Thanks @bikesandboots I get that one now. Totally missed the point before. Pretty much sums instaworld up doesn't it?
... and not in keeping with the spirit of thread, that wasn't sarcasm.
I think some of them are good, but i'm glad the artist has presumably another source of income. Thanks for sharing OP.
I remember driving through Wales in 2004 and seeing a back road heading up a hill, and painted in white across the road was "**** off back to London" or words to that effect.
I don't think instagram was around then. Maybe it was his early drafts?
Thanks Dez,it would have meant so much more if you had signed it, but I will treasure it non the less 😉
I get the sentiment of them, (I think) and I get that they're meant to be a little bit "in your face" sneering or condescending. Or maybe that's the feeling he's aiming for? I don't know much about him, but if that's the angle, then it really works. It's good art.
people who move to Wales who don’t want to learn Welsh
Maybe this was what concerned me. It's a, nominally, English speaking country.
Some of the hipster observations are very apt.
How to make a scenic photo worse – include yourself in it.
Or a bicycle.
'Cycled all the way up here to this picturesque spot'
includes bike
and another
and another
and another
"Maybe this was what concerned me. It’s a, nominally, English speaking country."
Arguably, it's a Welsh-speaking country that's had English forced upon it for a long time. However, it's the people who refuse even to acknowledge the language that get up one's nose. It's not easy to learn and not everyone can do it. I find it similar to France where, for every Brit that makes an effort with the language, there's another who's proud that they've lived here for 10 years and haven't had to learn a word!
I've got another....
Welsh artist bemoans the lack of uptake of people learning Welsh in English.
I don’t think instagram was around then. Maybe it was his early drafts?
Hehe.
I get the sentiment of them, (I think) and I get that they’re meant to be a little bit “in your face” sneering or condescending. Or maybe that’s the feeling he’s aiming for? I don’t know much about him, but if that’s the angle, then it really works. It’s good art.
This is my take on it too I think. It's deliberately provocative but perhaps kind of playful also, and it does make me think, mostly how I will be perceived if I go back to my ancestral homeland (I'm a Wynne so Gwydir forest and most of north Wales is mine, basically :P)
I've tried to come up with something vaguely intelligent to say, but he just seems like a prick moaning about modern life and how it doesn't fit exactly with how he wants things to be and it annoys him a bit.......on instagram
I think if anyone feels hurt by it he has proved his point about it being all about them, he is an artist, his day job is reflecting on observations, and sometimes telling it back.
moaning about modern life and how it doesn’t fit exactly with how he wants things to be and it annoys him a bit…….on instagram
Isn't that the sum of things on instagram and the internet in general ?.
Besides, if someone wants to have a rant on wherever what does it matter. Lots of supportive comments about mental health, but getting things off your chest in another manner is being a prick.
but he just seems like a prick moaning about modern life and how it doesn’t fit exactly with how he wants things to be and it annoys him a bit…….on instagram
Yes, on Instagram. That's the point I think. The critism he's making is that people go to places like North Wales to be tourists, take little or no account of the impact of their behavior, and go to the same places, take the same photos with the same "life affirming" messages showing their "best life" and stick them on Insta....He's twisting that lens around to point it back at them using Instagram language to highlight who those people are while poking a bit of fun at them, and asking us to recognise ourselves, and how we all fall into the trap of using social media the same way without really pausing for thought.
If he got your back up, then he's hit his mark, no?
i know nothing about art, but i think he’s good. they reflect life, elicit an emotion and left me asking questions. 50 year old men dressed as children hit the spot! i now have no idea what to wear today.
but it’s not as funny as
‘Tubby wannabe stunt cyclists discuss misanthropic Welsh artist awkwardly’
i’ve lived in two tourist hotspots, his observations of the visitors are spot on. it must be doubly irritating if they buy up all the houses.
He’s twisting that lens around to point it back at them using Instagram language to highlight who those people are while poking a bit of fun at them, and asking us to recognise ourselves, and how we all fall into the trap of using social media the same way without really pausing for thought.
If he got your back up, then he’s hit his mark, no?
I think this puts it really well.
Maybe this was what concerned me. It’s a, nominally, English speaking country.
Depends entirely where you go.
I grew up on Ynys-Môn/Anglesey and I recon it was probably less English than say the Costa del Sol in places.
A lot of English people like to make it all about them and assume the language has changed when they walked into the shop/pub/wherever, it's not. It's just that there was enough of a minority that couldn't speak English that Welsh becomes the default until you need English.
it must be doubly irritating if they buy up all the houses.
'Irritating' is the way middle class people with options put it, for the young or low income it's moving out of your community because you can't afford what's left of it, then drive 30 miles back to the only job left, fitting bi fold doors to the house you could no longer afford.
It's like the wall of adverts in Pete's Eats:
Reiki for dogs, find out the star sign of your Macbook, hand crocheted vegan underwear.....
Yours, a 52 year old Mancunian who dresses like a 9 year old and feels a bit better because we buy our prepacked food in the Deiniolen Spar on the two days a month we're at 'The Hut'*. 🙂
I like it, btw.
*A sort of holiday/retirement home for weirdos.
I might start doing a STW version. Based on a thread that appeals to me. Not on instagramb tho
It's peak STW as it is Dez. 🙂
Not seen anything about ****ing pizza ovens yet, but he's nailed the Audi/VW Transporter types.
And you were doing so well.......🙂
Let's face it, ironically, this IS about us.....
Singletrackworld forum user amused by instagram artist after drinking first beer in weeks.
‘Irritating’ is the way middle class people with options put it
thanks for putting me straight.
people who move to Wales who don’t want to learn Welsh
What about Welsh people who don’t want to learn Welsh?
I was going to say that - there are a great many Welsh born who aren’t interested, so where’s his snide comments about them?
And there are people who move to Wales who learn Welsh, my late partner moved to Wales with her family when they bought a hotel in Barmouth, and she learned Welsh op to O-Level, she spent nearly four years trying to teach me. Unsuccessfully.
He certainly seems to have a giant chip on his shoulder.
Makes me appreciate how good Banksy is 😉
It’s no wonder people on STW are getting all butthurt about his stuff as it’s pointed squarely at the majority of people who post on here.
I am surprised everyone is taking it so personally TBH! Even though you're right it's aimed at me too but I like his weird but strangely insightful observations etc
I was going to say that – there are a great many Welsh born who aren’t interested, so where’s his snide comments about them?
It's not about them?
people who move to Wales who don’t want to learn Welsh
What about Welsh people who don’t want to learn Welsh?
and she learned Welsh op to O-Level, she spent nearly four years trying to teach me.
Everybody who went through education in Wales learned Welsh to some level. I'll bet it didn't teach anyone to actually speak the language though.
I did Welsh, until my Os started and then German at O level - I finished the course with a good pass but being completely unable to converse in German. The idea of trying to teach someone else how to speak it would have been completely ridiculous.
My wife was a fluent Welsh speaker from birth, who studied it at A level, and now can barely speak it, from lack of use. Travel 10 miles to the west of where I live and I'll hear plenty of Welsh spoken - that's where she is from - but the majority of the population of Wales lives to the east of where I live where the only Welsh in evidence is on road signs.
