LOVE IT OR HATE IT
“The most wonderful thing in life is to be delirious and the most wonderful kind of delirium is being in love. In the morning mist, hazy and amorous, London was delirious. London squinted as it floated along, milky pink, without caring where it was going.” ― Yevgeny Zamyatin.
THE WALKIE TALKIE:
20 Fenchurch Street, commonly known as the Walkie Talkie, is a commercial skyscraper in the London financial district completed in 2014. The 38-story building is 160 m (525 ft) tall, mostly occupied by office spaces, and has at the top of the structure a beautiful sky garden, set over floors 35, 36 and 37, offering uninterrupted views across London skyline along a selection of different restaurants and bars. Originally designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, and costing over £ 200 million, the project went under several design changes and alterations before being finished, so much so that the original creator distanced himself from the building, stating "My name is on it, but it's not my building". However, during the first hot sunny days the curved exterior walls shined a heath ray that melted the plastic parts of a car parked bolow, a huge problem that already affected other past designs made by Rafael Viñoly.
MORE ARTS
MORE PEOPLE:
Camden’s population during a regular workday doubles in size to more than 530,000 people, including 71,000 domestic and overseas tourists. Here there are more than 3,700 cultural and creative industries firms, employing roughly 40,500 people and representing 16% of all local jobs, generating almost two job opportunities for every resident of working age.
BILLIONAIRS
& ARTS:
London is an expensive city, and the cost of living here is pretty high compared to other places, but the city also has some of the highest numbers of billionaires in the world, with over 70 of them residing here. Could you tell that from the city look?
THE STREET ART SCENE:
Graffiti was originally an act of vandalism infused with passion and communication, something that created generations of rebels and creators, something that was chose by some and randomly caught by others. A movement from the underground that stormed the hearts of all kids of souls while growing the criminal record of some others. Nowadays cities promote and select the urban planning of street art galleries and often use graffiti artists to re-evaluate bad looking buildings and complexes. Just to remember us that the world is always spinning keeping things moving.
LOCAL FREQUENCIES:
The vibe and the atmosphere of this city has always had a tangible energy for me. Every corner and prospective radiates with energy, vibrations for the soul and a smell of many great stories. Old & new always over passing each other carrying with them the memories of many lovely and fucked up moments.
IS LONDON REALY THAT RAINY?
London is widely known for being a rainy grey city, and Italians often use this point while arguing about the best cities, but in reality London actually sees less rain than Roma, Sydney, Miami or Tokyo, both in terms of volume and number of rainy days. Yes you heard that right, London is dryer than Roma, go checks some datas if you don’t believe it.
LONDON’S FASHION SCENE:
The direct value of the United Kingdom fashion industry is a massive £21 billions and supports an estimated 830,000 jobs, making it the UK’s largest creative industry. Unlike most of the other European countries, here you can wear a black trash bag as a dress and almost nobody will care, actually you may get some compliments about it.
NEXT TO CANDEM TOWN:
Residential development around Primrose Hill has created one of the more fashionable & sought after districts in London between the centre and the suburbs. The hill and the area has been a popular place to live for a large number of writers, musicians and artist, including the beatles, while Mother Shipton, England’s most famous prophetess of the 16th century, said that when London shall surround Primrose Hill the streets of the metropolis will run with blood.
THE CONGESTION CHARGE:
If you drive your motor vehicle in central London between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday, you will incur in a 11,50£ daily extra tax called congestion charge. Introduced in the early 2003 it aims to reduce the local traffic situation, lower the noise and air pollution while also making some extra money for the city.
THE NEW EUROPEAN NYC:
London is such an amazing place for street photography and reportages, kinda like a European New York City, in the sense of a place where you can find all kinds of interesting and weird stuff happening thru out all the city, contrasts everywhere, strong subcultures realities, a vibrant street life and also tons of tangible stories at every corner. A great place for any life composer as much as for all the life listeners.
A NEW LIFE FOR THE AREA:
The Stable Market was once a network of stable blocks, horse tunnels, saddler’s workshops, tack rooms, and a fully operational horse hospital. At the time horses were used to pull barges down the canals and an on-site horse hospital was needed in order to prevent any working delay, while also keeping the animal available on the spot at any time. The very last shunting horse was withdrawn from duty in 1967 and the depot was closed in 1980.
THE TOWER BRIDGE
It was officially opened in 1894 by the prince and princess of Wales, future King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. The bridge is 240 meters in length with two towers each 65 meters high, built on piers. The central span of 61 meters between the towers is split into two equal bascules, which can be raised to an angle of 86 degrees to allow river traffic to pass underneath it. It took eight years to be completed with a cost of £1,184,000 at the time, which is the equivalent of £152,616,515.39 of 2019.
