Fat boy with ice-cream; doodling processes

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Fat boy with ice-cream, pen on paper, 10 x 6 cm 

 

The fat boy, absorbed in his ice cream, or occasionally a hamburger, is a sort of Billy Bunter figure. He has appeared in my work over and over, including in some monotypes which I shall try to unearth and photograph this year.

The pleasure of doodles is related to them not mattering. They differ from grafitti, which is necessarily a public declaration. Doodling is very psychologically intimate, a way of talking to oneself.

  I've found taking a doodle and trying to "improve it", either by working into it more, or by trying to make more finished drawing from an idea in a doodle is is rarely successful. You end up wih something that lacks the quality of unconscious confession, becoming stiff.

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A trip to Chile: Santiago

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Marin, Bario Italia, oil on card, 21.5 x 25 cm - available

Santiago

I stayed in Barrio Italia, a neighborhood of turn of the century villas and more recent, terribly over-sized blocks, which have an "anyplace" quality. However, the neighborhood is quite attractive in a self effacing way, with tree lined avenues and some small cafes. My picture is from one such street. 

However, there is a problem in Santiago, notably air pollution. Pollution is so bad that after a few hours wandering around I started to develop cold symptoms- a runny nose, a headache and watering eyes. The city could be quite a good cycling city as it is fairly flat but only if they find a way of dramatically improving air quality.

The centre of the city has rather been taken over by protest. There are anarchist posters, some rather striking, around the university but the monuments around the art museum are also heavily defaced and the effect is not attractive. 

Talking generally, almost all graffiti is profoundly depressing: the blunt egoism of the maker, the imposition on public space, the destruction of architecture, the sense of lawlessness that it creates and, usually, its usual utter mediocrity.

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Graffitti

 

Graffitti painted on the walls of an electrical substation in Corrego Grande.

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If you know the artist's name, please let me know so I can credit them.