The Arts Hole -'' Going -Nowhere Inn ''- Plymouth

          Boris Johnsons Halloween Brexit Extravaganza @ the Nowhere Inn - Plymouth 

Art and Shibari , Cheese and Wine … Body Painting and the mad ravings of - The Arts Hole international Pop up Initiative …… come and say hi during the day for something unusual 12 - 16;30 

                              Thurs 31st October @ The Nowhere Inn - Plymouth

             Followed by an evening Of Live music and lively banter and rough sketch rebellion

                                                             WATCH THIS SPACE X

This is basically why I don't commercialise the things I do these days ...as I've previously noted

I am having a thought Here Barbosa .....

….

an unending ' work ' in progress ;)

Back once again for another winter in my ' home ' town of Plymouth … and my goodness its pretty grey around here !!! no matter how many plastic Elephants you stuff into the city scape … so just thought I would have a smash at teaching a few guys how to have a go at ' the good stuff ' ;) 

Another ' Watch This Space ' moment

So a little over 13 years ago the weird series of erraticism's I was cobbling together as a ' portfolio ' of creative projects - informally amalgamated into the trading ' brand ' - The Arts Hole …. a pioneering enterprise that was part of a movement that later became the now exceptionally popular ' pop up ' enterprise model

and from those unusual and humble origins we have / I have been from pillar to post... from pall mall to Parkview … all for the sake of ' Art ' and it has taken me far and wide, high and low and back again...

from that little pop up art gallery - the various incantations that have followed an awful lot of work has been done! art galleries , artwork , showcases , one man arts festivals . dinosaurs , festivals , exhibitions, art b&b, pirate ships , festivals , shibari demonstrations , bodypainting , sailboats , mountain climbing , hallucinogens , festivals, construction projects , political protest and court cases ... and way more cities than I can recount in one go......

…. and so it goes on

The Arts Hole International Pop up Initiative -  will be everywhere from spring 2020 -

I am working with some amazing individuals and organizations at the moment and it looks like we will run our own independent ' trade route ' from Scandinavia to Morocco and all the way across the Mediterranean Sea to the Greek Islands


so Artby Valerio and The Arts hole International pop up Initiative will be running a series of consecutive ' touring ' Art B&B - Artists Vacations and Exhibition options all year round - from quite a lot of locations

Oslo Norway -Arctic Light Northern Lights Artists Retreat

Amsterdam - Netherlands Togetherness / mindfulness / Retreat / Workshops /

Rouen France  -Permaculture Courses

LondonU.K : -Togetherness / mindfulness / Retreat

North Wales U.K- Arts Scenery Retreat

Cornwall U.K -Artists Retreat / Mindfulness / Permaculture Courses/ Herbalism /Sailing

Porto Portugal -Artists Retreat / Mindfulness? Meditation / Yoga

Essaouira Morocco -Artists Retreat / Off Grid Architectural Flagship / Mindfulness / Togetherness / Permaculture / Sailing / Workshops / Seminars / Festivals/ Film Studio/Music Studio/ Dinosaurs

Catania Sicily -Artists Retreat / Musicians Retreat / Mindfulness / Meditation / Sailing / Workshops / Short Courses

Crete Greece - Artists Retreat / Musicians Hub /Mindfulness / Conscious Living / Permaculture / Off Grid Living / Meditation / Sailing / Workshops / Short Courses / Meditation / Yoga

so basically I will set sail from Norway at the end of august after a month long stint with the Art B&B there , I will then sail down in month long intervals ( running these little enterprise /arts studios ) … all the way round to Crete

quite an art pilgrimage!! I will rest up in Crete for a few months before commencing the whole thing ad infinitum

and this is so green … you could smoke it

all of our materials are upcycled / recycled … all of the sites have circumvented the conventional routes of ' commerce ' - all of our boats have been derelict or abandoned at least once in their lives

and I literally sail everywhere … no fuel / no duty to any government to pay / non polluting … not to mention all of our acquired sites are being ecologically aligned to the original design of Artby Valerio's own  original green star house

so keep an eye on this space ! :)

and of course and as always …. as the old adage goes if you would like to know more about any of our / my ongoing projects / endeavours / adventures …. get in touch x x x

Tobaccooooooooo an epilogue

I love to smoke ….. I really enjoy it !!  especially with coffee …. and urrgghh if the tobacco that accompanies that coffee has a little hashish in it even bloody better !!

but even without the marijuana , a coffee and a cigarette is such an enjoyable experience that I will even carry the compulsion to roll cigarette after cigarette until the coffee cup is empty !

so deciding to quit is no mean feat !

Tobacco , its actually quite a satisfying word to say actually ….. it conjures images in my minds eye of zippo lighters , bourbon whiskey , james dean rebels and neon flashing pub signs with familiar brandings such as ' Budweiser ' and ' Marlboro ' ( seems heavily geared towards the send up of the Americans international image lol )

wafting smoke on warm summer breezes , post coital languishing smokes  - a warming companion on a chilly frost edged morning with steaming cups of hot coffee

the psychology associated with the stuff is incredible

I used to love to smoke tobacco , a rich smooth Virginian tobacco - ah but alas , just like coca cola and the walt Disney company its a veneer, a psychological addiction to an artificial sense of familiarity - the comfort of the familiar - the smell of freshly baked bread, the scent and embrace of a loved one after a prolonged estrangement ! and of course the appeal of excess !

unfortunately in the age of artificially imposed austerity ….. excess has become somewhat grotesque !

If I had a big bag of weed , I would be inclined to smoke it and render my time frame all the more leisurely than it might otherwise be …

and to some extent the same is true of tobacco - to prolong a smoke break from a shift structured day , by indulging in that extra cigarette !!

but the trick psychology and the factual actuality are indeed very different things …..

in truth - lungfuls of stale ashtray tasting cancer in the small hors of the morning - a dry mouth - an increased heart rate - artificial anxiety personified !

yellow fingered , musty clothed chain smoking …… forever seeking suitable sating satisfaction in the next cigarette or the cigarette after

small spaces , choking yellow stained walls

and damp fingers cant roll in the rain ! and the rain holds the exhaust scent to my clothes !

fewer and fewer smoking areas and more and more non smoking areas … even in bars now , no longer  a suitable companion with a beer anyway !

porked , fucked and percentaged by an exchequer full of shit !

for 21 years on the hour every hour when and where possible …. a few per hour for a row ! or a stressful transition

twice the price you would pay on the continent !

to spend money on a commodity you cant even eat - that actually supresses your appetite ! doesn't even get you high - if you like that sort of thing !

to emphatically consume ! or be doomed to eternal want and rationing - perpetually impatient for the next fix

coffee too I am sure - but one thing at a time !

I will miss it I am sure , and at the same time … I wont !

I have started the long process of offering farewell to this long standing friend ! and I am substituting the habit for dried lavender flowers actually !! and actually it seems to be working ! although a friend suggested that I might become addicted to the action of smoking as opposed to the actual nicotine - but I will always have a penchant for joints - and so long as no percentage is being taxed by a phoney exchequer !! I could live with that !

I cant smoke an e cigarette seeing as the industry that is required in the production of these things - is nearly as bad if not worse than the tobacco industry itself

surly if every smoker switched to an e cigarette it would warrant the electrical consumption worthy of damming some remote valley somewhere … but if every one started smoking lavender ?? well there would just be more lavender about , and I am sure the bee's wouldn't mind that at all


so as fond as I have been made to feel for you you hideous poison of magnate conglomerates … I shall bid you adieu x

but I suppose I will remain a ' smoker ' for now …….

Boris Johnsons Brexit Britain in Donald Trump's age of the Charlatan

holy fucking hell guys …. really what can be said ?

to say that we have gone from bad to worse over the past 15 years would be a complete understatement …. well it would be a fake news dilution of such a dire state of affairs as to actually warrant the name ….. PROPAGANDA!!! a thousand years of the british judicial system was already dubious enough !! but where the hell is this age of the charlatan actually destined to go ?

just a few more roughed out sketches from the continuum that is '' 101 Reasons to Choose a Vocation in the creative Industries '' from Art by Valerio's - The Arts Hole on Tour 2019 - Brexit Refugee Special edition series :(

'' you know when the new world order have just burned down one of the oldest and most notorious  cathedrals in Paris just to offer distraction from my little travelling circus of side show art freaks ….it would be easy to assume that perhaps there are evil machinations at work ….. then when the billionaire boat builder from your neck of the woods actually pledges fortunes to re build the thing - instead of tackling any of the social and or urban decay in the city of Plymouth - the Place that actually builds these horrible plastic made, pollutant spouting pieces of shit that they pay cheap foreign labour minimum wage to manufacture … well this is beyond a fucking piss take now !! '' 

'' I didn't get into this little line of work ( basic means of humble survival from my own trade and wares ) to encourage controversy … but it just seems to follow me around … and now there seem to be windmills as far as the eye can see in this arse hole corner of boris johnsons Brexit Britain in Donald trumps age of the charlatan - so whether you are some French billionaire that mass produces plastic pollutants for the sea as recreational vehicles for the financially affluent yet morally bankrupt human scum that have ' evolved ' out of this age of the charlatan or just some faceless drone from the rank and file that have allowed this to happen …. you can rest assured - I am your fucking Nemesis !! ''- ABV101% - The Arts Hole On Tour - The Brexit Refugee - outside 'the box' ( Plymouths over priced display box for hogwash imperialist culture - and against' the grain ' my former in laws enterprise in mass producing signages out of rare woods for the advertising of sufficiently heated cheap meat - whose reliance on American tech and materials has actually put more signwriters out of business than they actually produced signs …… fuck this country and the hideous monopoly's it perpetrates …. this is the new imperialism - stick your nationalism and your bunting up your arse !!!''

'' you see this is a bit like the Ip Man story …. all I would like to do is get on with my humble little trade that  through hard work and tenacity I have already managed to turn a little talent into a well honed skill - and as such just want to get on with my work and maybe even take on the odd student  - but the damn Japanese invade - or some half baked untalented intergenerational hack style hoodlums cant handle it because you shine a light on their utter scale of mediocrity - then what can you do , but live the time you have been given and fight the battles that present themselves… as Tom Petty once put it '' you can standme up at the gates of hell but I wont back down '' or something to that effect !!

'' I have spent the best part of two decades defending a fiercly independent position -developing ' the arts hole catalogue and ' product ranges ' which is now valued at a considerable value I guess … - ( of course I give most of my ' profit  ( if you can even call it that ) ' away willingly- property just costs too much for me to pander to any of that - I don't have a penchant for champagne , fast cars or holidays to Bali ) 

the problem with this age of the Charlatan is simply that !! its the age of the Charlatan !! full of art . gov initiatives and zero social housing programmes ….. any one with any moral fibre can attest to it 

around this part of the world … they will give you a budget if you fall in line at the water hole …. but fuck these reptiles and the whole art . gov horse shit that goes with it ''

but a word of warning to the Geoffrey Cox assholes of the world - the Boris Johnsosn - the thereasa mays- the camerons - the blairs the bushes the Reagans - the thatchers  the Donald trumps the national trusts - the councils and sub committees and the rank and file of morons that hold the hole thing together - we are coming to get you . mark my words !! 

ABV101%

Great British Politics VS Artby Valerio / Artby Valerio VS Great British Politics

we were once a prosperous little island …. allegedly ? , of sorts ?

of course imperialism and the unauthorised acquisition of other peoples land and property … and in some cases even peoples had a great deal to do with it  !! but of course we prefer not to talk about that bit too much !

the basic idea for the accomplished running and governance of this little island nation has always been somewhat disputable to say the least would certainly be fair ! but hindsight written under the shadow of a blood drenched flag … has allowed a level of illusion to be portrayed ….

I don't want to get to much into the nitty gritty of the written and unwritten histories of the past thousand years  of this weird little island …

so I will focus on what I know and at least … what I have witnessed

Thatcher !! Fucking Thatcher !! its the mantra I was brought up with … and despite what anyone with a Tory agenda and stock portfolio might say to the contrary, it is fair to say that what that woman did was incredibly divisive at least … and utterly shambolic with a fascist edge, to acknowledge and credit the worst !