Whatever it is
NNO CONNTENT
THE CITY NOISES:
Sampling city sounds while writing cyber beats. Increasing my personal sound library by recording all kind of interesting noise from my adventures. I’m still properly learning the software, but finally now I can focus on making my vibes instead of spending hours searching for something vaguely similar on the internet.
BUILDING & DESTROYING:
“I believe that we, every day, 24/7, all the days of our lives, we are, all of us, agents of construction and agents of destruction.” • Guillermo Del Toro.
THE CITY GIVE, THE CITY TAKE:
“Sometimes you need to milk the cow a lot to get a little bit of cheese”• Henri Cartier-Bresson.
A QUESTION FOR YOU:
Where do you feel most at home? Are you currently building something Important for you? Or you are just entertaining yourself at all time? Just stop and really think about it for a minute.
TAKING INSPIRATION FROM EVERYTHING AROUND ME:
Building my new personal portfolio after almost ten years of daily projects feels like a crazy psychedelic time machine. Doing it on a bench in front of the Tate Modern, like when I was a teen, is also lighting some interesting sparks in my brain (can you imagine living in a lovely located house like that one?). Are you ready to explore my virtual atelier folks? Coming soon: new daily Blog, weekly Youtube videos, prints & zines, paintings & watercolors, travel guides, Urbex diaries, & merch!
THE TELEVISION AKA TV:
Today Soho is still home to many media companies and that’s not surprising considering that this neighborhood hosted the world’s first demonstration of a working television. John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor & engineer, changed forever the way we comunicate by transmitting the first television picture with tone grading, in front of 40 members of the Royal Institution in January 1926. Two years later Baird also sent a picture across the Atlantic demonstrating colour television for the first time.
OSCAR WILDE ON LONDON Society
“Oh, I love London Society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be.” - Oscar Wilde.
ALL KINDS OF JOBS
Are you a business man, an employee, or an entrepreneur? It seems like everyone nowadays call themselves an entrepreneur, but most of them are just bad business people catching a trend while joining a status group. What happened to the work itself? That should show your skills & abilities, not your Insta bio. I want to see what you actually do, not what you think you do.
HISOTRIC CANALS EVERYWHERE
The UK was the first country to acquire a nationwide canal network, dating back to Roman Britain. The modern network was built to fit the Industrial revolution during the 18th century, adding a reliable way to transport goods & commodities in large quantities.
THE MOOD WHILE NEAR THE WATER
Metropolitan areas full of waterways are one of my favorite locations. Nothing is more inspiring & relaxing at the same time like those kinds of atmospheres. How are you Camden people?
EUROPE’S TALLEST BUILDING
London’s skyline is dominated by The Shard, Europe tallest building at 309.6 meters. It is the 59th tallest building in the world at the moment, roughly 2.7 times shorter than the tallest, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing at 829.8 meters.
THE OLYMPICS RESIDENCE
After 2012 London Olympics, London became the first city to host the Olympic Games thrice
THE OLD EUROPEAN CAPITAL
London was the capital city of six countries at the same time during World War II & Hitler’s attacks: The in exile Polish government, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France, found security in this safe haven at the time.
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ROUTINES
While filming street scenes it’s always a visual bummer when someone who’s crossing my frame apologize for doing so. However, every time I’m shooting street photos I always analyze people’s paths in order to “accidentally” made them cross my frame in an almost controlled way. In that case I love that second when their apologies meets my eyes thru the shutter.
DID YOU KNoW THIS STUFF?
While birdwatching in St.James’s Park I realized something completely absurd. Most of the big birds here have had their wings pinioned or clipped. What’s that you might ask? Pinioning is an operation that involves amputating the end of a young bird’s wing in order to prevent them from flying away when their fully developed. Is this royal park really a nature reserve & sanctuary, or it’s just another tourist machine taking advantage of the 17 species of birds that regularly breed in the park?
THE CITY PARKS
St James’s Park is a 23 hectares park in the city of Westminster, next to Buckingham Palace, and it is one of the eight royal parks. It features a small lake, St James’s Park Lake, with two little island, West Island & Duck island, named for the lake’s congregation of waterfowl (Anseriformes).
EN PLEIN AIR PAINTING
I don’t know if it’s just me, but, since I started to do daily en plein air watercolor sketches I see inspiration everywhere. Is this real life? Or just another watered down version of it? Who are we?
