The street art of Haymarket and the hidden Gallery within.

"The thing about perfection is it's unknowable. It's impossible. But it's always in front of you. You wouldn't know that because I didn't when I created you." Kevin Flynn

The first time I saw Tron Legacy and watched Kevin Flynn step onto that light bridge to address the rogue Clu, the program he created to create the perfect world and uttered those lines... I got goosebumps, and as the scene progressed I cried. It reminded me of the way an artist admires their art for the first time, its that pang of fear. "Is it perfect? Could I do more?" But what if we didn't have that second chance? What if we had to display our art as soon as it was dry? That's what's always caught my eye about street art, how much time did that artist have to sign it off and immediately make their escape into the night.

When I posted the now infamous post on Secret Norwich asking for places to explore and research I had a few tip offs to street art oddities from 'Alissa Lakshmanasamy' that seemingly took on their own gallery space. I'll add here that one thing I've always loved about Norwich is that it has an excess of side streets and alleyways that create a sense of adventure and whimsy that you don't really see in modern layouts nowadays where every area is crammed together to maximise potential space.

I don't know what the original message
concealed underneath was... but fair
play to whoever took the time to spell
all of that out without getting caught.

At the back of the Haymarket Starbucks is one of these small paths, adorned with street art ranging from personal signatures to intricate pieces of expression, either political or personal... and I say range lightly.... It's more like a museum the amount of variety that can be found within... Let's take a look!

One thing I've noticed about armchair critics (The Facebook commenters not the people that give 5/5 to a good quality lazyboy) is that they're often quick to comment on the level of political content within the piece.... Which misses the point entirely. 

Art has always been an expression of freedom and limiting what you want to see by imposing rules or restrictions is just silly.... and don't get me wrong there's been art that I've looked at and gone "what" but at the end of the day that artist probably isn't starving anymore after selling it so who's the real chump.... Anyways back to street art.

So this week I've made an effort to try and check the hidden art spot that I got told about. I scootered over to the back of Haymarket and had a quick look to make sure it was the right spot.

Even in non rural Norfolk they just wont
let the memories of the fishing world rest...

I stopped for a moment, the unassuming path ahead of me stared back semi blankly before I unintentionally sad "Yeap this looks about right." Forgetting I had earbuds in of course, though I probably said it with enough confidence and volume to warn away even the most dedicated of samaritans.... Luckily being near 7am no-one was actually about. I had the gallery to myself to enjoy and browse at my leisure.

I don't know if UC means anything, but
the variety between styles is intoxicating.

If you ever get the chance to visit the fine city of Norwich you'll probably notice that the roads change in texture fairly often. One moment you're walking down a fine path echoing memories of a park walkway before tripping over the entrance into a cobblestone paved path that conjures up images of cloven hooves clapping their way along the path right before you step onto tarmac with a sense of unease... wondering when you're going to step onto a gravel paved walkway or even just when you have to start swimming to continue your journey.

Fairy doors really
do just pop up
everywhere here.

I was told to keep an eye out for a small red door hidden in the pathway. Norwich isn't exactly quiet about its abundance of small doors dotted in its stores so I was expecting a maintenance doorway that seem to have hidden their way throughout the ever evolving city... I can say with confidence I wasn't expecting to see a small red door of this size...

Another unique quirk I've noted in East Anglia that i'd never really even thought about before was the excess of Fairy Doors that seem to be hidden around in parks and homes. Apparently this is fairly common and likely pay homage to the Wiccan/Anglo traditions that seem to be heavily followed in this region. When me and my wife moved into our first flat we were gifted with a fairy door and we both looked at eachother hoping one of us would have a clue what to do with it. Turns out it's a pretty common tradition which quite frankly I can get behind, keep England weird.

I didn't really know what to expect after this. The fairy door threw me for a loop, I expected to stumble upon some interesting pieces of art throughout the city but never knew that someone would have taken the time to put a fairy door in such a heavily inhabited area, let alone without being caught. Normally they're nailed to a tree stump or hidden within a house for good fortune. This one was just sat in the middle of a alleyway behind a heavily pedestrianised route through the city. Maybe Alan Partridge was right, pedestrianisation in Norwich has ruined our perspectives on the bigger picture....

I'd like to say this was a creative interpretation of
Norwich nightlife and the perils of tactical
vomiting down an alleyway... but I think
it's just a familiar mascot over a bin.