It seems that before I was born we had a war or two .. left the place in a bit of a bad way ! but due to efficaciousness in productivity and administration … managed to rally what decimated resources we had left and built the thing up again … well that's the ' banner headline ' of it any way ! stiff upper lip and all that!

of course by the time I came along Thatcher thought that millions of people running an economy on a produce geared model was doomed !! for that I give her credit ! Indeed the Land fills of the world are full of excess rubbish from a billion lifetimes …. so it is true that you cant have a whole country running around in a frenzied state of competitive production … all stuck in the convention of a 40 hour week …. the world just cant handle that scale of production !! especially with our industrialised means

it makes sense to reduce the output !! Collapsing the whole arm of production in your domestic economy might have gone a bit far …. the idea that we can outsource everything to some cheaper labour in some cheaper economy was never going to work out ?

unfortunately , it went mental as these things always do …. it went so mental that we have ended up here ….

from war torn nations with a self reliant agriculture and manufacture , but community trade spirited ideologies …. to the age of Brexit , of Donald !!outsourced to death working on smaller and smaller percentages being carved up by bigger and bigger parties … for larger and larger fee's

so Ronald Reagan and Thatcher told everyone that they didn't need to build a house … they could just buy one, so long as the percentages were paid to the government and the agents of course …

and once you have brought a house … why not buy a second one ?

why not take earnings from a local housing initiative within your local community … and in the landlordism attitude, go on holiday !!  and complain that the highstreet in your own community is failing ??

why not open a mcdonalds franchise? then open a second ?…. take another vacation ?

buy some shares in Nike or some weaponised tech ?? …. take another vacation ?

ever since we have had a plethora of assholes !!!

( well to be honest I don't actually recall either Clinton or Major being anything on the scale of the monsters that came before or after )

so to bring us up to date in May of 2019

David Cameron said we were all in it together when he tricked the lib dems into co ownership of the management position they were elected for  … after getting shot of Gordon browns partial inheritance of tony Blairs war mongering ' Labour Party '.....???

then he fucked a pig and blew two referendums , before leaving the dinner lady in charge ….

the dinner lady has been careening us all towards a cliff edge in her menopausal dementia while reciting the notion of ' strong and stable ' and ' Brexit means Brexit '

the referendum seems undeliverable , as do most of the campaign promises ?

and now it seems that Michael Gove and Boris Johnson are going to duke it out for leadership !!! the farmers have all gone bankrupt because it turns out you cant ' produce ' for a living let alone a profit in this age of the percentage people … the age of the charlatan !!

we have run out of fish … the air is in a terrible state …. Brexit and economic desolation looms …

and what are the prospects ?? where is the organized opposition ??

fucking Bleak to say the least !! a thousand years of the British judicial system …. don't make me laugh !!

who's in charge here ?? I demand to speak to your supervisor !!

you want the pig fucker that's no longer in charge … or that mad old woman that has done a runner , and is in fact no longer in charge??

any of the subsequent minions that hold rank and file in this fucking transvestite horse pantomime we call government ??

get to fuck :)


jeezus effing wept !!

.....Maids !! 2019

I am forever packing up and un packing studio spaces these days …. in this un-ending 'tour' in this life of imposed and perpetual transience …. 

and quite often at the end of a little studio stint I am left over with a few old half tubes of paint … I used to throw them all into a bag and carry them onto the next pop up studio … but that can get really heavy after a few miles in the sun , a bit like carrying excess water ! 

so instead these days I tend to spend a few days just throwing paint around … using up all the little bits and pieces … all of the colours that are usually left off the palette , and just render a few ' larger sketches ' 

its a great opportunity to really play around with different techniques, sources of inspiration  and mediums... after all variety as they say is the spice of life x 

Online Customer Base ... and the Elusive Single Bi Fem x

A Quarter of a Million Viewers in the past 5 years !!

I actually started the blog way back in 2011 just as -Art By Valerio's- The Arts Hole …. was evolving into '' the Valerio Institute for Alternative Learning ''

but due to the damaging nature of the recourse with our local authority .. I spent very little time with it ! and I think in the first five years of it going live .. I maybe got 1000 hits

then around 2014 … just before '' The Arts Hole On Tour - Why Knot / Why Not ? - pop up experiment in the Netherlands I started to use it a little more frequently as a means of adding testimony to the bizarre mix of adventures I get away with under the single guise of ' Art '

and Low and behold here we are just 5 years on from the ' measurable date ' and abso -bloody -lutley  … a Quarter of A million viewers … not just views ! but actual virtual I.D / I.P related engagements …

I recall a time when myself and my first wife were having a passing curiousity about some of the new online ' networking ' options

and we would spend a little bit of time online and in the chatrooms of various fetish / kink / swinger sites …

and the blog to me , well pretty much all of this online interaction stuff … facebook especially … has a kind of obsessive sense to it … I know lots of people are now advocating the harm that it actually does do … and this I suppose would be my testament in accord !

you see you can sit there in front of the screen … with the promise that your ideal audience is just the other side of it … just a mere click away !

so you put in some time, you write up some schpeel …. and take a few complimentary photo's …

then you cast the line

and wait with a mix of anxiety , trepidation and excitement for one of those elusive , single , bi fe males to wander into the chatrooms

and of course they do …. thousands of them , its quite unbelievable , and most of them are fucking sensational !!

little digital exchanges begin and the odd titillating mention of a possible meet ….

and then low and behold … flash of light and whisp of smoke and gone !! oh well no matter … the place is brimming with them on with the chase …

carrot chasing donkey much ?? after a while you just start to have fun with it … well we did anyway !! we were fortunate enough to fulfil a fantasy or two … but very little of that came from any of our premeditated online encounters … a couple sure , but back then we were both pretty leen and fit .. quite a catch ? lol

but I do think in the back of my mind about the people that didn't manage to get a meet …..

from what I understand it reductive circles of desperation/ boredom and depression  have driven millions  from the chatrooms of tinder into the marginal fringe of Grinder … and then what ? then where do they go ?

and online marketing is much the same !!

don't get me wrong … maybe I have garnered an actual sale out of that audience of a quarter of a million …. but there is no way to be sure … especially if you are as uninterested in these digital interactions as me ….