THE OLD HUNTING GROUND
Back in the days this place was known as Marylebone Park. At the time it was thickly forested and laden with deer, often used by Henry VIII as a hunting ground. It only became the Regent’s Park after the architect John Nash landscaped it in the early 19th century.
THE VIEW OVER THE CITY
Looking for a good view of London, a great place to enjoy some fireworks, a picnic location, or just a good place to relax while enjoying the sunset thru the city skyline? Primerose Hill is a great location for all of that! Standing at 78 meters in height on the north side of Regent’s park this place is a lovely escape from the city rush.
LONDINIUM AND ROMA
In the mid-1st century the city of London was a Roman settlement called Londinium, and it occupied a small area roughly equivalent to the size of present day Hyde Park. By the turn of the century Londinium was rebuilt as a planned Roman town growing to about 60,000 people, becoming Great Britain’s largest city.
FREE STUFF EVERYWHERE I GO
No one joined my last giveaway so now I have a bunch of free prints to hide around the city, hoping that some strangers will find it before the rain hits it. Do you want some free art? Just support my works & help me fight the instagram algorithm by sharing my page on your feed. The best supporter will get a special mystery box for free (including originals).
DON’T MISS THE DETAILS
“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.” •Susan Sontag.
DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GO
Black cab drivers here in London are basically human street maps. In order to become one of them, you must complete a very meticulous test called “The knowledge”, which involves memorizing every single street & landmark in the capital. Professional wanderers & drivers, very different from your Uber who has no clue about the soul of the streets and can’t take you nowhere without a GPS. Just don’t ride next to them if you cruise on a bicycle!
exploring the streets
Another day walking thru the streets of London with my camera. People, cars, stores, buildings, everything becomes part of the picture, but mostly it’s all about the conversation between the subject and what I brought into my mind that specific day.
TVZDVDZV
The old mini fish-eye lens for my cellphone doesn’t attach properly on my new phone, but I can fix that with a couple of tools. No more extra lenses for today but at lest I don’t need to buy a new one tomorrow. What’s up London?
higher power, whatever that means
“A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”
• Jorge Louis Borges.
always last minute
I need to lock myself in my tiny studio for a bunch of days, if not weeks. My new website isn’t ready yet, my new video series is also work in progress, my zines & books are waiting for a little budget in order to be printed, and all my paintings are going to be published soon. That’s what happens when you have almost ten years of daily works to re-categorize while you are constantly on the road making new things. After more than 3200 days of work without a single day of break I realized that I need a tighter schedule, let’s work harder folks.
a piece of me
One of my best high school friend was obsessed with this place and somehow he managed to plant a cyberpunk seed inside my heart. That seed also thought me to don’t give a fuck about what others think about you, and it changed my life completely. We grew up in the very outskirts of Roma in a very old school society where everything different was immediately made fun of & isolated, but with him everything felt different. Imagine being a young tall skinny white man with long fluo dreadlocks and insane metal/latex cloths in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city (Piazza Gasparri) in the early 2000’s. As a young skateboarder with a backpack full of spray cans I used to sprint on my board while going thru those streets in order to avoid all the douchbags at every corner, but he didn’t. He was the kind of soul that makes you enjoy a simple walk & a good ice cream even while people will yell awful things at him, throw empty cans from their windows, or spit at us while cruising on their mopeds on the sidewalk. Nothing was ordinary with him but everything turned into great times due to his amazing abilities to don’t give a fuck and focus just into the fun part of things. Then years went by and we grew up but nothing changed, or at least I thought so. The last time I saw him I was blinded by my own tears and all it was left when I arrived was a splat of blood under his apartment building window. Thank you so much for all you did to me and I’m so sorry that I didn’t do enough for you. Miss you so hard brother 💚
is art war? it can be for sure
“What do you think an artist is? ...he is a political being, constantly aware of the heart breaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.”
•Pablo Picasso
do and share
“The first step - especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money - the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.”
•Chuck Palahniuk
always, just be you
“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
•Ansel Adams
rising from the ashes
In September 1666 the Great Fire of London burned down the majority of the buildings of the medieval city inside the old Roman city wall. Karnaby House, and several other historical houses, were built to transform the area into a new residential district. Some of these buildings still exists today & some would later form the basis of this important fashion district.
the alternative gate
Another Street photography day here in London. The railway bridge over Chalk Farm road announces that I’m entering the magical location of Camden Lock.
inputs from all over
“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”
•Anaïs Nin.
gathering samples
One of the many location I sketched during this adventure here in England. So much inspiration for my new project involving miniature models sculptures. Let’s practice some textures on wood & recycled plastics.
dream it before you see it
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
•Mark Twain
many styles, many tastes
London is one of the best European capitals in terms of architectural variety. Here the old meets the new in a very fascinating way, including the big variety of souls that wonders thru those streets.
brain entanglements
Do you ever get lost in someone else thoughts? Find the time to sit somewhere and talk to yourself. Communication is the key to a good relationship, especially with your other self.
