A matter of public interest

 

A matter of public interest on public record ...

It seems there is quite a lot to write about these days , even though it does seem to be a dying medium , our capacity to write as well as our inclination to read has now been completely reduced by endless threads of memes , vlogs , podcasts , selfies and boomerangs - all a digital substitution for meaningful conversation and connection, instead a series of off the peg , algorithm selected , opinionated diatribe pieces, loaded with bias , completely lacking in nuance and ruled by the hyena pack mentality of the village idiots in the comments sections ...sheer bloody madness in all directions .

It seems to me that every country I visit at the moment , apparently suffers some sort of societal or political collapse within a day or two of my arrival , sheer coincidence I'm sure , but it does get me thinking ....

Given my broad experiences allowing me to witness first hand just how shockingly manipulative these current times of ours happen to be , it does strike me as a plausible speculation , one just worthy of annunciation , France , UK , Netherlands are all sitting on the brink of what could shrewdly be observed as completely avoidable societal dissolution...

Might this be an underhand opportunity for a strategic and rallying offer of a virtue signalling political bend , absolutely hell bent on implementing agendas 

Float a digital currency ? Offer assurances of value retention even in the event of societal and market fluctuations....it would certainly appeal to the prudently invested ... Even those poor shmos locked into a 30 year debt sequence, concerned about the value of property they have already over paid for ... A digital , non fungible asset portfolio , completely and assuredly insulated from these troubled and uncertain times ...

I dunno man , I'm all for collapsing a dysfunctional government, maybe it's just my PTSD ingrained cynicism, the inherent skepticism that I have built up from experience in the field, but this , like so many of the other things these days that I prefer to poke at , warily , from a distance , with a long stick ..... I am not too sure about this particular patch of muddy water .....

F.O.A. ......F.A.Q ....urm ....???

 " What the bloody hell do you think you are doing ? " 

Hmm hard to give an exact answer , ....truth be told , I'm not really sure !!

For the sake of arguement though ....let's call it ' an experiment ' 

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are ?"

Well it's a bit of a work in progress , certainly field testing the perimeter of what ever that might mean ....

More of a sinner than a saint , but aspiring for the latter 

But again , I guess , for arguments sake put down - ' the Original Arts Hole - a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet ' 

" What the bloody hell are you going on about ? "

Pffft , look quite honestly I'd rather be wandering about in the woods than having to explain myself to the likes of you and your state of perpetual bewilderment ....

But thankfully , at this late stage I can attest to being relatively proficient in a broad cross section of disciplines and pursuits - a claim backed up with a considerable body of easily ratified works and engagements 

So shut the fuck up ....pay attention , you might learn a thing or two through my demonstrations 

Fookin hell I hope a few of you bastards are paying attention because I have no intention of doing this again 😆

Disney Roulette

 Blimey, crikey , goodness gracious me ...

A hell of a lot takes place sometimes , as they say 24 hours is a long time in politics , jeez it can be even longer in the arts .... Or whatever this is I do 🤔 and three and a half months feels like a damn year at least

So local elections , had a few going on round here , I'm sure I previously mentioned , just as I postulated offering legitimate legal challenges against individuals at the point of executive order within our funny little local authorities , our local authorities mis interpreting the battle that was before them ,went and cut some controversial trees down .... A pantomime legal fracas ensued and well , now we are , wherever we are ....

Apparently the S.T.R.A.W campaign have become a promotions company and are not only doing comedy nights and art exhibitions but also offering consultation on urban planning schemes so that whatevers left of Plymouth city council can look around nervously smiling at a scrutinizing public ....

"Look , look at us we are seeking to remedy , we are seeking your input on our public consultation ," ......all the while , terrified eyes scan the horizon for a man with a flash of blond hair and a proverbial powder keg underarm  for Thier little campfire of congeniality

Personally I don't advocate any of it ...every little bit of what I see before me stinks of such a scale of self promotion and schmooze with funny existing ties to that which went before and has laid such terrible waste and infliction upon practically every single person in this country 

So while S.T.R.A.W and whoever were making a well organized noise , and the local labour and Tory camps split into furious infighting about who should even run in the local elections and for what party ? And in what platform ? 

I was , as I have been for a long while now , wandering around having little conversations with various and sundry offering my perspective here and there 

" If the Scottish referendum and the brexit referendum plus the general election during that little spell of insane ' democracy ' can only drum up less than half of the eligible voting consensus , even amid all that fanaticism at the time ..... Your usual general election has been suffering a reduction in turn out to the point that only 25% -30% of the eligible voting consensus actually engage in the democratic process ( although there is a notable difference between democracy and voluntary sufferage , doublespeak indeed ) 

This would suggest that quite honestly , the silent majority as nixon called us , with nothing suitable offered to incentivise us to use our democratic right , on the ballots anyway .... Are the democratic majority 

A political machination that is implemented on a 20% or even a 10% turnout , can't really argue a means to implement a democratically representative mandate 

What would happen then ? 

In my mind this is where the Disney roulette comes into my mind , Disney is a big, loud , shiny and very expensive day out - it's lots of fun and can be quite entertaining .

They even have Thier own currency ' Disney dollars ' not a real currency of course a little gimmick for use solely within the Disney complex 

 On a hypothetical Disney roulette wheel , you can place bets with your Disney dollars , on two choices , red or black ....you can differentiate further by numerical specifications of course but let's just keep it simple 

You have got £100 Disney dollars and you can bet in either red or black .....win or lose 

So you place a bet , the wheel spins , you win , you lose , your up then down 

Completely engrossed in the game before you , a convivial crowd all with a common focus 

The thing is , even if you win a million Disney dollars , even if you just fritter away your original 100 dollars enjoying the gamble and wasting the day 

Pull back to reality , you have just spent 100 bucks getting caught up in the fervour of the outcome of red or black , you've made wagers in it ....used a whole day or night focused on it 

Whether you win or lose you are still in a casino , in a theme park , with fake money 

That's how I currently see the great distraction of our current economic and political model , so although I am occasionally happy to offer unofficial endorsement of a human being that wants to play Disney roulette, I'll not be putting my name in a blue or a red ticket until you offer me something worthy of carrying my name 

the owl and the pussy cat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat , but neither had an effing clue how to keep the thing afloat ....or as in our case , a bunch of failed beauty therapists and part time estate agents , draw salaries while they stand around with their thumbs un their ass and not a clue in their head ....build back better 😆

The foresight Collection

 It's not all that easy being right mist of the time you know , 

From day one I have been acting up about this - every single facet of what has actually come to pass , was you will find uttered as a premonition among these funny little online rants that I do , Cameron , May , Truss , Johnson and now Sunak .....called it !!!!! 

An interesting little addition to the wave of street art that was appearing around the country at around the same time Boris was running for the premiership ..................

The peasants Revolt - ask me no questions I'll tell you no lies 

But suffice to say that a series of circumstances that encouraged me to engage with determined vigor against one of the most ludicrous public authorities in the land and act as a whistle blower begining a national campaign calling for scrutiny and accountability at a legal level against dubious executive orders rendered during that time 

Now this just seemed bloody obvious to me from the start , although the propaganda campaign that took the whole world by storm  was a brilliant means of both curtailing civil liberties whilst simultaneously throwing additional divisive fuel into a population that had already been through a ferociously tribal brexit referendum ....I had bigger problems on the ground level at the time .......now of course it's all coming to light , Cambridge analytica have been forced to pay compensations for messing with the social media during the brexit and old Zuckerberg has come out in a repentant speech about how perhaps , some of the misinformation that turned out to be factual was possibly true but censored under government instruction in case it wasn't completely correct 

Fucking Kafka esque times or what ( feel free to peruse previous posts - Indiana Jones and the Belgian telephone, or , numerous others for that matter , or dont , actually I'd prefer you go outside without your phone , leave blogs and podcasts and social media bullshit well alone , go and have a wander and a fire instead ....and for the love of god , dint like, share, subscribe or make a donation to our non existent patreon page , don't sign up to our mailing list for regular updates  

Eat Out to Help out - when I kicked this out as a street art spread , it only took a week or so before Matt the weirdo Hancock ' fell in love ' and then a digitised meme version if this original design went ballistic 