but if I stand out on a street corner on a busy sunny day with a few renderings … 9 times out of ten I will be able to sell a little daub or two … for sure someone will buy me a beer and have a chat …. maybe I will even bump into that elusive bi fem ( not that I am even looking these days )…. but of course I'm not Dead either …..

the point is kids …. all this online stuff is all well and good ! but its a bit like your c.v


no one really wants to look at it … but its handy to have in case any one asks

don't get to wrapped up in all this ethereal make-believe or you will find you will have amassed far more wasted time than you have customers

pay for a sponsored add ?? become a suggested post ?? ….. ppffftt Nah man your all right ;)

a barrage of magnum opus' Art By Valerio's - The Arts Hole 2019

Magnum Opus 1 ( Organization )
 The Arts Hole - international POP UP initiative - independent Art Gallery and Design Studio

 Magnum Opus 2 ( Signature Style ' Artwork ' )
another of life's little choices

Magnum Opus 3 ( evaluation of botanical varietals as understood under censorship at the time )
the genes on the buds go round and round

Magnum Opus 4 ( Signature Style 'Art work - sub headed portfolio )
the orgy ball

Magnum Opus 5( published illustrative style )
101 reasons to choose a vocation in the creative industries

Magnum Opus 6 ( re evaluation of earlier botanical classifications study )
the world wide weed atlas

Magnum Opus 7 (Deliberate '' un branding '' in the age of the Donald Trump )
'' Branding ''

Magnum Opus 8 ( Optimum spatial allocations for human habitation options )
the Green Star House

Magnum Opus 9 ( Optimum spatial considerations for human habitation environmental integrations )
Re Ruralisation

keep your eyes peeled for the next little thing up my sleeve ;)  ……

The Arts Hole - The Fuck Off Manifesto 2019 #ABV101%

full outline coming soon x

A Union for the Otherwise Un - unionized ?

around 2005/2006 it just seemed to me that every one was going nuts !! George bush and tony blair had just invaded the middle east …. it seems to ensure that everuone had the means to ' keep calm and carry on ' as was the mantra for the day …..

and keeping calm and carrying on basically entailed ensuring that an already bloated civil service could all carry on taking the couple of holidays per year they become accustomed too ….. for me it was quite enough … and the birth of ' The Arts Hole - international POP UP initiative '

you cant paint that here !

you cant sell those here !

you need a liscence !

you need to declare !

you need to abide … you need to adhere … you need to comply … you need permission ...


you need to
you need to

you need

you need

turns out after vigerous field testing … most of these busy body ,would be do gooders  are totally misinformed !!…they are the Nazi's of their own little prison states … they all need to live in the ordered notion that they need to comply … to adhere … to abide ….

but it turns out that ,.... this is the age of the charlatan , the age of ( then Tony Blair ) Donald Trump and Tereasa may's Brexit - of David Cameron's big society ….

it turns out it does not mean shit !!

not one single shit ladies and gentlemen … its the age of the charlatan and it seems you can pretty much argue the point of validity against these so called authorities in charge on every point !! and we should  - and have been able to ever since they started electing themselves into positions of influence - and started trying to ' administer ' you and me … for the sake of some greater good ideology bullshit !!

a greater good that usually see's them getting the better share of wine and the comfier bed

the church have done it

the corporations have done it

the militaries have done it

the governments have done it

the royals have done it

… as previously mentioned … jeezus hell wept … Donald Fucking Trump has done it

just convinced a lot of people that in the same Brexit ideology … if you keep sending the cheques … eventually your mail order unicorn will arrive !! you will win the lottery and be welcomed to Valhalla with an assortment of brand name prizes ….. if you just keep calm and carry on … keep playing the game !!

well, no, sorry luv.... ( not meaning to be sexist there at all  as actually in certain districts in the u.k it would be a common , generic term for current company - regardless of sex )

not happening

here I happen to sit ! completely by chance ….

I am happy enough to get on with and engage in a valid means of passing the day … but do not go so far as to concede that to include selling insurance, snake oil or working for government !

the validity I seek is through the act of rendering and the pursuance of proficiency within that task at hand so that the culminative result of both practice and theory might merit such a state of adulteration as to be ' artistic '

the validity I seek can not be imposed , bestowed , merited , declared upon or impeded by any other man , committee , government or king … without prior consent and accord

I aim to move humbly and without violence against persons , creatures or environment  in my aims and activities to better understand myself and my contemporaries … and our places in this tapestry of mystery , but will aim to maintain integral defence for that which I hold dear, so long as that which I hold dear does not impose loss on another

beyond all of that you can pretty much … Fuck Off !!

take your weird insistences for conformity …. and jog on pal

Architecture part 2 in ' The Arts Hole - POP UP INITIATIVE ' #ABV101%

SO I have had an additional thought to my ranging and unabridged previous thought ….

it came about from a very sensible question from one of my longer term students !

what the F'*^k are you raving about Dr Valerio …..

a fine question and it does have a basis of reasonable thought …. somewhere deep down in there ?

lets see if I can route the little bugger out ! ?

O.K

my basic premise is that we all en mass have to conclusively decide that we all need some where to live ( that is assuming that the environmentalists aren't now advocating genocide ? )

but we can keep consuming land in the un regulated urban sprawl that we have been using as the acceptable paradigm … up until now !

a paradigm that is built on several outdated notions

one of which , unfortunately … and I understand this will come as a bit of a blow to those that ' work ' in the' industry ' is the very idea of a CBD ?? the central business district !!?? in the age of complete international interconnectivity …. you don't have to confine your self into the middle of these dead and desiccated urban centres with questionable spatial allocations ? over inflated rents and rates … paying homage to whatever collective land barons have organized themselves into ' governing councils ' which in turn pay homage to a central bag of thieves , which in turn pay homage to a ancient line of murderers paedophiles and thieves … every one sucking each others dick and waving each others flag for a sad slice of a ration book of promissory notes   from ' the powers that be '

again, maybe I digress a little ….

it is my notion that every individual should have a reasonable means of lodgings just as a basic premise !! everyone should be allocated a homestead at birth !! a vested interest in the very country they have come to be resident in ( of course there will be an issue here where by intergenerational entitlements and large family monopoly will have to be endemically pursued by an active and functioning arm of whatever arm of administration will be left )

but if every individual had access to a safe and viable ' home ' - a home that was not built from cheap labour and cheap materials - on cheap reclaimed or contaminated land !

