I'm watching you in Anderlecht...

I love all the graffiti murals painted on the concrete columns under the Ring road that looms over part of Neerpede's leafy park in the far reaches of Anderlecht. IMHO, it's the best open-air art gallery in Brussels. I even thought about commissioning on of the boys to paint something on my bedroom wall..! However, it's really disheartening that some of the best works of art - which they are - get covered up by ugly tags, which display no artistic merit, talent or imagination. Only territory marking like urinating canines....

De Wand Tram Stop

de_Wand2

This tramstop is about to have more grafitti murals added to it, financed by the Brussels municipality. It's a lovely place in a tree lined well below road level. The trams enter and exit through tunnels.

I like the mural that is already there and the pale blue walls. I hope further murals add to the appeal.

Tree Shadow

shutter tree shadow close

The low lying winter light hals get some interesting photos. Here the shadow of a nearby tree is cast almost at ground level and adds something of a contrast to a generic tag on a steel shutter.

Spraying Boy Mural

boy spraying mural close

how very post-modern; a grafiti of a graffiti artist. Still it's a nice one and rather inventive. I'm not sure who this is by of if Poch came along later and added his logo.

grafitti-wall

grafitti-wall

A really well done tag on a bit of waste ground, overlooked by 'exclusive properties for busy urban professionals'.

Wild Style

wildstyle1

This is the most eye catching tag I've ever seen. It really looks like that - no photoshopping involved. I think it's for a grafitti shop in Brussels.

Nada

nada sticker close

One of the joys of my aimless wanderings around the city means that I occasionally find something really special. This tiny sticker was tucked under a step and I only saw it because I was putting my bag down.

I haven't a clue what it's about, but it made me smile.

Yesterday's march has also got me thinking. I've often been concerned with nationalism and what the fringes can be like. The Pro Belgium march was without taint of extremism - apart from the 15 right of sensible nutters who were promptly arrested by the cops.

It was a good sense of nationalism, just people who were happy being Belgian.

It's a funny thing, nationality. Each of us has several nationalities, for example I'm British, but I don't describe myself as that, I'm English (recovering nicely by the way - Step One "I am powerless over my Englishness"). Increased devolution in the UK has brought about an English, shall we say, awareness. how will this develop? First indications are that we've recaptured the flag from the Far Right.

I did meet a Belgian friend who said he didn't care if Belgium stayed or went. He's a smart guy, but the concept of not caring about your country is alien to many. I can't imagine a world without Britain.

Naughty

naughty

Saw this last Sunday afternoon. turns out it's an occasional gay club. It seemed to have petered out by the time we saw it.

It's a reminder of just how many 'Brussels' there are as there are so many different groups, social circles and lifestyles in this small city.

Some I know about, some I'm involved in and some I bump into randomly.

QQQ

qqq

I've seen these around Brussels a lot recently, usually as a stencil, always on the pavement.

Has anyone any ideas about what is going on?

Growing Graffiti

Growing Graffiti

The golden rule of photography is that you only get the best photos when you've left your camera at home.

I first saw this grafitti on rue de la Loi when it was a grey blur and didn't think it was worth picturing. Then a few days ago I saw it with the black outline and thought it looked better, but I didn't have my camera with me.

Yesterday I thought I would take a photo of it and saw the green balls had been added to it. I wonder what's coming next? But I do wish I had a set of photos showing it's development.