- August 2, 2005
- Posted by Marc
ABOVE’S EUROPEAN TRAVELS, 2005. COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
“After the jail fiasco in Amsterdam it was
justice to get back in the streets of a new city and country. Copenhagen,
Denmark was calling. First stop in Copenhagen was to area called Christiania.
Christiania is its own small city inside of Copenhagen that is open to
creativity and graffiti at large. Christiania has a handful of walls of fame,
each running for hundreds of feet in length, with many local and international
talent painted on them.
Downtown Copenhagen was alive all day and
night. Had to find the rhythm to jump in the mix. The police seem to be
overstocked in The downtown areas because I would see a cop car passing by every
few minutes in the streets. Maybe it was because I was eating traditional Danish
black licorice like a freak that the police never stopped to ask questions when
I was working in the streets.
Copenhagen left a nice impression on me
with it’s availability to be able hit large areas, and many locations around the
city in a few nights. I would definitely re-visit Copenhagen in the future, but
stay away from the Licorice, it makes you a bit crazy.
*I want to
thank Mette, and Martin for sharing your city with me, a heavy dose of
Skateboard videos, Champagne on the beach, and welcoming me into your home!”
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... Above
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This one
looks like it was cut straight from my grandmas floor rug.
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A nice view of the center of Copenhagen. Grandma would be
proud!
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I was fed
some Alphabet soup by my friends and threw up this piece on the wall. Coughed up
the Danish flag inside the letters as well.
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/>Sometimes I get concerned about my judgment calls…The first photo, I was not
all that pleased with. Some points are valid but the O-V-E at the end of the
piece are so distorted that it’s silly. This wall is facing toward a large river
(That is technically the ocean and its salt water) After hours on top of hours
of painting this piece I wanted to have a clean photo with the whole piece in 1
frame. The idea was to stay dry and have a passing boat let me on to the deck
and then take a photo from there. wishful thinking! No Dice with this attempt.
So what to do next was plan B. The idea was to swim out in the water while
holding my camera above sea level, take the photo and then come back to the dock
with the photo and a dry camera. Between a rock and a hard place. I decided to
go ahead with the plan B and start stripping down into my shorts. I get into the
water and swim about 20 feet, turn around and I’m still too close, I swim what
seems like 60 feet farther with my right
arm in the air holding the camera
dry, while my left arm is paddling like a speedboat in the water. I just start
pointing the camera at the distant wall and hope that something comes out in the
end…Plan C starts to enter my head…I’m some 80 feet out from the dock and am
really getting tired swimming with just 1 arm. Plan C was if I was starting to
drown to drop the camera in the water and hope that even then I could make it
back to the dock.
“Simple Ideas, Stubbornly Pursued.”
Plan B was
growing tired but still had some energy in it. I started to head back and at
times thought I Plan C was going to make its appearance and take over. Some fear
endorphins and second wind kicked in and helped me swim back to the dock.
/>Was the photo worth all the effort…? I’ll let you make that decision.
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The Danish Police run up and down the streets trying to bust drug
dealers…they don’t care about some kid painting on the side of a wall. Wish I
all cops were like this.
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Red light,
Green light, Yellow Arrow.