if every home was built using low impact , environmentally friendly methods and materials , locally sourced and completely sustainable in produce and transport... local labour and ingenuity .

if every home was able to render ( given aptitude and application ) the option of reducing standardized monthly outgoings - by being ' off grid ' and independent in at least a percentage of its monthly requirements Power / water / Food / Air Quality production requirements.

if the urban environment was incentivised to encourage people to grow orchards … instead of en suites and extensions to an already terrible urban mess

if dilapidated areas of obvious and inevitable urban decay were managed into cross collaborations with various, education / rehabilitation / skill based training / housing / urban farming / local produce / local arts and crafts initiatives

The Urban Farms that have begun to revitalise some of the worst of the Urban decay in the United states in Cities such as Washington and even Detroit … these grass roots neighbourhood initiatives are taking hold of the environment and allowing the inhabitants to grow their way out of poverty and a failed speculators model of an economy … and its proving to be a great success !! I am sure its only a matter of time before donald trumps government find a way to ultimately destroy this kind of self empowering enterprise so these people can go back to being mere consumers … as opposed to producers an traders … but again I digress into my own paranoid tinged ' Vietnam flashback ' of experience with government lol

but there is evidence that even in this weird little society we have built for ourselves … if you just give people access to the land .. they can generally work themselves out of poverty … as they have always been able to do !!

every home should have a spare bedroom , and a gerden ...that's big enough to grow for the household and at least one neighbour ….allowing scope for intercommunity trade ...as well as a social mobility incentive … although really we should have done away with the idea of ' class structure ' completely … so social mobility will also cease to be a thing ! hopefully !

every house should have a library … not only so the whole population might be well versed in a language or two , but the many fascinating subjects that actually concern a lifetime of experiences … but also so that every child has a reference point other than a screen …. the walls of the house and the  pages of the books should be made out of hemp … and the computer , less used though it should be … should remain a fundamental household item of course … I can only imagine humanities uproar if I was to insist on some kind of feudal dark age style peasantry .. without a viable wifi connection and a download or facetime option …. loathsome as I find it personally !!

every house should be warm / well ventilated and well lit … in a neighbourhood that manages its own community , its own needs and aspirations , its own waste .. its own communal spaces …. in a world where people are actually wanting to try to live more … 'consciously' this is the chance to do so ….

Now the internet seems to have heard of ' Never Sink Farm ' in up state new York … and its a pretty good example of how intensive farming practices can yield an exceptional commercial viability via produce from only a very small space …

there are other ideas and studies surfacing at the moment advocating small scale / permaculture farming to be the way of the future .. and indeed even the notion of ' Agri-hoods ' has become an idea … presumably all borne from  some of the ' Earth-ship ' and ' Bio Dome ' experiments that have been conducted over the years ( pretty much all of which I have studied at great length ..  far from the comfort and insulation of some dysfunctional academic faculty or government fouled syllabus )

all of this grass roots action really gets me going … from my own veld of eclectic experiences I know how preening and self congratulatory some of the worst cases of institutionalised, power wielding incompetence can be … so I totally approve the idea of a little more self determination … a little more self governance … self reliance!!

of course we cant just let the ' Government ' take all of our money and run …. as appealing as that does actually seem !let them all walk away with a better than average property stake gleaned from rallying to a terrible flag … working for a government !! and worst of all … this fucking government !!

so we will have to hold some fools to account , we will have to maintain some form of ' centralised ' form of governance and a means to conduct some simile to where we are now … but for now at least lets make sure the thing in its current format is utterly doomed and hung out ….

I personally think that it comes from this kind of non compliant individualism …. or least from my own perspective that would be how I would best quantify it !.... I am sure others would just label me a malcontent ! but then if I looked at their vested interests in ' the game ' you can see why they wouldn't want too big a switch in the rules, especially any to threaten a carpetbaggers grubby stake in a dirty game  !!

am I digressing again ?



so us peasants and would be producers need an affordable place to live and work !! we aren't all vying for high flying jobs in professionalism …. and as it turns out … pretty much every industry that calls itself ' industry ' is pretty much utterly unsustainable in its current format , so even those of us that are … its all got to be drastically overhauled !!

I have been debating the validity of ' urban protest ' with a ' comrade ' from the union rep party … and I have been claiming that the  real place for protest is actually out in the ' gentrified ' rural fringes ….

non of these policy makers live in the city... because most of the cities are quite horrible really !

so if we are going to protest !! if we are going to show a demonstration of solidarity against a particular party or politician … we have to go and take over their ill gotten acres … we need to go and occupy their little parcel of paradise … just as their legislation occupies what we have left of ours

showing up in the middle of a city with a few placards ?? signing an online petition ??

turn up at the fox hunt ! dump the guns in the reservoir ! turn over those silly little all terrain golf carts they play with draped in tweed and half pissed on sherry before heading back to the mansion to glorify some romanticiszed ' good old days ' …. dig your fucking heels in and throw a naked fucking festival all over their inherited little pile of shit …. I am sure that manner of protest will swing an immediate legislative change.... I am sure that instead of squatting an old jobcentre , if we all squatted George Osbornes land holdings etc etc … these people would be dissuaded from being such utter pieces of self serving shit while they are voting in this already broken democratic procedure  !! much faster than an online petition or forming a CIC anyway ….

jeex who the fuck are these people … they are out there , thrust me !! and they need to be stopped !!

I hope in many ways that we are on the tinge of the changes that we so desperately need ….

I pray to deities , cross my fingers and touch all the unvarnished grains of wood I can find … that the tipping point is taking place !

I hope that XR are actually what they seem to be ! I hope that Jeremy Corbyn will defect with all of the other ' not completely loath able ' individuals … from the remnants of tony blairs broken ass labour party into a kind of super Green Coalition that swamps out local councils and central government …. that it destroys the fetid stench of u.k.i.p and the prejudices of a hand full of prudently invested assholes

I hope that we can install a social housing programme that takes on a whole new meaning .. akin to the outline in the previous descriptions .. empowering the individual , the neighbourhood , the community , the society in general …..

I hope that the ' Value ' of a house made out of bamboo and hemp , that produces all its own electricity and food … with a basic construction cost equivocal to 10 % of the standard property investment model … will completely deride , undermine … and get rid of this ridiculous speculators ' percentage people ' - estate agent asshole marketplace that has resigned two generations at least to the idea that perpetual debt is a normal thing …. ( remember the economies of the world collapsing because of unsustainable models and ratios - how are people going to pay a 40 year mortgage when not only has industry diminished … but what industry remains has become completely fucking automated ??? … I mean fucking jeezus wept !! who is actually in charge here ….. ** enter Samuel l Jackson's favourite word right here *** )

I hope that those social/ community enterprise's ' business model ' lead institutions like ' the crown ' to realize their utter redundancy and overall drain on society … not to mention the terrible centuries of suffering that the dogmatic notion of one individuals sovereignty over another's has wrought …. maybe that's a little ambitious right now seeing as one of them had a baby , or got married , or both … or something ??

I hope that the unions notice that they have come to represent a lot of ' jobs ' that not only don't actually need doing … but are actively detrimental to environment and psychology ….

I hope Government ( in its current capacity ) realize the same !!

I hope that we all get a sensible and productive land allocation so that we might be able to figure a way …. a productive way forward and out of this age of Donald Fucking Trump …. of the age of the Charlatan !!

Architecture by Valerio 2019

I was tallying all of my past addresses just the other day  … you know I have actually had an address for every year that I have been alive ..maybe more lol

everything from boats , yurts, tipi's , circus tents , two man tents , manor houses , castles , hot air balloons ,caves , chateau's , bodega's , factories , cinema's , wagons , caravans , polytunnels , tiny houses ,eco pods, train stations, underground lairs, islands , mainlands  … and even conventional four wall suburban dwellings lol  … and I have attempted comprehensive studies on long term eco viability for all of them !

wandering around various continents and finding all manner of curiosity tucked away in all manner of places! it has in many ways been both a burden ( mostly because I get a kind of punch drunk disorientation envelop me at times) and a blessing - the range of experience that is available out here is really incredible … and the more you find testament to your own validity from small pockets of isolated resistance that does still sporadically remain ….

any way Architecture ….

I have lived in every form of ' shelter ' from every facet of the evolution of human habitation ritual that has ever been developed … I have engaged in the manner and business of attempteing to ' live ' a viable and sustainable existence from all manner of edifice … some certainly proving more difficult than others ! and my observations and conclusions have brought me round 360 degrees and back again …

ultimately of course one has to conclude that the basic premise is that the very calculable value of land ….is utterly outmoded , outdated and in dire need of reform …. and unfathomably overpriced !!

and that is currently sadly, an international truth but sadly no where is it more evident than here in my homeland !!!.....

now there are reasons to assume that the ever speculative model of ' growth ' that we have come to accept as a given ...is completely unsustainable, our expanding population requiring more and more resource 'factoried' through a bizarre modern model of capitalist slavery ….. is now the subject of international protest !

we are running out of hills to quarry , out of valleys to dam … out of viable wildernesses to ' develop '...out of fish to eat and air to breathe !! we are running out of room for the ever expanding population that vie for the continued destruction of a finite planet so that they might extend their collection of beanie babies or vacation photo's …. in this now out of control age of the obsessive compulsive acquisition …..the age of the charlatan !! …. the age of Donald Trump ! and all of this obsessive consumption who really benefits ??

well I call them the ' percentage people '

a kind of half human creature that can find no better means of survival than to operate in  a parasitic fashion to sustain its own meagre self …. its really a sad shame that since the age of Thatcher so many of them seem to have found themselves rather lucrative positions in the ' service economy ' … but that's an analysis for another day ….

so amid my travels and various stays in various manner of abode ( and for good or ill, keeping various manner of company )

I have made some deductions !! firstly well lets be frank at least half of the current labour market needs to be dismantled …. well we need to desperately reappraise quite what it is that we en mass consider to be worthwhile pursuit of time … let alone worthwhile vocation ( but again perhaps that's a mission for another day  infact perhaps the current and inevitable shrinking of global markets and economies will derive the obvious result ,as reaction alone … well one can hope anyway )

the applicable ' value ' of labour itself needs to be largely reconsidered … but again I will leave that alone for just one second ( no point creating an enemy of absolutely every one in the first blast )

A humans contribution to a financially orientated economic model will always use the labour to derive a product ( in this case cash ) … this has to change !! we need to once again have a tenable value to a currency that has rendered itself the only means of barter in our currently warped market !

so once we have begun to build legislation to enable this kind if grass roots empowerment of the individual … and not just the strength of community organization ...we might start to get somewhere

the result of  the millions of pounds that will be thrown into think tanks and consultation and breifings and meetings … will be colossal !! as the perentage people all cling to their clip boards and try to figure out how they might be able to preserve their position of administration in well paid - low output- latte fuelled clique  ...for just a little while longer any way !!

really we all need to be farmers to get rid if this entire ilk… and not over a slow transition period that is run out according to the populist chasing politic we have all come to know and loathe over the past few decades … oh no !! we need to break up the national trust … dismantle most of our current programmes !! turf some ' old blood ' out of the spaces that they have buried themselves in like ticks amid sprawling green acres …. we need to shut down the agricultural commission and the forestry commission ….

I think the only things that we really need right now are fundamental survival options built into our basic accommodations and very basic infrastructure  - a few academic ' institutions ' … well places of learning ,absolutely … but I think that we can largely discredit the current model of operation that once again like everything else has come to benefit the percentage people far more than it benefits the dedicated student ….

the whole things has to be shut down !! we need to stop fuelling it , stop feeding it , stop adhering to it , complying with it ,certainly stop applying to join it !!

personally I advocate that from the grassroots implementation scheme … we cant really petition the governments and failed financial services sectors of the world to ' cease to be ' … they will claw at the last thread of survival and come up with some mc vegan ' we want to be your friends really ' kind of slimy supplication …

no better to just insist that the whole thing be put on hiatus and managed interparochial fashion until some sort of semblance of sense can be established


I ham not the first one to entertain the idea of sweeping humanity up in its constant untidy sprawl and refine the urban model into something a little more refined !!