One thing I noticed about stopping to admire street art in any capacity is that every passing person feels the need to audibly tut or show their displeasure once you've acknowledged their presence. It makes no sense... It would be like James Bond sneaking into the bad guys base to defuse the nuclear warheads only to at the last minute say "You realise this is illegal right? I should call the police!" after confronting numerous goons with lethal force and coming face to face with the mastermind behind the nukes....

And believe it or not, at the literal crack of dawn when I was researching all these bits, out of nowhere someone walked towards me as I had my phone out admiring the sights, and looked me up and down and tutted... as if I was glorifying my own art before the world had chance to judge it... At 7am someone had nothing better to do with their morning than tut at me taking a picture of the art that I'd stumbled upon on my adventures.

Maybe the guy was just sick of neo
fluorescent Pineapples everywhere.

I ignored him and crouched down to take a photo of one piece that caught my eye, but as I raised up from near prone with a huge grin on my face I realised he was poised at the end of the alleyway staring at me, perhaps he was a good samaritan preparing to confront a terrible artist that he may have caught in the act of vandalism... maybe he just wanted my phone and thought I was an easy target.

Either way if he had a message for me I didn't get it as by the time I realised he was staring at me Spotify was already halfway through Bad Companys "Feel like making love" and my mind was running away with memories of the first time me and my wife slow danced in a hotel overlooking the city of Brussels with a goofy grin on my face.... in short, I wasn't really that bothered that he was there.

In honesty I barely realised he'd stopped and if he had said something I definitely hadn't heard him....I was in my element surrounded with this art and happy memories.... After smiling at him in my most sincere "Can I help you?" way he got the hint and continued his morning commute.

Sometimes all you need to make your
mark is a Sharpie marker and patience...

I turned to continue down the path and met eye to eye with someones creative input on another artists piece about The Black Lives Matter movement.

It's always fascinated me how humour can be so different for everyone. I never understood growing up what jokes you can and can't tell in social situations and I feel like ages 10-16 were largely "Fuck about and Find out." Now i'm 30 I understand that maybe the amount of variety I had socially probably didn't help me to develop a 'normal' pattern of humour... but then again, who wants to be normal anyways?

Sometimes you just really know what
you want to say but you haven't got the
time to illustrate it in great detail.

The part about humour that I've always found incredible is that in the times of the worst pain we can almost immediately spin it to a joke that will help us cope. An old trope is that in British humour we see a celebrity die and the doctor that announces it turns to an orderly and says "Hang on, I got one." It's not a particularly pleasant trope but it's one that does get us through some pretty bleak times when you look at how insane the last few years have been..... What would lockdown have been without the memes?

Sometimes the creative talent that goes
into these messages can really dwarf the
underlying messages.

By this time I'd become invested in the hidden galleries many twists and turns and ventured further. And that's where I saw the Propaganda posters.... Now we all have these in every corner of the country. They crop up overnight with no trace of the creator in sight. The message is jarring for a few days then someone draws a moustache on the artists portrayal of the Queen and the original message begins to fade, then someones signature shows up and the piece is lost to time as a vague memory. I think the way that they sort of pop up can be a mystery in it's own right.

I've always had a fascination with QR
codes and NFC stickers.

But what is it about these that make us stop and look? Likely because we're so used to them being overused in Hollywood films about resistance and tyranny that we just sort of automatically assume that that's the setting we're in when they show up in response to something. Which is kind of ironic when most of the messages on them are in relation to 'unplugging' and switching off from the mainstream media.

A place to sign your name and show
the size of your balls considering
how close the wall is to the Police Station

The final stretch along the hidden gallery had a relatively well populated canvas that seemed to mimic one of those 'legal graffiti' spots that show up occasionally when councils can't afford an art installation but are sick of looking at people marking the wall with paint anyways.

Either way, the wall was covered in signatures of artists of every variation in colour and design. The main thing I noticed though, was that the mouth of the alleyway lead to the entrance into thePolice Station.

As you can imagine that they get less intricate the closer you get to the mouth. Likely because of the increased risk of getting caught.... Either way. Bravo. Bravo to all the artists that created a bit of life down this gloomy side alley.

More art to come in the next post! Sorry this one took so long.

Nope. Still no idea what a Plink Wall is.