Whatever it is
NO CONTENT YET
london’s frequency
“Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you've never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.”
•Judith Thurman
in your space
Let’s go for a late night street photography session here in London. How are you tonight folks?
Walking around
Chasing ghosts in the streets of Camden town after midnight. How do you like to spend your night time folks?
a random quick fact
The GDP of London is significantly larger than that of several European countries, including Belgium and Sweden.
tell me about your London
Do you live in London or have you ever been in this city? If so, let me pick your mind for a minute and share with us which are your favorite things to do or see here in this fascinating city. I know the city kinda well, but I’m curious to know your thoughts & i hope I can learn something new from you. Don’t be shy!
beware of the scams
Brick Lane is quite a trendy area at the moment, full of mainstream restaurants and shitty tourists traps that have started to tap into its popularity, but there are still plenty of gems around here. How to spot a good place? Just trust your eyes & your tastebuds instead of those fake internet reviews/stars. According to the signs on almost every restaurant window here It seems like everyone of those is the best place in town, even with no customers inside & no smell of cooking in the air. Pff!
a metal dress for the clock
“A programme of essential works to conserve the Elizabeth Tower, the Great Clock and the Great Bell, also known as Big Ben began in early 2017.
The total overall cost of the project, including VAT, Risk and Optimism Bias and transferred fire safety work costs, is now estimated at £61m as opposed to £29m as estimated in spring 2016. To ensure that the UK’s most famous clock continues to keep time, our experts closely monitor the mechanism and carry out adjustments on a daily basis. The Elizabeth Tower, which is visited by around 12,000 people each year, is carefully conserved by Parliament’s heritage team. However, as extensive conservation works were last carried out more than 30 years ago (1983-1985), significant work and an investment of £61m is now required to ensure it remains in good condition and is safeguarded for future generations. As the Tower is 96 metres tall, scaffolding is needed to enable workers to reach high levels safely. Scaffolding will be dismantled as the work is completed from the top, and at least one clock face will be on show at all times. As a Grade I listed building within a UNESCO World Heritage site, the 160-year-old Tower is subject to listed building consent. This programme of works has been carefully planned in consultation with Historic England.
These works will:
•Repair problems identified with the Elizabeth Tower and the Great Clock, which cannot be rectified whilst the clock is in action
•Conserve significant elements of the Tower, as designed by architects Charles Barry and Augustus Wellby Pugin
•Repair and redecorate the interior, renew the building services and carry out work to improve health and safety and fire prevention
•Increase energy efficiency to reduce the Tower’s environmental impact”
Source by parliament.uk
urban vibes all over
I love the architecture here in London, the city is full of mixed styles & eras. An amazing location for my en plain air studies. Soon I will make a page just about my sketchbooks, and probably an instagram account just for that. Ready to know more about the world thru some inks & colors?
free stuff everywhere I go
More free prints for London! Three copies hidden somewhere on the Westminster bridge. Good hunt folks!
south bank:
Welcome in one of my top 3 skate spots in the world. Featured in countless videos, as well as in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, this wonderful place is a combination of several key factor for a perfect location. Simple but amazing skate architecture, graffiti everywhere, efficient materials, rooftop & lights, lovely view, and it is located in the center of the city in a very tactical position. What a paradise!
an historic place:
In 2013 there was a plan by the state to relocate the park in order to use this space for stores & restaurants. 27,282 person wrote a letter of objections, including the former director of the National Theatre, and after eighteen months of campaign the plans to redevelop the area were temporarily throw in the bin. Long live Southbank!
the underground Mecca:
The spiritual home of British skateboarding, South Bank’s Undercroft Park. This Mecca has more than 40 years of history on his back, which is a lot for this topic, and its probably one of the major melting pot for cultures & arts.
looking for subjects:
The first topic that we will explore here in London is Street art. A little adventure thru the walls of this fascinating city, observing paint & textures meet for an interesting dialogue.
Work in progress:
Hello London! I’m currently leaving some free prints under the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster. Almost the entire structure is under renovation and it will be in this state for the next fuor years