indeed walt Disney and frank loyd wright ..  and of course Jaque Frescoe of the venus project all advocated notions of ' the super city '

and indeed now science fiction has come to enlarge the principle idea again and even take those super cities into orbit or even into interstellar explorations ??

wonderfully fantastic notions of course … of for the completely delusional and hopeless romantic of course !!

unfortunately if we are going to survive for even another thousand years ( which by the way would probably make sense as a time frame  for a limited construction margin with limited resource and more theory than experience to build anything that might actually stand a chance of transporting any semblance of what's left of this ' civilisation  across galaxies ) … we are going to have to figure out a terrestrial means of doing so

of course we can just kill half the current population - but which half ?? at the moment it seems that this might be an actual ' unofficial  mandate ' for some of the people of the world that own most of the world , but don't want to share …. and it does seem that we have rendered such a failure of ourselves that the world will be inherited by the children of  the Donald Trump's of the world and the civil servants that assisted them to power … its really a bleak state of affairs I know !!

so lets say that we can have a wealth redistribution … and we can run a viable education programme that will give everyone suitable legal and agricultural acumen to be able to self govern and self sustain for a viable period of political upheaval within an emerging resource based economic model …

its amazing that I just cant leave politics out of planning !!

but the two have become so mercilessly interwoven that I suppose that one is always worthy a mention in the company of the other …

so we have a huge population that all just need somewhere to ' live ' …. and we have a smaller population that claim to own all the spaces where all the people could live …. and then ' live ' ??… how??

in the perpetual urban sprawl … on the gas guzzling commute to some ' service based economy ' administration or sales position taking 'cheap ' flights of the back of the latest middle east invasion ...or walt Disney holiday promotion ?   ….its all geared to the end of the world !! in fact at this very late stage its very hard to side step the self imposed ' end of the world ' that this particular herd of lemmings are hell bent on careening over the edge of ?

but we have to start somewhere right !!!

so all complaints and mistrust of governments / corporations and the types of people that would actually vie for positions in either …. bleeuugghhh !!!

we need a population of individualist orientated -individual communities - integrated through broad networking and common goal methods, operating on a basic democratic model with collaborative enterprise being at the forefront of community aspiration, yet operating in a fashion allowing for deviation and prescribed experimentation from the emerging formats

how the fuck do we do that ??

well its not easy I grant you … and when you start to peel the onion you really do start to wonder about the idea of ' social conditioning ' and the machinations of evil men and women

anyway ….

we need an empowered and independent individual within an empowered and independent community … self reliance and self sustainability are the key!!

within our ' conventional ' and failed urban models we obviously need to integrate the ' re ruralisation ' principles that I have personally been advocating for over 20 years - and which now are actually becoming more mainstream and even being adopted by some of the more progressive urban planners / architects and designers all over the world - which is all great news !!

and we are hearing interesting things coming out of some of the larger and more questionable ' status quo ' companies - about large scale urban planning contracts of this nature actually being taken seriously by international governments . Japan for example is set to be one of the first countries in the world to design / develop / and build the worlds ' first ' Single structure city scape …. although of course such scales of construction have been attempted and completed to date never has a full integrative and habitable city been accomplished and completed with any margin of success

I am sure the first examples will be doomed to failure …. huge titanic style enterprises with tiny accommodation offerings , very little privacy and some half baked notion of attempting to construct ideal inhabitants for the ' ideal ' society by all manner of weird suggestive and subversive augmentations of environment and or perception … but again maybe I digress a little … but definitely something to watch out for ??

the current and basic model that every one is using is absolutely and fundamentally flawed .. of course !!

we are running a spatial allocation paradigm that is offering maximum financial return for investor and landlord and  minimum spatial allocation or 'liveability' for the inhabitant -

I have been pointing out in the u.k for well over a decade that the spatial allocations over cost have been in reverse gear for a very long time … that the amount of space that you get for your money has exponentially reduced and that is indicative of more than just a rise in property price … but also a simultaneous reduction in the conveyable value of labour !!

we started running a rabid speculative building campaign here in the u.k around 2010 .. when they just started throwing up these tiny ' match box ' houses , just so people could start to get a ' foot on the property ladder ' … it was a mainia that I couldn't believe took hold … let alone that it still seems to be operational as a viable and legitimate con !

what if we suddenly have another war I proclaimed … and we all suddenly have to start to ' grow for victory ' again …. ''it'll never happen'' they said !!  - then we ended up doing or partially doing a Brexit !!

the same thing happened to me around 2005 … I was sat in a chamber of commerce meeting concerning a local produce and trade collective - '' there might be a recession in a minute '' … I was met with hatred !! when the credit crunch happened … no one once said to me - well you saw that coming

then the recession hit - not a jot !! not a single credible acknowledgement for foretelling the future

fuck these people !! that's where my attitude comes from !!

so we now have a huge amount of a population that have over speculated on the price of the apartment they brought for a quarter of a million pounds that doesn't even have a window in the bathroom …. or more than a window box's worth of green produce potential in the entire sad little 80m2

you do see my frustration …. why I consider this all to be wholly and completely bat shit crazy !!

so back to the over all premise ….

what are we going to do with this weird dispraxic population ….



I am having a thought here Barbosa ….

The Full Range of '' Art By Valerio's - the Arts Hole -Architectural Considerations are going to be the main focus of the touring exhibition this year … so if you have an interest in Art / Architecture / integrative Urban Design / Permaculture Design and Planning / Circular Economy Models/ Resource Based Economies.... a bloodthirsty peasant land seizure …. or alternative … then look out for the local promotion materials that will be appearing in accordance with the ranging pop up schedule this year

e mail for details

artbyvalerio@hotmail.co.uk  

Vacant Spaces for Pop Up's always required

''The Owl and the Pussy cat went to sea in a beautiful pea - GREEN boat , but neither had a single clue how to keep the thing afloat '' - original illustration from the autobiographical series ' 101 Reasons to choose a Vocation in the Creative Industries ' 

I have been on some esoteric missions over the past decade or so ….

pretty much all of them ' Art ' orientated in one way or another ! or closely excusable as such !


