Banksy's "Love Rat" London Bridge

As one of Banksy's most recognizable pieces, his rats appear in numerous locations. This "love rat" (now quite faded and with the heart largely gone) is located just beneath London Bridge in the underpass. While not exactly a Banksy I'd go out of my way to see, if you're walking the riverfront in London, England this one is easy to cross paths with if you know it's there.

Centre Pompidou in Paris, France

A few visuals from a morning visit to Centre Pompidou (also known as Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou) the iconic contemporary art gallery in Paris, France. 

Universal Monster Murals by Tristan Eaton

You can find these giant monster murals by Tristan Eaton featuring the Creature, Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and the Wolfman on the backlot at Universal Studios Hollywood in California. I love the combination of old posters, fonts, and references from the original source material to create these masterful collages of these iconic characters. The placement of the artwork is also fitting as these classic monster movies were filmed on the Universal lot nearly a century ago.

Hometown Series & Documentary on CKUA Radio

This morning my interview with Grant Stovel on Alberta Morning went live on CKUA Radio. 

We had a great chat about my Hometown Series currently on display in the Tumbleweed Project Space at the Esplanade in downtown Medicine Hat, and about my documentary on the Monarch Theatre, Your Cinema Needs You. You can listen to the interview embedded below. My thanks again to Grant Stovel and CKUA for reaching out and highlighting these projects.   

 

CKUA Radio · Luke Fandrich on Alberta Morning

Hometown Series at the Esplanade Gallery

If you find yourself in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta over the next 5 months, have a look at the Tumbleweed Spaces that line the exterior of the Esplanade gallery.

Since 2012, I've sporadically shot thousands of images of Medicine Hat as part of a collection I've referred to as "the Hometown Series" and if you've followed me at any point in the last decade there's a good chance you've seen a part of it randomly pop up in your feed. The Hometown Series became so popular over lockdown that you may even have a print from it hanging in your home at this point.

This new installation was just completed last week and features 24 panels with over 150 variations from the series. It's also been a rare excuse for me to take stock of just how big this collection has become without having a specific end date or purpose in mind - it was always more about challenging myself to create and share something in the moment amidst a myriad of other projects.

As I described in my notes it's become a digital tapestry of my community, but in its simplest form, it's really just an excuse to look at the familiar in a less familiar way.

Of course, this exhibition wouldn't have happened without all of you and your support. It also wouldn't have happened without the amazing team at TREX Southeast who were the ones who nudged me to consider doing this and presented the opportunity a year ago.

It's amazing what time and a little creative energy can turn into. Thank you all for the push and for continuing to share the ride!

Shooting New York City on (Expired) 35mm

This old Minolta may not look like much, but it was the only camera my parents used to capture my childhood. Needless to say, I don't think it had taken a single picture in over 20 years.

So, I thoroughly cleaned it, I found some very expired 35mm rolls of Kodak Gold, and I put it in my bag to capture some snapshots on my latest round of travel shoots in New York City.

Despite discovering the auto focus meter no longer worked and a little bit of bleed on the film, overall I was just pleased the experiment worked. Here's some of what developed.