I Will Not Draw As I Am Told

I didn't get to see as many galleries in Barcelona as I might have done, but did see the fantastic Joan Miro permanent collection as well as a fascinating show by Olafur Eliasson. Strange, off-puttingly minimalist website he has there, but worth seeing his work.

We also stumbled across a fantastic wall of graffiti behind the covered market in the centre of the city - it covered a hundred yard stretch of derelict wall left where a building had been demolished. This lavishly illustrated wall kept me and the kids entertained for some time. Unfortunately a high metal fence kept us from the artworks, and with the lens I use I couldn't get in to shoot the heart as close as I would ordinarilly.

Happily, I don't think this matters too much, and gives me a more subtle view, a different take on the project I've been working on for so long. At this scale you may find it hard to see the heart (click on the image to enlarge it and it should help) but it is there in the very centre of the right-hand image. It actually puts the heart into its own context, and it could tell its own story without a need for the left-hand image. Again at this scale it's hard to read it, but a stencilled text repeated on the left side of the image says 'I Will Not Draw As I Am Told' and spaeaks volumes when seen in the context of a wall of graffiti.

I couldn't resist the pirate-style Jesus, either. Perhaps he wasn't hanging with the fishermen of Galilee at all!

A quick PS - I googled 'I will not draw as I am told' and see that it's a popliar phrase amongst the graffitiati - here's a fantastic example. Click on the image to enlarge it - the script the artist has used will make your eyes pop!