“Over your cities crass will grow, this is what most of my art is about….”  – well, not Crass, or even “crass”, well maybe crass? That opening sentence was a social media typo this morning, I meant to say “over your cities GRASS will grow, this is what most of my art is about….”   It is still relatively early Monday morning and I am on my first coffee (with no sugar, don’t just hate it when you run out of sugar first thing in the morning) and I’m only just on my first batch of e.mails and today’s demands in terms of Cultivate.  I was making a Facebook comment and posting a link to a rather interesting looking film from an always inspiring film-maker   

I do see it as being rather greener… eventually… the notions of trillian and layers growing over what has been left of our cities, first our own layers painted on crumbling streets and unwanted no longer needed buildings, and that nature’s own beautiful marks, her own graffiti, her own art poking through the cracks and growing down the walls. She might battle with the darkness we’ve made for a while, but over our cities green leaf shapes will grow once more, it won’t be destroyed, just fresh new layers over our old tired marks, our unwanted canvases, our once freshly painted walls, the cities that are already ruins

The notions of Crass growing over out cities in 2012, is indeed a little crass to say the least, Crass are long gone aren’t they?  And maybe the notions of Crass are long gone too, some of them have evolved, some of them on one more sell-out revival tour, the last ever *until the next one). Crass were beautiful, they still sound beautiful, they still annoy those who need to be annoyed, they were beautifully angry, beautifully simplistic, innocent, wrong, right, raw, roar, gloriously obvious…

…..and they still inspire those just finding them as well as those of us who found them (and argued with them/about them) years ago – not perfect by any means and big holes can be picked but this morning’s accidental typo notions of over your cities Crass will grow were not that far from the truth as it all fall apart and those of us not in it together scramble to cling on and the streets get buffed clean for those who can still afford to be in it together in this city we’ll all have to leave soon.

We’ve done with undercover, this will not blow over…

Meanwhile on with what they tell me is nothing more that decorative art and today’s new layer on last year’s big gold and yellow canvas. That new (125cm square) canvas was left at Cultivate, still in the cellophane and untouched, with a note attached that just read “For Sean”, no idea who it was from, well I do have an idea now actually (thanks again). Spent a week on and off painting in out on the pavement of Vyner Street in the Indian summer that should have been Autumn last year. before it spent a week on the gallery wall last November, and then a winter hibernating behind several other big canvases until it awoke yesterday and demanded new layers and a spring flower shape and a maybe a space in the Fool’s Gold show next week… Here’s what it looked like back in November’s show, none of my painting are ever finished until someone takes them away and out of my reach… over my canvas grass will grow… nothing gets destroyed, just new layers…