Of course it's probably impertinent to remention that old rishi was the pioneer of this campaign at the time , which just so happened to pump a fortune's worth of furlough into the pockets of restauranteurs and went a decent way to adding to the spread at the height of the lockdown era 

 

A decade ago I inadvertently started a fight .... With my local authority on a series of local issues that I was personally passionate enough to defend , simultaneously , I was running a few design contracts in the city of London when old Boris was running as mayor of London - I sat there in a very high end venue filled with important people , while Boris was bouncing around the stage offering harrumph for this and that - I proclaimed , exceptionally publicly , as the room harrumphed along and cheered the bungling idiot 

' that man is a blatant imbecile , he might even be dangerous ' 

I believe this public statement has cost me a great deal over the past decade , from national government to local government , everyone with a dubious investment through the planning department , or buddying up on the golf course with any of this grubby bullshit , is by default utterly complicit in the current state of fiasco grade hiatus that we currently find ourselves 

It's only been a decade long front line battle for me , and it has cost me a great deal more than I was willing to surrender but as I move through the closing sequence of this year's exhibition as the final skirmishes take place at both local and government level , as Boris Johnson is finally removed from direct political influence , as Cameron and Osborne are being scrutinized for decimating a NHS to the point that it was I'll equipped to deal with the man made flu II that hopefully people are actually going to be sued for , as the final throes of this utterly absurd yet utterly ruthless regime of well spoken nincompoops and nonces comes to its inevitable end on the back of a few long haired mal contents using little laughing face emojis , street art , general non compliance and a penchant for figuring out grey areas in law , as movements coalesce and grassroots kick back , from individuals and community groups alike begin to demand full legal accountability from individuals and organisations that simply can no longer claim to be ' authority ' when all evidence demonstrates the contrary 

10 years ago I never would have thought that we might actually reach this pinion point , I hoped we would - no one wants to die in vain , but this is and would appear to have the momentum to continue being one very interesting time to be alive 

The Arts Hole and the great rising

When the beautiful girl in the Amsterdam coffee shop asks ....

" What do you actually do ? You come in for your little latte twice a day , you never stay very long ? , I like to imagine that you sneak off here and there to fight crime or do wizard shit or something ? " 

So I just roll my eyes , drop a little extra change into the tip jar, turn in my heels and leave , as I walk away I'm thinking to myself ...' yeah, did you ever hear if Plymouth city council ? Can I maybe interest you in a shiny rock ? ..... Mate, just keep moving ' 

Now den ....dis here ditty the Bunny Rabbit Birthday Blues

 

My baby stole my bunny ...

JJust for the day dat I was born 

My baby stole my bunny ....

Dun even say what I done wrong 

You know I loved that woman , even doe she grab my legal advisor and was gone 

My baby stole my bunny ....

Did you ever see such bad news 

 My baby stole my bunny 

I said hey hey Plymouth city council....

You gonna pay some muthafuckin dues 

Controversial Artist, I guess ....have you got a warrant??.

 Well I suppose it's certainly a bit Avantgarde 

How the bloody hell do you try and extrapolate all of this ...

I suppose the Original Arts Hole pop up, from it's point of inception and origin could be classified as a piece of performance art in and of itself , you certainly do see a lot of pop ups around and about these days so it was certainly a valid demonstrative model ( see previous notes and press releases ) 

Public battles against systemic corruption in local and national authority resulting in forced legislative changes ....

It seems that to act as an artistic emissary for my trade and such during the brexit referendum, to count myself an ex pat under the guise of ' the Brexit Refugee. ' again a bit if a performance piece 

To maintain trade throughout the pandemic and ultimately end up once again in a very public battle , again railing against systemic corruption in local and national authority resulting again in legislative changes ....and this baby is still in the throes of unfurling ...

The Fuck off Manifesto ....

The Arts Hole Mining Company ....resulting in the forging of the Arts Hole Silver Dollar - which is actually - legally a trading token , because minting a currency is still a hangable offence in this country ....

The Arts Hole Legal Department - that does actually render legal rebuttals for court room proceedings and now ...thanks to Plymouth city council's cowardice and evasive nature concerning their own corruption , I'm becoming versed in the necessary tools and mechanics to actually file suits of my own accord .... 

So where are we at ....

