Drainspot of the week - Hong Kong

British born, Australian artist, Remo Camerota and Hisako Camerota, photographer, from Japan are in Hong Kong this week for the 150th anniversary of Towngas. Remo was invited to participate in the celebrations by creating a unique Manhole Pit Cover for the streets of Hong Kong, see below, and also hosting workshops and appearances throughout Hong Kong in Oct 2012. "It is a great honor to be invited to Hong Kong and help shape the color of their streets for years to come, and I hope HK embrace this form of street art and continue to add to their Pit Cover collection". So far Towngas have added 150 Pit Covers to the streets. Drainspotting photos the book are also part of an exhibition that helps commemorate the 150th anniversary. Other artists work on exhibit are Shepard Fairey(Obey), Space Invader, Rendo, Flying Fortress, London Police from the Metroweb Milan, also Graphic Airlines, Fiona Sit, Chocolate Rain and more.
A design competition was also held for students and artists to send their Pit Cover designs in for inclusion in the celebration. The winners are to be included in the streets. Remo helped judge these works and now several young artists are able to see their work in the streets of HK.
From HK, this has been, and is a great week for Drainspotting.


150 Towngas on Facebook

Best of Photography 2011- Photographers Forum

I am honored to have my photograph, Aftermath, of Kesennuma Station, Tohoku Japan disaster area 2011,  published in this years Photographers Forum, Best Of Photography Book 2011.

pfmagazine.com

Sink or Swim

Join us at the M event space in Daikanyama Tokyo this Saturday the 16th for an exhibition to save the Sharks. I will be exhibiting the above images, along with friends from around the globe, to help raise funds for  Shark helping organization, PangeaSeed. With many other great artists and a video by myself and Wayne J it is Presented by PangeaSeed. Hope to see you there!!

Remo photographs Araki Nobuyoshi @ Polart 6000

DRAINSPOTTING BOOK FIRST LOOK

DRAINSPOTTING FIRST LOOK:

ITS HERE! The Drainspotting book just arrived at my house for a preview and I now have it in my hands. Here are the first look photos of the book including the lovely gold embossing on the cover. Its an absolutely gorgeous piece of work, BRAVO Mark Batty Publisher, you have done it again. Drainspotting, the follow up to my first book Graffiti Japan. After 1 year of production the book hits the stores worldwide this May.

Be sure to keep an eye out, or order it online at amazon.com.

DRAINSPOTTING App hits NEW & NOTEWORTHY on ITUNES

Drainspotting Extras: Japnese Manhole Covers, the App, has hit the New and Noteworthy page on ITUNES. Yes this is the front page! When i started off this little project I really didn't think that so many people would be so interested in these fascinating manhole covers, as I myself am, but I was wrong!. Thanks to everyone out there that is Drainspotting around the world and carrying on this OTAKU tradition through this Japanese phenomenon, we have hit the front page of ITUNES!

Next stop hopefully will be Whats Hot.

Drainspotting Extras, the title : So after much deliberation and conversation with MBP, my publisher for the Hard Copy Book, we have all decided that it would be best to call the Ipad App, Drainspotting Extras, instead of just Drainspotting. We decided this because we thought that people would possibly think that the App may be the book itself. It is pretty clear throughout  the App and any descriptions that it is not the same as the book, and i can assure you all, that the photographs in the book and in the App are different drainspots. 

The reason I put together the app was because we could not fit all of the wonderful Drainspotting photographs collected into the first book. So I decided to create this App so as people  could start collecting them all and seeing much more variety of Manhole Covers. I say this, because it is like collecting. Once you have seen one compelling manhole cover, you just want to keep seeing more. It is highly addictive and there are over 6000 drainspots to have!

Extra news is DRAINSPOTTING the BOOK has arrived at Mark Batty Publisher and I am eagerly awaiting to hold the very first copy in my hands when it arrives via UPS to Japan... EXCITING!

I will be previewing a first look here soon.

                                   

Download the App from Itunes: 

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/drainspotting/id364587681?mt=8

DRAINSPOTTING EXTRAS AVAILABLE ON ITUNES FOR IPAD

Drainspotting hard copy will be coming to a book store near you soon, but for a preview of this wonderful book you can now download the IPAD version from Itunes store. This elegant IPAD companion features over 50 extra manhole covers and photographs that are not included in the hard back copy, and it serves as an electronic companion to the book. In this copy, View the process of making manhole covers at the Nagashima factory in a photo essay and discover the first look of manholes documented through beautifully crafted photographs and stylish design in a coffee table type book on your IPAD. Visit this hidden Japanese culture for the first time, documented in a complete volume of work including  electronic and hard back. 
                   DOWNLOAD NOW FROM ITUNES

                   http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/drainspotting/id364587681?mt=8

INTERVIEW WITH DAY IN THE LYFE

Interview by Knox Harrington from graffiti magazine Day in the lyfe

DRAINSPOTTING COMING SOON

Drainspotting will be released by Mark batty
Publlisher in the coming months. Until then welcome
to the online companion to the book Drainspotting
by Remo Camerota and Mark Batty Publisher.
Japanese manhole covers come in many shapes,
colors and sizes, and in Japan, scanning the streets
for a colorful and delightful array of manhole
covers has become a pastime, for both the Japanese
and foreigners looking to experience a distinctly
Japanese visual phenomenon: drainspotting.
I became fascinated by these covers while i was
photographing my first book "Graffiti Japan" also
published by Mark batty Publisher. So of course
with the suggestion by my good friend
Michael Shaun Conaway and the help of my Partner
Hisako Emura we made the first ever book on the subject.
There are many websites dedicated to these wonderful
artifacts, created by the many manhole
maniacs online, and there are even manhole museums
spread throughout Japan, but now there
is the full glossy color book.In this blog i will include
photos and info that did not make it into
the book. And as photographing these manhole
covers is like treasure hunting, i will endeavor
to display newly found drain covers that appear after
the book has been printed and on the shelves.
You can check out my other titles at
www.markbattypublisher.com and www.graffitijapan.com