street art project by google

google launched a wonderful project: street art on google view.

i'm a longtime fan of street art, for various reasons. one of these reasons is that street art relates closely to the human need for artistic (visual) expression, stripped from commercial and elitist considerations.

you can of course wonder why i do not engage in street art myself...

but that is a question of circumstance and personality. i'm shy to perform in public, and i'm also not at ease with anti-street-art legislation. if i would have a commission, and if i could work in reasonable peace, it would be different... so i can see myself doing murals (i did some inside murals long ago, and it was very inspiring) but only if the wall in question is given to me freely and explicitly.

nonetheless i have great respect for many street artists who are more daring in their approach, and who create wonderful pieces for everyone to see. in my opinion, we need art very dearly in this technocratic society. and this whole capitalistic structure where a very few rich people control all the infrastructure, buildings, land...why? do not all people have a right to this earth?

street art is a way of challenging these rigid and corrupt societal structures, in a way that i often find endearing and enriching. we need societal change. we really do. so instead of wasting our attention on football and fickle politicians and corrupt bankers and other media `stars', why not simply go look at art once in a while?

visits to this blog : thank you google & blogger!

yesterday was a strange day...you might remember that just a month ago i proudly posted that my blog had had 100,000 visits...in total, over its lifespan of almost 3 yrs.

however, yesterday i had over 60,000 visits (and today so far another 15,000) on one day. all due to the fact that google celebrated the birthday of constantin brâncuşi (19 february 1876). and yes, i posted a few nice photographs of brâncuşi's work that i took in the centre georges pompidou on this blog. these photos rank highly in google image search...(and now things go back to normal, since google's celebration is over)

although i know these effects are typical of the modern web-based society, it still is strange for me to witness it up close. because in real life, as an artist i'm somewhat of a recluse. anyway, thank you google and blogger, for providing people like me with the opportunity to reach many others, outside of commercial and/or hierarchical channels.