Well , Plymouth city council has sustained heavy damage ...although so have I to be fair 

Since the launching of ' the Arts Hole - Let's AV it -exhibition and workshop series and declaring your pet rabbit as your official legal advisor ( were about half way through the circuit now- and someone already stile my legal advisor ) a hell of a lit of people are filing for freedom of information requests against their local councils for everything from corruption to 25 minute cities , Plymouth city council in particular have been seen openly and without doubt to be one of the most corrupt in the land - with various injunction and impending legal actions at such a scale that council leaders are quitting and  having heart problems ....

It turns out - if a company that you don't have a contract with starts arbitrarily increasing prices ...you can arbitrarily decide to pay less to encourage negotiation and formulation of mutually agreeable terms , you can question the price against the value of any given product or service and you can sue any one that would attempt to penalise against lawful reason to do so .....that stands for council tax , gas, electric and even HMRC... 

You can back your portfolio of work with a cache of precious ore and mineral rights ....

You can reference a series of online ravings and mad rants as a sort of pick and mix affidavit ....

You can call for such a scale of public inquiry into Councilors and ministers that you might actually find to time to take some pleasure in a little painting once again 

The Arts Hole AV Ant Garde .... Let's AV it 2023 

Is it a little madness ?? Or a little brilliance ?? 

For a little while I was ruminating on the story of the hare and the tortoise .... Feeling that perhaps I wasn't applying myself to the task at hand with quite the sense of fervour that it deserved, a little sidelined , a little ostracized 

As if I was somehow falling behind in a race I didn't know I was in..... all you guys that have just spent the last little while applying for council funding and painting a few little pictures , building back better out of the piggy bank budgets and teams of emotionally strung out volunteers still barmy enough to rally to the fluttering flags of the Dot GUV issued fete, a mad dash effort to revitalise a high street in the midst of yet another economic downturn .... Well I don't think I've quite turned into Ahab , hell bent on bringing vengeance upon my own white whale to the point of absolute self destruction 

You cap it all off by unionizing the staff , radicalising the student base and incorporate a mild mannered militia , a union and a bizarre religious sect in an effort to preserve the right to roam and avoid paying council tax through legitimate means .....I dunno man , how controversial can a controversial Artist be when a controversial Artist is being controversial ? Originally I think I was just trying to get a little painting done ....

But ....the Age of Boris Johnson may soon actually come to an end , and maybe this little run if being ' the most prolific artist you never heard of ' could be too 

The Gossip Mill

 Growing up in a little seaside village with an ailing fishing fleet and a burgeoning tourist trade with enough bars and restaurants for the summer population , which reverted into strange social cliques in Thier own right during the long winter months -made for some interesting observational material 

There was a saying among the thinning crowd of the local grown population....

" If you fart loudly on west Looe quay by the time the news has got to east Looe quay you will have shit yourself  " 

It's a very colloquial version of the proverbial Chinese  whispers paradigm 

Food For Thought

 

It's all well and good that a London based estate agent firm likes to hawk off fields for fortunes effectively driving up local property prices to beyond the reach of the local families.... Well personally I don't actually think that's all well and good at all , but it seems to be the celebrated position of the fanatically selfish , 

So £75,000 - £100,000 guide price for the pony fields 

If a thousand people each kicked in a hundred and fifty quid - then bang !! You'd have a local social housing initiative 

4-5 local families could be housed in modular , podular , eco design off-grid ' temporary ' structures that wouldn't even require planning permission ....with ample room for vegetable patches for all 

Of course , I'm sure that some salary secured adminz would be able to turn it into another fine glamping retreat too 

Food for thought ....on the scale of the effing mess that your personal greed in private investments in lieu of a unionised front to retain some semblance of a functioning state pension ....has actually rendered 

Game of monopoly anyone 🙄

A minimum of 1600 assholes

 In ancient Venice - the republic was often under threat from various coups 

A novel concept at the time , rendered the inhabitants of the city among some of the most law abiding in all of Europe

The notion - not so far removed from adoptive processes of later tyrannical and fascist regimes , was to encourage the citizenry to report on their friends and neighbours to the administration any suspicious or unlawful behaviour that might threaten the very structure of the society itself 

These post boxes were cited around the city , so that anonymous written tips could be reported without fear of reprisal from anti establishment members in the communities 

Schnydes , snakes , creeps and rats could all gain favour from the Doge for offering information that could unravel any potential coup 

There are many periods in history that have emulated this neighbour Vs neighbour mentality to truly fanatical extents , we have burned witches , gassed Jews , napalmed villages and drone bombed schools and weddings ... All for the bizarre and often misguided premise of the ' greater good  ' 

We really are a funny little pack animal when considered from all contextual angles ...

As I sit here reflecting on what has gone before - considering the implications of expressive actions during what can only be considered yet another very concentrated weirdness in this little epoch we currently inhabit 

' keep calm and carry on ' ... I think that's a dangerous mantra , I noted it at the time of its seemingly commercial scale roll out ...

If you were foolish enough to levy your housing needs against an overinflated pricing structure ( which in itself actually only highlights the shocking devaluation of labour in our midern times ! )

Then keep calm and carry on would encourage someone beholden to a massive debt - for no greater reward than to carry on living where they do and in a manner to which they are accustomed ... To perhaps follow instructions that might otherwise contravene their usual moral positions 

The rise of fascism - whether you dress it up as a Christian crusade , a socialist vision , a commy plot or a capital incentive 

It's the rot that sets in and completely derails an otherwise conscience minded people's with a natural empathy for Thier fellow human being 

Now Margaret Thatchers great edict " there is no such thing as society " well I suppose that could be true ...of you have a means to secure huge swathes of land , an island perhaps , self sufficient and surrounded by walls on all sides - then yes I suppose in this instance there is no need to aknowledge a broader society 

But for most of us , that are amid the throng of humanity and have no means of indulgent escape to our own personal paradise - then unfortunately ' society ' is a thing !!! 

I've just spent the last couple of months , throwing spanners into the contemporary redundant political machinery that I am , have been , subjected to for over a decade now - the tip of a gargantuan ice berg 

There are a mere quarter of a million permanent inhabitants in the funny little city of plymouth 

There are around 1600 assholes in the direct employ if the city council here , most of which I have aimed direct and pertinent complaint against over the years - each if these 1600 assholes , have partners , friends siblings offspring and spouses 

So 1600 assholes multiplied by an average of say 3 would be a hostile tally of just under 5000 assholes by correlation 

Then there is the outlying and outsourced aspect of that ,- probably another 2000 assholes, all do gooders , wage chasing mortgage interned cic enterprises 

Then there is the MOD - the navy have had a massive presence in the city for generations , the army and the RAF plus the reserves 

Probably looking at an accumulative asshole ratio , all on the queen's shilling 

5000 assholes , plus 2000 assholes ....plus an additional 10000 assholes in the services - all with military wives , kids , parents and grandparents ...

Then there are all of the assholes that cling to these centres of allegiance - regardless of ridiculous systemic failings 

Mortgages to pay and vacations to be earned ...

All the while the middle east burns to the ground - we send billions in munitions to the Ukraine and now we are interested in the socio economic implications of America's interest in China's interest in Taiwan....

Assholes in all directions !!! 

I look around the room - is there anyone here that isn't a complete asshole ?? 

Over the years I have become accustomed to soaking up a bit of misguided hate 

Ever the stranger in a foreign land ....the guys that get pissed off because I've often got a pretty girl vying for my attentions , because I didn't quite get , chewed up , bitter, twisted , fat or bald in my endeavours so far...

And on top of all of that , as this age of nonsense has rolled on and I have assimilated my career into a kind of fine comb critique of what some of the behaviours of these people 

Drug addict social workers - emotionally unstable Councilors - deranged local authorities - a lunatic parliament - a police force and a military that hold the whole shit show up as something that should be respected , authority worthy of our unbridled obedience ...

Nah man ....I don't buy into it 

So upon consideration - what's that maybe 25,000 - 30,000 assholes Vs lil old me that's just here in my hometown 

" So you have enemies , that at least means you have stood for something " 

Where the fuck are the rest of you ?.. keeping calm and carrying on ? Keeping your head down ? Paying off your mortgage to a banking sector that should have sunk 15 years ago ??

Just fuck off !!!