Tuesday 20 March 2012

Ooh!






Cycling through Highgate Woods in a "green corridor" track in suburban North London. Passed some old railway arches from a forgotten station, covered in what I think is rather attractive and colourful graffiti.

But it was a bit of a shock to look closer....





49 comments:

  1. What a great find! i used to live in London -close to Hampstead Heath- but never went to Highgate Wood. I wish I had now.

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  2. Oh my goodness, did they paint that, and use clay or something as well? It's kind of creepy, but it's also great artwork. We see a lot of that kind of colorful painting along railroad cars all the time too....it would be fun to catch some of them in the act, but they seem to be very clever in not getting caught. The building or what ever it originally was is still very attractive too. Nice post, thanks!

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  3. Hi Jenny,
    First of all I would like to compliment you on your photographic flare. You have a gift for looking beyond what seems to be.
    And beyond the graffiti lies the blending of another time.
    Thanks Jenny and take very good care.
    In kindness, Gary

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  4. So right . . . oohhh . . .

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  5. Wow. That is unexpected. And unique.

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  6. Oh, kind of an odd combination of creepy and whimsical. LOL!

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  7. Whoah what was that. I'd be scared to discover that too. I wonder if it has always been there together with the old train station, or people created it later.

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  8. what a find!


    Warm Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral

    >< } } ( ° >

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  9. That statue is eerie yet wonderful. I love things like this.

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  10. Eeek! Does this have anything to do with Highgate Cemete ... Wait. Let me Google.

    Oh. No. It doesn't. Though it's scary enough for a cemetery. Is that the only one?

    PS: Funky graffiti!

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  11. Oooooooooh! Looks soooo real! Beautiful... I mean sculpture, sorry I don`t like this graffiti. Don`t know why, may be because I`m sorry that old construction all handmade without any new tecnology with simple and lovely forms :o)
    Kisses
    Natasha :o)

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  12. Just magical. It's one of the reasons I love visiting England so much.

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  13. Ooh indeed! This one truly sets the imagination running.

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  14. I don't like those kinds of graffiti at all. But the statue coming out from the wall is absolutely strange and fabulous!

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  15. Ooh creepy! Think catching a glimpse of him would have made me cycle on rather hurriedly...

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  16. Hello Jenny:
    How strange to find this Atlas figure under the arches here.

    We are less certain about the graffiti - not everyone is a Keith Haring or Banksy!

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  17. Oh, that is indeed wonderful. I like to think that it was a particular creative graffiti artist who put it there.

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  18. Graffiti just looks so unattractive to me. I know it is trendy and popular now but I just don't see any beauty to it whatsoever. Imagine doing that to that lovely brick...it's a shame.

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  19. That looks really spooky and quite menacing!

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  20. My frist thought when seeing the sculpture was The Green Man. Whatever it represents it is wonderful. How surprised you must have been to discover it.

    Darla

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  21. Not sure I agree with the graffiti comment, not a fan of it but love the statue coming out of the wall.

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  22. Oh wow! I am dying to know his story. I can't explain but I immediately thought of Shakespeare's "A Mid Summer Night's Dream". Hugs, Bonnie

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  23. Hi,Jenny.
    This photo surprises me! Woow!! What this sculpture mean? However,it is so real, having great impact!
    Tomoko

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  24. It's absolutely brilliant, i love this superimposition of non conventional art with graffiti! It's a great way of lightning up a dull ugly wall!

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  25. Oh I love this! How fun to make a utilitarian thing like a bridge and make it into art! Excellent! So glad you left a comment, your blog is inspiring!

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  26. That's some piece of work. Is he intended to represent a wood nymph or sprite? Is there some history available?

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  27. That would give me nightmares.

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  28. oh i love that figure climbing out of the bricks! shades of Banksy. Although i wouldnt like to see it at night i think.
    Banksy has really upped the anti on Grafitti dont you think?

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  29. I'd love to know what that figure is all about, although I suspect it would give me a shock on first sight!

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  30. What a fascinating figure...I love the way he's emerging from the bricks of the old railway arch! Somebody had/has a great imagination to conceive of this.

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  31. For those who, like me, are curious about it, I went searching and found this...he is a Spriggan, by local sculptor Marilyn Collins...I found this info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spriggan

    Sara

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    Replies
    1. Fantastic! Thanks for enlightening us Sara. Great photo Jenny.

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  32. In the first picture is hardly noticeable if you go fast and almost not see it, but scared to look carefully, dread, which is set for scary ..... mmmmmm scared. Greetings.

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  33. I think you're going to have to find out the history of this chap for us! He's brilliant.

    Graffiti is not my favourite art form but I'd far rather have the sort you are depicting than the usual stuff. At least someone has made an effort to create nor desecrate.

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  34. Thank you for the information, Sara - brilliant. Apparently it's a Spriggan which are supernatural creatures said to live in old ruins guarding buried treasure. I've never heard of them! I'm interested to learn that Stephen King was supposedly inspired to write his book "Crouch End" after seeing this sculpture. And that makes sense because I believe the station is in fact the disused Crouch End station on the old Alexandra Palace line. Always seemed to me to be a very unpleasantly named place! I haven't read Stephen King's book, but I'm going to now. If I am brave enough. (I'm not a fan of the horror genre)!

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  35. Oh I'm going to look for that, where will I find it?

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  36. It's on the Parkland Walk, Mo.
    Yes, Bonnie, there is something fantastical about it, like a sprite. Spriggans (according to Wikipedia) are supposed to come from Cornwall, so he's a long way from home!
    Yes, Darla, we thought Green Man too. He doesn't have quite enough leaves though.
    Psychelin, I would say this art work was added some time after the station fell into disuse. It's been a long time since there was a station there.

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  37. I am always amazed at how talented graffiti artists seem to be and wonder if any of them went on to a career in art. Rather creepy, but totally awesome sculpture--as long as he stays where he is! The wiki article was interesting to read.

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  38. "Ooh!" is right! What a wonderful discovery. And such a colourful path for a bike ride. You can spray paint me with the colour of delight.

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  39. Oh my! Of course I did not see him in the first photo as my eyes were drawn to the graffiti but the second photo caused me to draw back as my eyes focused on his shape. Oh la la la! He would have scared the willies out of me. Great capture!

    Bises,
    Genie

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  40. It's taken me almost a week to do so, but I'm returning the visit; thanks for visiting my blog last Friday, and hi!

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  41. I'm not a fan of graffiti but the Spriggan is fabulous. My first thought when I saw it was Pan but when I checked what a Spriggan is I thought it very appropriate. I can see why Bonnie thought of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream too.

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  42. Have to say in general I hate graffiti, I find it ugly and obtrusive, but it can be okay if it's tasteful and blends in with its surroundings.

    I must watch out for spriggans, I could do with some buried treasure. Though I'd have to outwit them before I could get my hands on it.

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  43. I think I'd have been more creeped out than anything if I saw that while taking a photo! An interesting find nevertheless. I'm curious about spriggans now.

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  44. Given that the rain earlier in the week gave me more time in Blogland I'm not at all sure how I missed this gem. I'm glad I've caught it now. A Spriggan _ brilliant. But I won't be reading the book - my nightmares are bad enough without encouraging them.

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  45. It seems to appear out of nowhere from behind the wall, but it doesn't seem toe scare away the graffiti artists.

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