These past few years we ( mostly I )  have been crashing around various places offering a rather eclectic show of Art and Design under various banners and pseudonyms.... and although I seem to merit very little obvious ' credit ' , I think that there is definitely evidence of ' Validity ' within all of the arms of my rather diverse and ongoing ' portfolio ' of interests …

at first I was just some long haired hippy / arty type guy that was running a gallery operation , that had a few interesting architectural projects in the portfolio .. .. ..slightly outspoken, with an obvious left wing tendency ….

then I started to really address a subject rather close to my heart ….. spatial allocations !! during a time that saw the rise of a very dangerous right wing and rather - property price orientated government !Fortunately, not one to be deterred ! examples of my obvious ( albeit largely uncredited )Architectural works and influence  can be found the world over, demonstrating working examples of original theories that were developed in/ by Artby Valerio's' The Art's Hole ' -' The Valerio Institute of Alternative Learning ' and the various research and development projects that have ended up forming an entirely separate body of work

these days the Architectural Arm of the Portfolio has evolved into something quite by itself … offering fantastic, award winning, bespoke designs for modular / podular / family / community /  town / city- off grid - eco -sustainable architectural projects for every budget and intent ( see The Arts Hole Catalogue 2019 for the current design and build options available  )

Dinosaurs were really borne of a state of mania really … and a revisiting of a child hood inspiration ! these days the Dinosaurs and interior features that I have produced can be found in displays and collections the world over …. and of course I do still enjoy the occasional excursion off into the mud to sit in a trench and dig up some fossils and interesting geological strata - because well why not ? :)

so if you have a vacant space , a shop front / and industrial space / and empty barn or old attic space that you would be glad to assign to a temporary pop up initiative , one that although maintains a thorough Home Made - Hand Made - Anti Corporate - Non Government Affiliated - Fiercely Independent entity …. absolutely in solidarity with the current XR direct action initiative in both product ranges and philosophy !!

then we ( mostly I ) would love to hear from you

drop a little message to one of our online contact methods and we will see what we can do

artbyvalerio@hotmail.co.uk

Summer Competition 2019 -The Arts Hole- Morocco Artist Retreat Giveaway #ABV101%

We Have Dug ourselves out some very interesting little spaces to use for some fairly esoteric ' Art ' practices this summer …. and The Wits End - Morocco Project is absolutely no exception :) 

I will be travelling around quite a lot again this year and the perpetual state of trading transience can really take its toll on this poor battered and bruised little creative psyche so these fortuitous little cache's of calm are absolutely vital in maintaining a level head ! 

I have indicated in previous posts that we would be giving away a full on  ' the Arts Hole - Morocco ' experience this year, and as it turns out  … we will in fact be offering two !! 

I will be conducting some ' experiments ' in Marrakesh at the beginning of this years tour - offering the usual ' Art By Valerio - Art B&B packages and immersive artist's experiences ' 

and then again at the end of the tour and summer season I will be hosting a wonderful Art B&B package in Tangiers 

both of these pre organized dates will have a bonus ' Giveaway ' for each retreat option see below details for more information on how to enter for your chance to win one of these fantastic mini break packages worth over £1500 each 

 

The Arts Hole - Alamo XR

      '' Pick your battles they say - pah this has been ' The Arts Hole - Alamo ' for a decade already ''

an additional thought to scratch onto one of the bodies of works , within the broader series of works … It's really great being totally unappreciated in your own time !!

The Arts Hole On Tour 2019

Art By Valerio

#ABV101

Neil Young: Let's Impeach The President 2006 same year as the birth of the Arts Hole ABV101%

The Same year that Niel Young put together this fantastic little album as a  knee jerk protest reaction to , well I guess most of the stuff that I was protesting at the time too

The Arts Hole Really Took Root as this soundtrack resonated around that summer, this and Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions … both great anti establishment albums

Catalogue 2019 x x x The Arts Hole on Tour x x x

Art By Valerio Presents : The Arts Hole - International Art Gallery and Design Studios -Pop up Initiative :

Catalogue 2019

A full Catalogue of all Art By Valerio Products Past and Present comprising over 100 individual ' product lines and bespoke services ' From Valerio's Arts Hole ;) from originally in house produced -limited release literature , through various painting portfolio's and designs for everything from Houses to Habitats and pretty much everything in between x x x …. of course every single one of them 101% absolutely originally devised / designed / executed and manifested by Art By Valerio and The Arts Hole Pop Up Initiative

The Second ' Catalogue ' is the full accompanying catalogue booklet that goes with the Full ' Bourgois Billionaires Boxset of 101 Original Hand rendered cartoons -(RRP £50,000 still only works out to just £500 per Original Artwork  ) detailing with thumbnail an brief anecdote each Hand-drawn Illustration within the collection 

so there you have it …..just as an example ! the second catalogue of 101 handmade products that is in itself just a single ' product ' along side 100 others within the content of the first catalogue!!!…. there is always a lot to think about at The Arts Hole international Pop Up Initiatives 

but we can only do what we can with what we have …. its with a fantastic customer and fan base that we are able to carry on smashing around the world bringing this calibre of art and community ingagement through the arts , to areas that would otherwise be deprived of such innovative notions

at the bottom there you can see a glimpse of something new !! 

I have been travelling around a fairly circuitous route for a few years now and I have become quite familiar with a few of the places on my regular ' stop off ' list ….. and so it seems quite apt to produce a few little ' guide book - sketch book ' things 

so this year I am especially proud to introduce as an wonderful addition to the ' Original Sketchbook Page ' releases ( in lieu of prints - because jeez we really don't need any more mass produced anything - even if you do call it ' limited edition ' ) 

The Arts Hole On Tour - ist : Guide to :

The Westcountry ( expanded edition )

The English Channel (expanded edition)

The Bay of Biscay (expanded edition)

Beyond the Straight (expanded edition ) 

Plymouth 

London 

Amsterdam 

Rotterdam 

Venice 

Prague 

Hamburg 

Berlin 

Tangiers 

Marrakesh 

Each hand produced completely hand-drawn passport sized ORIGINAL sketchbook  comprising 16 leaves of 100% original beautifully rendered Notations, Maps, Sketches and Watercolour Studies …. offering any avid traveller a little insight into some trails worth following , and any art collector a beautiful unique collectors edition to this artists ever expanding body of works ! 

Keep an eye out for the '' Arts Hole on Tour - ist Guides ''   as they are released throughout the tour x x x