me is of Mary of Burgundy; a huge presence on Houwersstraat.

Mary of Burgundy, Houwersstraat.

There are many symbols in her portrait to be found; the euro and dollar signs signal her wealth; the French lily in her dress represents the French king and the rich Flemish citizens, merchants and nobility supporting him. The falcon refers to her death outside Brugge when she was hunting; the Gothic window stands for the church of Onze Lieve Vrouw where her tomb is situated; her enormous hands are the hands of Jesus treating men and women equally, symbols for giving, creating, forgiving and sharing. The Brugse Zot and the swan refer to Maximilian of Austria, Mary’s husband, while the coins are a symbol of Brugge's economic status which produced, effectively, the world’s first Stock Exchange.

Jeremiah Persyn, Jamz.

The artist of this mural is Jeremiah Persyn, nicknamed Jamz, a native of Brugge who worked for years as an art director,
draughtsman, graphic artist and painter, creating textiles, décor, storyboarding. He recently started a multi-media creative company, Sarazon, with his wife, Sarah Van Dale. He has worked with the aerosol which he sees, and uses, as a brush, since 1988.

Dans der Zotten.

Dans der Zotten, the Dance of the Fools, dominates the space at the side of the Concertgebouw. It commemorates the occasion in 1488 when Maximilian of Austria banished the annual market. The inhabitants of the city set up a grand fair and reputedly asked him for a madhouse to which he replied, “ Close all the gates of Brugge and that’s your madhouse.” Zot, at that time, meant a willful person with a strange sense of humour. The four different zotten also represent individual seasons and the artist chose lighter colours to merge into the shades surrounding the graffiti wall. The artist, Stan Slabbinck, began his career as a graffiti artist in the late 1980s and has created for festivals and amusement parks, drawing his inspiration from a wide range of contemporary subjects, often critical of society, always evolving, discussing the themes of nature versus people.

Stan Slabbinck

Stefaan de Croock, Strook.

Strook's Mysterious Woman
looking into town.
Perhaps this is my favourite.

The third artist is Stefaan de Croock, nicknamed Strook, born in Sint Lucas in Ghent and thus an incomer to Brugge. He always uses second-hand wood obtained from various sources like old houses, collecting wood from old beams, doors, window frames, floors, some of which may be three hundred years old but using the wood exactly as he finds it, only cutting and sawing where necessary. This philosophy implicitly criticises Society where much of what we use, is designed not to last. He has been involved for six years on the Strook Art Project and in 2014 The Huffington Post placed his work, Wood and Paint, in the top 20 most influential murals. He recently made a large work for The Crystal Ship in Ostende, using wood reclaimed from the Mercator. He has exhibited in the U.S., Denmark, Canada and Sweden and had been due to hold an exhibition in Ghent in October 2020. His exhibit in this festival, on a large, bare wall near ‘t Zand, of a mysterious woman looking into town, is accomplished in his trademark strips of wood, which he suggests, are able to bring order from chaos and, through the old wood, tell a new story.

The most extraordinary feature of all the murals to this aged writer, is that they are created by aerosol cans obviously wielded by very creative hands. And secondly, painted large on outdoor walls. Talent and ingenuity combined.

Mary of Burgundy emerging.

The information for this week’s blog is entirely provided by Leen Ryckaert, professeur extraordinaire!

Graffiti.

 

Graffiti in Bethlehem

The Bruges Street Art Festival was apparently launched in August but such is my unconscious power of resistance to publicity that I have only now discovered this city-wide exhibition of works of art sprayed chiefly on large gable ends, accomplished only by spray can and marker pen. I have now visited some of the various sites with friends to guide, and can see that these paintings come under the umbrella heading of Graffiti.

So I have delved into graffiti and found it unexpectedly interesting!

Graffiti in Melbourne.

Wikipedia defines graffiti [= Scratch. Singular: graffito, rarely used] as writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission, and within public view. It has, in fact, existed since ancient times in Greece, Egypt and the Roman Empire and is now treasured as both art form and information channel which has conveyed small details of then current lives, to posterity. Au contraire, modern graffiti is usually considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism. It became a growing urban problem for New York City subway, on cars and walls, where it started in the ‘70s before spreading to other parts of the U.S. and eventually to Europe and beyond. It was closely associated with gangs who used graffiti for a variety of purposes: for identifying or claiming territory; as informal obituaries to dead gang members; to challenge rival gangs and to chronicle various ‘achievements’.

Crusader graffiti in Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

I have noticed in Britain, that it often appears adjacent to railway tracks approaching cities [relatively easy access for the young and agile] and in run-down urban areas. When I worked in secondary education, it was a golden rule when some graffiti appeared on the outside of school buildings to have it removed as soon as possible. We never wasted time on trying to find the culprit who might, and might not, have been a pupil. Quick removal meant less chance of additional artistic efforts alongside the original; a plethora of wall-sprayed signs would somehow suggest a place with a lack of order and community, an absence of caring and a want of intellectual activity!

In spite of this, [or perhaps, because of this] it is now a rapidly-growing art form which inspires both

Subway car, New York City.

fervent admirers and detractors world-wide. To some, it is an authentic form of public art, continuing in the U.S. the tradition of the Government-commissioned murals done during the Great Depression. And also in the Diego Rivera mode; this famous Mexican artist returned to live in Mexico in 1921 and became involved in the government-sponsored Mexican Mural Programme which effectively launched his career [when he was already a famous artist] as a muralist. Of course, the amateur graffiti artists of today are not always so talented though they are profuse. But one does notice, particularly with historic examples, that graffiti is often political and sends a message more pithy than words.

And I haven't even mentioned Banksy in Britain, an anonymous street artist and political agitator whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams have inspired millions of admirers and whose work fetches huge sums of money.

Girl with Red Balloon
Probably a universal favourite by Banksy.

Tel Aviv, Israel.

Budapest.

Inside the ruins of the German
Reichstag Building.

One World.
Modern example.

And now for a Post Script added after

first publication!

Werregarenstraat, Ghent.
Graffiti Street.

A friend rang me as I was writing the above and then sent me several links about graffiti in Portugal and in Ghent. I was amazed at the Ghent Graffiti Situation. In the Mail Online of June 26th 2018 there is a major article entitled The World is Your Mural. It gives pictures and information on the zones in Ghent, founded in 650 A,D, where graffiti is legal and any artist with a spray paint can, may venture. The centre for graffiti in Ghent is Werregarenstraat, a tiny, curving street now nicknamed Graffiti Street and an established graffiti centre for more than twenty years. There are maps freely available, to help visitors find works of art on the sides of buildings in the four zones in the city where graffiti is legal.

New Vhils mural in Berlin.

Perhaps the most famous Portuguese graffiti artist is Alexandre Farto known as Vhils. He has developed his own unique visual language based on the removal of the surface of the building he is working on, using power and manual tools. His introduction to graffiti was in the early 2000s since when his extraordinary works have appeared in Paris, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Cape Verde, Cincinatti and no doubt many more cities. His portraits on walls are astonishing.

 

Vhils in action.

L'Amerique Fracturee

 

The above title was on the cover of Paris Match on November 7^th. I had been thinking of entitling this blog, Disharmony, which beautifully describes the state of America at the moment. That is until I spotted the cover of Paris Match this morning and thought, YES!! Only now do I see, "Quatre Ans De Folie a La Maison Blanche." Another Yes!

Rudy Giuliani whom I used to admire, hugely.
A long time ago.

Like millions of other Europeans, I have become obsessed with the American election and currently, with the incredibly drawn out Counting of the Votes. As one might expect, Trump is behaving badly; refusing to accept the increasing Biden leap ahead as the count continues. He wants to stop the counting where the ongoing figures favour Biden but continue the count where he is in the lead. He is crying Foul though the seemingly endless tally of postal votes currently being enacted mirrors exactly what he brought about. Strong advice to Republicans to vote in person on the day because postal votes were suspect, brought about early, commanding leads for Trump because millions of Democrats chose the postal vote route. As these are laboriously counted, so the tally for the Democrats mounts and the Trump leads leaks away inexorably. Trump and his family continue to inhabit an alternate universe shared still by some Republicans, though fewer and fewer. Only a desperate man could send in Giuliani as front man for defence while the older Trump sons seem frankly unhinged. The thought of the White House cash cow being removed is clearly threatening to family sanity.

Joe Biden, now President-Elect.

