Never Let Me Down Again (Sakura Passage)
Unfinished / Sakura @ 80%

I was invited by my friends Giorgio and Mario of ARCI Nuova Associazione Circolo Territoriale Chieti, to be a coordinator of street art workshop in project “Youth inclusion and participation through green areas” (Erasmus+ KA1 – Youth Exchange) Torino di Sangro, Italy, 7 – 15 June 2017. Apart from coordinating the workshop I also did a new mural, a small exhibition and I kept my promises to Comandante di Carabinieri Stazione Torino di Sangro.

Now, since this was my second coming to Torino di Sangro and I have already done the Great Wave in Torino di Sangro I had to come up with something new and intimate, something good, but “bellissimo, complimenti” good. Our location for painting was Torino di Sangro´s Cultural Center “Alda Merini” passage to the square “Piazzetta Trattati di Roma” behind the building. My friends (Polina Stoyanova, Anelia Pashova & Dejan Mijatović) decided to paint the wall in the back, with animals that are important for TdS and Chieti/Abruzzo. I took the passage. Initially I wanted to transfer the feeling/experience of Sakura that I had in the street north from Seijogakuen-Mae Station, that was called Alley of Japanese cherry. It was this transcendental passage on the way to the train station, 10 minutes walk through the divine dimension, where the mind stops and emotions dance in your heart, making your eyes to water down. So I wanted to bring a piece of my memory into TdS creating Sakura Passage. But the idea evolved a few weeks after. I went to Ljubljana with my wife for Depeche Mode Spirit Tour concert. And at one point they performed “Never Let Me Down Again” and the opening lyrics struck me really hard – “I’m taking a ride with my best friend…” – I’ve just had lost a good friend to illness and I am about to meet with friends that I havn´t seen at least for a year in the beautiful town of Torino di Sangro on a really merry occasion (sharing and painting with good friends), the emotions shifted through me for the whole song. Now I know that song has been commonly interpreted as heroin trip, but as always with the arts, it is what you make out of it, and to me it was about life long experience, reinforced by strong friendships, the ones that help you overcome hardships of everyday life. The additional connection that I had of this song with Cultural Center in TdS was the library that is there. Reading was and still is my best way to travel by not leaving home.

At this point I would like you to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins cover of Never Let Me Down Again, before we go further away…

Now all this reminded me of the cover of Sonic Youth album Goo, to me the best album cover of all the time. This single frame has the best of American Pop Art and indie comics, a whole crazy trip in one shot. And there is a whole bunch of parodies of it. Just google it 🙂

I didn´t specify the titles of books or genders, they are both free to fit your imagination.

Now, what I had in plan was to build this painting on gold surface, with gradual repetition leading towards the end of the painting. It doesn´t have one correct point of view, nor one or multiple centers. It cannot be seen as the whole from the central point and it was supposed to be seen and touched as you walk by. The center of view should shift and change as you walk. Unfortunately, I didn´t finish entirely the whole mural as I wanted to. And as Japanese say when sakura is blooming, this sakura bloomed to its 80%. For my excuse, I will have to add that at the same time I was working on it, I also had a small exhibition and I made a little gift for Carabinieri in Torino di Sangro. Now, I might finish it in the future, but I must say leaving it unfinished also has its charm.

Related post: Youth inclusion and participation through green areas, Torino di Sangro, Italy

Technique: acrylic studio paint on plaster

Size: Approx. 1,5x7m
(59.05 x 275.59 inch);

Year: June 2017

Availability: Public/Street Art


Dōjinshi

Dōjinshi is very cool practice in manga world. It means self-published and it´s largely based of fan-art works of recognized creators’ works. It is like Pop Art practice but more freely spread and more concerned with storytelling and that is a part that actually interests me. Unlike Pop Art´s way of exploitation of the popular image, I rather want to tell a story through the used popular character.