Steve Leadbeater's photostream

Inspired by the Dag Nasty version of The Ruts track Staring At The Rude Boys (from the awesome album Field Day – 1988)

...a voice shouts loud
“we’ll never surrender”
a voice in the crowd
“we’ll never surrender”
a hand in the air fight propaganda
never surrender, never surrender…

Words from an unfinished description of being on the edge of sleep. I wanted to capture the surreal feeling as consciousness dissolves in the darkness and your imagination starts to light the twisted path to your dreams.

I have noticed a lot of French gothic inspired work lately (gargoyles and sexy typography). As a reaction to this I am celebrating the unromantic language of Germany with one of my favourite mythical creatures – the griffin.

Griffins are often portrayed as guardians of treasure. I have treated the design with a crude lack of sentimentality. ‘Düsterkeit’ (pronounced ‘do-stir-kite’) means greyness, gloominess or shadowy darkness in German.

Enjoy.

Graphite and watercolour.

Inspired by the written piece ‘Season of the stick’.
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