It looks increasingly like a Biden win but sadly, the expected moral revulsion of millions at Trump’s behaviour, has not translated into the Blue surge expected. So the Democrats need to do some soul-searching. The Senate looks likely to remain in Republican hands though not decided until January, which will make Biden’s presidency difficult because Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham will focus on destructive reaction to any Biden initiative particularly over tax reform. The one outstanding feature of the Trump campaign and current entr’acte period of waiting, is the stunning fact that despite all the ghastliness of the Trump presidency, in spite of the almost surreal depths of his ignorance and vindictive incompetence, he polled five million more votes this time than in 2016! And his followers seem genuinely besotted. There appear to be distinct but sometimes overlapping groups of devotees: less-educated whites particularly men; nationalists, fascist and far right Republicans; inhabitants of the so-called ‘fly-over states’ with small rural communities, conservative, separate, and people in the Southern states plus evangelicals who thread through all these various categories. All respond to the dog-whistle racism in particular and appear to look back longingly to Earlier Times; Trump’s thinly-veiled Make America White Again points to a nostalgia for the golden past when the blacks knew their place and Life was predictable. And many of these people are Standing By for when Biden is finally acknowledged as President-Elect and a proportion of them, at least, will be out on the streets, guns and fists at the ready, awaiting the Chief’s disgruntled fact-free grouses and Proud Boy complaints.

Trump people on one side; Biden supporters, opposite.
Austin, Texas, after announcement of Biden's win.

WHAT a happy day on November 8^th. Biden and Harris now President and Vice-President Elect. No counter-offensive as dreaded, just millions of people across the U.S.in the streets celebrating. And here, I have received so many messages of joy and relief often accompanied with celebratory videos. In the meantime, Trump continues to throw his toys out of the pram while his lawyers insist it is not yet decided who will be President. It has been an amazing few days and we hold our breath while awaiting Biden taking the oath in January. It seems odd, not to say unwise, that the departing President has around two months before he actually goes, in which he can legislate. I guess we can only predict fireworks!

Trump venting on T.V. after announcement of Biden win.

Police in Austin, Texas, keeping watch over 
competing protests after Biden win.

Here's our man again, displaying sensible behaviour.

Windows to the World

This one is very typical of numerous Brugge windows 
decorated in sentimental style as long ago as 
last March.

On my ubiquitous daily walks this week, I suddenly noticed Windows or at least, certain windows adorned with highly individualised decoration. Once one had caught my eye, I started to look and found several with delightful features dreamed up by whoever lived behind the glass!! In truth, there weren’t SO many but it gave me a little extra task as I wandered along seeking the hazy goal of sustaining health. It’s good to have a transparent purpose!!

A beautiful example on the building
of the Guild of Sint Sebastien.

I noticed again how many bricked-up windows there are on old houses in Brugge. And I was sensitised to bricked-up windows at Waingroves Hall where I lived with my family when the children were growing up, from 1968. Waingroves had two bricked-up windows which had undoubtedly been accomplished sometime during the years of the Window Tax in Britain. The Window Tax was a property-based tax based on the number of windows in a house and introduced during the reign of William 111 as an alternative to income tax the mere suggestion of which aroused considerable controversy. It was a significant social, cultural and architectural force in England, France, Scotland and Ireland during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Presumably it must also have covered the area which is now Belgium or at the very least, Bruges. To avoid the tax, based on the number of windows above a base level specified by the Government, property owners had certain windows bricked up presumably with the intention of having the space re-glazed at a later date. It was introduced into England and Wales in 1696 and not repealed for 155 years in 1851 when popular discontent forced its removal. In France, it was established in 1798 and unbelievably, not repealed until 1926! Scotland’s Window Tax covered the much shorter period, 1748-1798. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith observed that the window tax was inoffensive and easy to collect; it had originally been designed to impose tax relative to the prosperity of the tax payer, although it was eventually recognised as penalising the poor disproportionately.

A bricked-off window
with elegant decoration.

This blog now transmogrifies into a scrapbook

rather than a blog. One or two  images used before!

Images are beautifully self-arranged as I post BUT

experience shows the arrangement shifts according

to mysterious laws of unknown physics!

My favourite, one of several in
the same house. Beautiful.

Rather more terrifying!

A lovely Meet My Neighbours on Carmersstraat.

This is a glass door rather than a window.
But beautiful for all that!

This is for publicity for a recently-opened gallery
and doesn't QUITE count!

An empty pharmacie on corner
of Langerei and Goudenhandrei.

Blocked-off window used as a 
canvas to great effect.
Vervesdijk.

Beautiful stained glass set into a window
on a lovely old house on Potterierei.
In a different league from the others 
displayed here.

The same house, as above, one of three
stained glass insets into windows
on the front of the building.

Echoes of Lockdown in Brugge.

