some consolation: part 1

In my last post (Lost Horizon), I lamented being unable to find the location featured in that post when I tried to return to take more photographs the following day. However, I did find two other locations that I consider worth recording, which will be the subjects of this and the next post. Having followed the Rochdale Canal for several kilometres the previous day, I’d found myself in an open parkland area, which is where I’d probably wandered away from the canal.

However, when I came back, I thought that I recognized the continuation of the towpath under a low bridge with a sign advising cyclists to dismount. When I started to follow this path, it did seem familiar, but immediately after passing a lock on the canal, I spotted this in the distance on a low wall on the opposite bank and knew immediately that I’d not been here before:

That was all there was to see on the opposite bank, but the wall on my side was covered in graffiti for several hundred metres. This is the first photo I took:

In addition to the vividness of the colours, I particularly like the pointed ‘horns’, which the artist may have intended to represent serifs. The word ‘GooDLiFE’ also appears in the next image:

That’s probably Bart Simpson on the right in the next photograph:

I think that there are stylistic similarities between the next graffito and the one that I likened to the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein in The Writing on the Fence:

…while this one appears to be similar to the graffito that I described in that earlier post as ‘more like an abstract painting’:

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to capture the entire work head-on because of the narrowness of the towpath, but you can see how much detail it includes. In each of the last two examples, it’s likely that the same artist executed the graffiti in both locations.

I particularly like the variations in tone and hue in the body colours in this next example:

Another example of a simple, bold yet effective tag:

I noticed the stylistic similarities between the next graffito and the one signed ‘GooDLIFE’ (above), but it was only when I examined the photograph that I realized that this one carries the same signature:

Is it merely my imagination, or does this remind anyone else of an old-fashioned steam locomotive with cow-catcher?

It takes two photographs to show the next graffito, which features a soft, deliquescent lettering style:

Surprisingly, the remainder of the graffiti on this wall are in monochrome. This is an unusual stylistic choice, which suggests that they may all be the work of a single artist, although there are a lot of stylistic differences that suggest otherwise.

And, to provide some context, this is a view looking back along the canal the way I’ve just come:

 You can see just how apparently remote this location is. I don’t think many people pass this way.