Tuesday, February 25, 2014

In just one little lane way...

Firstly I wanted to say thank you to everybody who left me comments on my book "Fragile Gains". I love this book and it was so nice to discover that it talks to others as well - so thank you very much for your kind words.

We have been on the road work-working in Melbourne and then onto Tasmania on a buying trip where we sought out metal for Barry to use in some of his commissions.

One Sunday we were wandering in Melbourne and cut through this lane way. This is the first sign I noticed and it made me stop and photograph it of course. I loved that somebody wrote a sign like this! I kept thinking of all the nuisance that folk were planning on committing until they saw this...


But as we made our way up the lane, a whole new world emerged. Unexpectedly, quietly and almost in an incognito manner.

There were industrial building with warnings about voltage, and lots of City Council signs about No Standing and so on.


But in amongst them we discovered these…




Made to look like any other City sign reminding us to not do this or only do that for a short time, the artist had reproduced signs and placed them along the walls.

It took us ages to walk the 50m (150 feet) of the lane way - we kept discovering more signs in amongst the regular urban messages. Such a delight.





So thank you Evangelos Sakaris and Melbourne City Council for such a wonderful chance encounter. If you want to find your way to these signs, (and there are many more than I have shown) they are in Heffernan Lane, between Lonsdale St and Little Bourke St, between the Greek quarter and Chinatown.

And in the same lane way, this book shop was closed on Sunday - but what a treat for the eyes their poster was!



 I love when unexpected art moments happen!

8 comments:

  1. Delightful signs! I would love to come across these down some alley. It's always a thrill finding unexpected signs whether they are artforms or humorous warnings etc, the latter being the type of sign we often encounter here in South Africa. " bumpy road ahead, remove dentures" and "funeral home and butchery in the back"

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  2. It was a magical discovery Robyn - I'm so glad we were wandering and not being purposeful; we would probably have missed most if not all of it if we had been striding along rather than meandering. I think your amusing signs would be brilliant to some across!

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  3. What fun this is! Thanks to you both for sharing!

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    1. It was a delightful discovery Charlton - quite inspiring and encouraging!

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  4. How very amusing...and fabulous that the project was encouraged by the City Council.

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    1. Indeed Jo - sometimes public art doesn't have to be loud and big and bright; I thought this was brilliant!

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  5. When I started reading I was reminded of those street signs, often called 'Ghost signs, long ago notices and advertising for businesses long since closed ... but it turned into a wonderful treat, a stroll through someone else's thoughts that I found quite enthralling! What an enlightened city council Melbourne must be!

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    1. I love the notion of 'ghost signs' Lesley - so very apt; and there were several on the walls. But the installation was an added treat for sure! I loved the trickery of it, you really almost didn't notice them, and then gradually you discovered more and looked up, and over there, and higher, and another….a fabulous little saunter.

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