 

A dramatic handwave from a window
on the corner of Langerei 
and Goudenhandrei.

 Looking at my phone pictures I have realised that there are a number of images, never used, which amused, or entertained, or delighted me at the time of capture. A common  thread, generally, is that they were all taken during the early morning, or sometimes, The Very Early Morning, walks when I

One of the many delectable rewards 
of an early morning walk in Brugge!

plod onwards, pursuing the vague goal of reasonable health, with the image in the head of coffee and a compensatory read at the end. It virtually never fails. An early morning walk is not Quite The Same as the former early swim. The latter saw me happily, lazily, ensconced in tepid water, head below deck, joints moving slowly but rhythmically, for the half hour designated, while the mind wandered luxuriously and freely. The Walk is different. It involves more effort and much more concentration. I have to take a great deal of care over the gorgeous cobblestones which threaten to trip the unwary octogenarian, so my movements are generally slow and plodding accompanied with downcast eyes, scanning the ground ahead like searchlights. However, the aesthetic rewards of sun-dappled water; the canopy of trees above giving shade in summer and arboreal architecture in Winter, are many, There is a deep satisfaction to an early walk; a dearth of fellow walkers- cyclists though there are some; opportunities to discover little sights unnoticed before; the chance to take photographs when something small catches the eye; the never-ending pleasure of seeing familiar canals and cobblestones in different weathers and lights, and absorbing their beauties. There is the peace of the endeavour and the undoubted pleasure at the end when, almost exhausted, one happily acknowledges accomplishing a good deed in a naughty world.

My favourite photograph taken during these daily wanderings, is definitely of the words displayed
on a front door at one end of the Coupure: Attention. Chien de tres mauvaise humeur. This must be the most effective anti-burglar device ever and a similar deterrent for the door-to-door salesman if such still exist. It would be even better if the naughty dog turned out to be a peaceable Peke for example. A touch of bonne humeur goes a long way. It reminds me of a time when we had a Golden Labrador, an eminently good-natured breed of dog. Our Shandy was at the extreme end of the continuum, Mauvais\Bon; she was sweet and saintly. Once, long ago, a group of red-faced, apparently hungover, Irishmen looking for work drew up outside the gate to our rather isolated house and approached. Shandy raced to the gate to welcome them and I said, “Don’t open the gate till I’ve got her collar. She can’t be trusted.” [as my husband had suggested I do when I judged it necessary.] As they opened the gate, she broke free, such was her enthusiasm to meet and greet, and threw herself at their feet, on her back, paws raised, waiting for her tummy to be tickled. They looked both relieved and emboldened!! " Why, she's SOFT," accused the leader.

Moment of grace outside Sint Salvator

I also love the April photo taken during an early Lockdown walk; it is of a momentary shaft of light streaming through just one of the windows of Sint Salvator. It was stunning at the time, an illuminating moment of early sun and conveniently-angled stained glass in an unexpected conjunction of light and space. Dramatic and beautiful in the grey exterior.

Last week I noticed that the Coupure was full, presumably all boats parked up for the Winter when harbour fees in Brugge are more reasonable. I can’t now remember all the names though Esme was still there, for my sister, and Hilde, too, for my mother. There were others like Uit de Maelstrom and Grace a Dieu which spoke of stormy seas and safe harbours. I rather liked the regal Victoria, Victor and Imperial but loved the flirtatious, feminine Chouette! I didn’t know the meaning but it turns out to be great or very nice. Etre chouette a quelqu’un is to be really nice to someone. Think I will now remember that!!

And while being more of a dog person than a cat person, I enjoyed the notice in a window quite near

Chouette on the Coupure.

to where I live. “My cat is not a pet; my pet is family.”

Heartfelt. It is a long, long time since I had a dog but I do remember the strength of that feeling. My daughter in California and her family had a much-loved black Labrador, Charlie, who almost reached the splendid 14 years lifespan when, with so many things wrong with his system, he had to be put down. Family council decided to wait a while before replacing him but her nine year old daughter whose best friend had been Charlie for all of her life, remained sad and listless. Worried parents decided on action and the three of them went to an animal sanctuary and found Luna, a German Shepherd who is now, months later, pretty well in charge of the happy 

Part of that Forever Family.

household. I particularly liked the remark of the woman from the sanctuary who said, as they took Luna away, how delightful it was to see a lovely dog leave to go home with his Forever Family.

Not taken during the early morning walks, but  
 from the Carmerbrug in August, en route home
early evening.