Leon

Years back, when I used to regularly walk the cities alleys and laneways 'collecting' photos of the various street art pieces as they surfaced and disappeared, I used to seek out the work of Cloke'n'Dagga. Half the time he put up certain stickers, part of an ever-ongoing series, and I'd get a bit excited to find a new one – especially if I discovered it down some deadend alley where most people would never think to look. The other half of the time he'd do various stencil pieces around the place. From a simple yet iconic hat and tie wearing guy (quickly) done in one colour (black), to multi-layered pieces like this.

When I came across this, I bloody loved it. A sister piece to another stencil (also featuring gun-toting Leon, but with gun stretched toward the viewer) I was a big fan of the pair, and this particular one was well done, large, three layers, and ideally placed on this metal sheet. Ideal, for stealing!

And so for weeks/months afterwards I kept on meaning to go back with hammer in hand and pry it off the wall, but to be honest I had doubts about the propriety of stealing his art, not to mention being frequently busy/tired or both in the evenings back then (stealing stuff like this is always done best in the dead of night). Long story short, by the I returned (many months later) to try and finally grab it... it was long gone! And to this day I still kick myself for not acting sooner! (Funnily enough I talked to him about this once and he said I should have taken it, even wished he'd gone back himself and taken it he was that proud of it! Fuck, eh?!)

Still, I've got my photo and that was my groove at the time, collecting my street art, archiving it for myself and posterity. Because the very nature of street art means what's here today, is almost definitely gone tomorrow. Or next week. etc.