To Norway And Back Again

London is an incredibly diverse place filled with all kinds of incredible art, music, history, and culture.  I often find myself thinking that I don't need to rush to see this or that because I have time, in an effort to avoid adopting the mindset that I have to squeeze everything in all at once.  The down-side of this attitude is that I often forget to take in my surroundings.  On a daily basis, I walk passed any number of parks, statues, houses, museums, libraries, auditoriums which are centuries old.  So I've made it a point in the last few weeks to be present and conscious of what is around me, to take in all I can.  I've also been given wonderful advice from several people, namely Suzie, to "Take every opportunity and make the most of my time away."  This has been the most useful advice I've been given, well, besides Merilyn's, which was mainly about not talking to strange men! :)  So with that I share with you one of two incredible adventures I have been fortunate enough to take, thus far,  while living abroad. 

Norway

Julia and I flew in to Stavanger, Norway on Wednesday night.  I was so excited, namely because it was the first time I'd ventured out of London and also because I was officially "traveling" Europe, something I'd always wanted to do.  So, you can imagine my excitement when I actually got a stamp in my passport!!!  I had been told by numerous people that they don't stamp passports anymore, THEY TOTALLY DO! Yes, the trip started off on a high note, and considering a stamp in my passport as a high note, things could only get better.  Julia has traveled the world, so mostly she just shook her head and smiled at my ridiculous grin and giddy elation over some paper and ink.  We were only in Norway for two nights, so we had to make things count.  The next day we wandered around the city taking in the street art, which was beautiful and EVERYWHERE!  We eventually found the Nuart show and several fun shops, in which we bought gifts for friends and a few things for ourselves.  We also found an incredible restaurant where I had THE BEST HAMBURGER I've ever eaten in my life, no joke, and a seriously large cheese selection that could constipate a mouse.  I'm seriously considering going back to Norway just for the burger and cheeses.  We also took a ferry ride to several of the small islands off the coast of Stavanger, which were unassuming and quietly beautiful; covered in pine trees with freshly painted homes in bright shades of reds, yellows and greens which peaked through the trees in striking contrast.  It reminded me of McCall and I felt very at home.  

Julia and I 

THE MOTHER OF ALL HAMBURGERS
...it changed my life!

Nuart

Street art is often not considered art because of it's subversive, anti-establishment nature and because it is accessible to anyone and tends to be the voice of a marginalized minority.  Poignant in it's content, it is often a blatant commentary on social and political issues of the day.  The street art exhibition we saw was housed in an old brewery near the water.  It had been converted into artists' studios and work spaces which are then rented by artist for reasonable prices.  The show itself was sponsored by the Arts Council and brought in well known street artists from all over the world.  Each artist was given a separate space to display their work and as we walked around the city, the artists works would also pop up in large scale all over. The best part is that the city welcomes them and their art wherever they would like to create it!

Below are pictures of my favorite artists' and their work as displayed at the Nuart exhibition:

The Nuart studio

The movement of these is incredible.
Took up an entire wall. By Dal East of China.

One of my favorite artist, 
Martin Whatson of Norway.
I love his use of color.

This was the entire back wall of the room by artist Hush from the UK another of my favs!

Martin Whatson

Hush

Artist Toyz as you can see.

One of Julia's favorite artists Ernest Zacharevic of Lithuania.
Incorporates objects, like the tire, into his work.

Incorporating half of a car into his work here.  If you look closely, you can see the kids inside the car too!

Little girl pushing on the trunk of the car.

Loved his use of light and shadow, very interesting.
By artist Strok of Norway.

Same artist outside.

I believe this is artist c215 of France.

Again c215

c215

c215

Artist dot dot dot of Norway.  His work was very large scale and was kind of menacing, but still beautifully done.

This was a building on our way back from the show.
I've never seen this technique used before; the plaster has been removed
to reveal the brick, which creates the portrait. This is so beautiful and by far my favorite artist of the entire show.  His work is incredibly sophisticated and creative in its execution.
This is done by artist Vhils of Portugal.

There are more pictures to come.  Look up these artists and the work they are doing, it's pretty incredible!  :)  Enjoy!