Kiss my Shiny Metal…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Yep, have to confess that I was handed the title of this post… rather literally, on a box.

An electrical substation box to be precise and this one just made me laugh. It’s an excellent combination of whimsy, rebellion, innuendo, colour and fun.

If  you are new to the posts in this series, then these are Electrical substations around the Den Haag (The Hague) where the Geemente (City Council) have commissioned local artists to decorate them.  I love them because they brighten up the city streets and bring a smile to my face,  so last summer made it a mission to go on long walks and take photos of as many of them as possible.

The girl in the red dress reminds me of the character “Annie” … but was there a red dog in that movie anywhere? I struggle to remember one.

The sweet looking mole is a touch that Mrs Invisible  (Invisible Mikey’s wife) might appreciate after their recent run-in with these rodents who are sweet looking, but sadly decimated their newly paved back garden. http://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/service-projects/

Personally I’ve never seen a mole, but if one appeared out of the ground sporting a blue hat like this one, it would be hard to be angry wouldn’t it?  That said, I also don’t have a garden, which probably goes a very long way to explain why I think these little creatures are rather charming.

I took these photos last summer, but this is a substation that I don’t pass very frequently so I think from memory that it’s located on the Regentesseaan, close to the Loosduinseweg.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Art that might Shock…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Hague City Council  (Gemeente Den Haag)  commissioned a beautification programme for the city’s Electrical Substations.

Last year I got busy and  have been busy trying to photograph as many of them as I can.

Since I’m still not mobile, this is a post from my archive files to show so some more of the street art on display in Den Haag.

If you live locally enough, you can find this electrical sub-station on the Regentesselaan in The Hague.

For me personally, it’s not a style I’d like to have say, as painting  in my living room wall,  but I am delighted to see the energetic colour and electric vibe of it in the street, especially on what was formerly a boring grey/green box in the middle of quite a busy road.

Every city needs a splash of colour after all…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Even if Getting the Shot is Tough, just Give us a Big Smile!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Yes, another addition to my painted Electrical Substation series.

These city gray rectangular lumps have been transformed by artists employed by Gemeente Den Haag (The Hague City Council).

I’m delighted to keep finding new ones and to promote them a little further than the neighbourhoods they stand in.

After all, if they brighten up my day, then maybe they will brighten up yours too.

This one stands on the  intersection of the Thomsonlaan and Valkenboskade (on the side closest to Goudenregenstraat).

The city council never removes ivy or plants already growing on the side of these, so this substation has one of the larger sides covered and part of one of the small sides too.  Just like the artists, I will have to work around that.

My job was made harder by the fact that there is a parking area in the middle of the street and every time I’ve tried to photograph it, there have been cars parked up very close to the substation. I did my best.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Mondriaan woz Here…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Hague City Council  (Gemeente Den Haag)  commissioned a beautification programme for the city’s Electrical Substations.

I’ve been busy trying to photograph as many of them as I can.

Dutch artist Pieter Cornelis “Piet” Mondriaan was born in Amersfoort in 1872 was the son of an art teacher.

He qualified as a teacher and also studied fine art in Amsterdam.

He was initially influenced by Naturalism and Impressionism but it was the Cubist movement that was to change the style of his painting for ever.

Mondriaan moved to Paris as a young man, dropped an “a” from his surname and became known as “Mondrian”.

On a visit back to The (neutral) Netherlands in 1914, World War 1 broke out and he was unable to return to Paris until the war ended.

He returned to Paris after the war and evolved his definitive style of geometric black lines and coloured squares. Later after a short stint in London, he moved to New York (Manhattan) in 1940 to escape fascism and the outbreak of the second world war in Europe. He died in Manhattan in 1944.

This electrical substation pays homage to Mondrian’s work and certainly brightens up a Dutch street in a manner that Mondrian would have been delighted to see.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)