Taken on September 30, 2016, this is my most treasured shot ever (being made, as it is the case, of course NOT with my present glorious Leica camera, but with “only” an iPhone 6s Plus, my photo machine at that time), and I take it to be THE symbol of the quest for Reykjavík’s city art and the like, which I initiated that year in a totally improvised manner.
Today, I start entering in the relevant pages (starting now with The line and later progressing through Fachadas en verso) the photos taken in my 2017 visit to the city. Which will probably take me quite a few months…, but I will document this process by regularly bringing selected cases here to the blog.
And I begin with this now iconic 2016 shot. In 2017, I looked for it again in my detours through the streets and managed to find it!! But one of the defining features of city art is its ephemeral nature. Compare the following two pictures, the first being another September 30, 2016 shot, the second taken on September 7, 2017:
My beloved little Reykjavík friend was now caught in street repair works and showing already signs of its lines (see the mouth) slightly fading away. Another detail: the blue letters on my friend’s cap had disappeared, but at least the initial letter (somehow ressembling an F) has been replaced by another almost identical, but this time in white: is the artist still contributing to his/her work a year later…?
A last, general view, showing the precise location, in the crossing between Grettisgata and Vitastígur streets:
