Thursday 18 August 2011

Douglas Square mural

Deptford X has revealed the four shortlisted designs for the new mural in Douglas Square. The public are being invited to vote for their favourite on the Deptford X website here; although what influence the results of the voting will have is not made clear, it seems the panel of judges are 'just interested' in what you think.
No closing date is stated either.

There's no information about the artists themselves - I assume this is deliberate to prevent any bias - although each has provided a statement about their designs, which are published on the website alongside the images. You can click on the images below to see them at a bigger scale, or go to the Deptford X website for full information.

A: Portals of Deptford
'proposes taking the windows and doors of Deptford and opening them up into different worlds'
'represents how the people of Lewisham thrive through their creativity and great spirit'

The proposal also includes the four electrical cabinets which will become pedestals for the sculptures of the angels and skulls which are to be made from putty, apparently. I do question the longevity of this particular aspect of the proposal.

B: 'A cultural and colourful feast for the eyes' these 'poster-ised' photos will be largely black and white with spot colour highlights. 'Many of them music-related, evoking the rhythms and sounds of south east London' and including 'playful icons and objects collected from Deptford market'.


C: An rather different proposal which involves getting local people involved during Deptford X to do the painting 'by numbers'.
'Image based on spontaneous photographs taken at the market mixing angles, textures and scales'


D: The Albany Toile
This design has probably got the most interesting artist's statement, but I'm not sure it would work as a mural - being more like a wallpaper design (in fact it reminds me a bit of the wallpaper in the Duke!)
Links to twin towns, local industries, the Gut Girls, the Albany and the market are all intertwined with the design, but I'm afraid it doesn't really work as a mural.


Cast your own vote here. Whether it will be too late or whether it will count for anything, your guess is as good as mine!

7 comments:

EleanorCS said...

Option D would also have too much white space to be filled in by graffiti (not that I don't like any graffiti, but when it's over murals it's usually crap).

Anonymous said...

Option D is the best. The idea of an urban exterior wallpaper relating to local history is innovative, creative and fresh rather than just the usual type of boring illustrative murals that can be seen everywhere.

And they will all get graffiti'd at some point so not really a relevant comment. Think of it as an evolving mural!

Anonymous said...

I,m sorry, but none of them hit the mark. The original mural had much more charm and added character, reflecting both the community and history of Deptford. Surely people can come up with something better than these boring cliches

Mokeyboy said...

No4 wouldn't look out of place in Waitrose, anything but that.

The one that reflects Deptford best as it is today is the one showing the Market scenes. Nice idea but could perhaps a little dull considering how colourful the actual Market is. If they could find away of including the GIANT SNAILS I'd be happy.

Anonymous said...

The wallpaper pattern doesn't represent the current spirit of deptford at all. It looks like a wallpaper found in a manor house or shabby chic interior. Surely we don't want deptford to try to look "posh"??

ps is anyone having trouble actually voting? maybe i will try another browser

Anonymous said...

looks like voting has closed. It was obviously well publicised.

It looks like D was selected. Looks like 45 people voted for this option. I hope some of them at least are deptford residents.

Sue said...

Damn! I thought they are all bloody awful. But then Deptford X was only offering a pittance for the project – and the artist had to maintain it for three years. More money would've attracted better designs and ideas. Mine, for instance.