It is just unavoidable now ......

So I have been witness, and even party too some strange times over the course of my short little life time

but it really just takes a few dodgy elections , a rigged referendum , … well two of them I guess , ( plus a series of nonsensical subsequent occurrences ….. a Brexit … a Donald Trump presidency, …. a ...well, I don't even know what to call the so called administration of this so called country at the moment -  from tony blair to Gordon brown to Cameron to thatcher … er I mean may , and now we have Boris

Boris who is now ' taking back control ' of this whole ramshackle shit show that is the ' Covid 19  Pandemic ' !!!

You Know I got back here on the Friday the 13th of March - ever increasingly reluctantly I assure you,  I think that by the Monday , Old Boris had abandoned his whole herd immunity philosophy - and decided that in order to save the NHS , what we all had to do was stay at home, unless absolutely necessary

now that dosent sound so bad right ? we all get a bit of time off … we can chill out at home and do a bit of gardening ….. sit around for grayons art club , drink lots of tea , maybe even spend a little extra time with the kids , sounds alright for sure …..

and if it was optional , then yes it would have been a sufferable nightmare , locked down for the greater good with your immediate nearest and dearest , in your little English country garden …. how nice , how quintessentially british !!

but the dirty truth , as most of the people in this country that actually spend their time in the environment in which they live , and have not yet been completely brain deaded by years of predictable television ' programming ' - and phone screen hypnotization - the perpetual ' boredom breaker ' the virtual masturbation that is rendering an entire generation of would be, and sorely needed revolutionaries … into pokemon go chasing - clickbait consuming over urbanized retards with extra ordinary video game proficiencies

Jeezus fucking wept !!!

who was I meant to be having a go at with this ….??!!

Oh yes Plymouth , Plymouth the city scape that looks like the fall of the soviet union !! this place is an utter joke - every bit of it really , and its a sad shame !!

I have been engaged in and even involved in  the spearheading of a few politically active movements over the past decade or so, and with my transient ' art show ' I have managed to find myself on various social plateau's all around the world , so there is a basis of truth when I render my skewed little perspective ….

and Plymouth , my little Darling …. you are a piece of shit !!

I have recently begun to refer to this place as the arse hole corner of Boris Johnsons Brexit Britain In Donald Trumps age of the Charlatan , and you know having been forced to remain here , festering , under lockdown for the past few months , it has really compounded my position on the matter !!!

At the End of 2019 I was going through yet another little work induced breakdown ( happens a lot :) )  having spent about a year fighting with the local authority about the availability of suitable social backed housing schemes and basic provision - through a direct action ! of course while simultaneously maintaining the usual body of art and design works - I was hoping to sail away to Portugal in the autumn due to my illicit experiences here in this utterly hostile environment - I was just a little too burnt out for the trip , so I figured that I would settle for the interim and re - evaluate in the spring !

now I have been expressly interested in the destruction of the social provision in this country through the mismanagement of successive fools and liars - and so I thought I would have a punt at just testing the social safety net in this country -

I began volunteering with a local  charity that is well established in the area in the field of , mental health issues and rehabilitation - offering various training programmes for individuals with complex needs and backgrounds -

I applied for the short term social supports that most people are ' entitled ' - I approached Plymouth City Council with my plight - and through network of agencies managed to find a viable accommodation option - ha ha ha oh dear !! well I say a viable accommodation option - I was offered a two bedroom flat in a bad neighbourhood in the city centre - an alcholic and his wife in the ground floor flat - a mad Albanain Guy on the Top Floor flat with a history of issues

the building is rotting into the ground and the weather comes in through the roof and various holes in the walls - the two bedroom flat comes equipped with its own ' recovering alcoholic ' in room 2

and its all supposed to be fine because its a maximum stay of 3 months as ' temporary accommodation ' while various agencies are looking at facilitating us into our own accommodations and back into our own lives ……???

8 months now !!! I have been complaining in writing and via the phone , I have dropped into offices and even presented my own survey on the property to no less than 5 different agencies - nothing !! Path - useless !! Plymouths only homelessness prevention charity/ company ?? has threatened more people than I can count with eviction ( eviction from rough sleeping prevention housing - as previously mentioned , documentable squalor ) despite full allocation of housing benefit being received ???  these people are being instructed to pay a top up ? a weekly top up out of the state benefit that '' the government deems the minimum amount a person should be required to live on '' - under threat of eviction !! ?? this is an utter disgrace - not only does this ensure a private landlord safety net in the event of negligence or miscare , but it also artificially inflates the lower end of SUITABLE available accommodation provisions within the city for most of the rental market !!! This Needs To Be Scritinized !!!

I have postulated that there is obviously a racket here in this poxy city that is furthest away from the centre of capitol and commerce - but equal in its seedy corruption and underhand methods !

the game is , if you are a private landlord ,ideally one of those wally's that was sold a ' buy to let ' during that whole scam ! and you cant afford the maintenance on your piece of shit ' investment ' - and or are struggling to let it out in the competitive ' luxury student accommodation ' market ….

then kick it over to social housing - the maximum allocation that the .Gov will pay in housing benefit will easily keep you going ,'' these people are all mental or on drugs any way so they will either not care or fuck it up anyway   '' - this is the facilitation to rehabilitation and the right Path - the Plymouths access to housing !! this ' charity ' that is also a limited company … has had numerous directors since its inception since 1995 - and works closely with the so called council of these parts ( the same council that covers the costs of mount Edgecumbe country park - is covering the company ' British Land ' even though they have been consigned huge swathes of the city - only to be going broke any way !!)

I saw a headline in the local paper the other day  '' Please Save Our City '' a plea from the commercial and social aspects of the city to the laughable central government - for help through these tough times

don't you get it …. you have been fucked like the whore that you are !! British land / Serco / G4S … all of this that has sprung up over the past little while … all of it questionable , all of it dubious … all of it share holder orientated … all with huge government contracts !! and its all gone to shit on private tender !!!

but never mind any of that , old Tudor Evans has gone and built his box - and apparently they have a mammoth and some models that used to hang off the front of slave ships - and the university is just over the road , so they can now at least offer these poor mind fucked - bright eyed graduates , high flying positions in the attraction that no one comes to see ….and as for the Mayflower 400 - fuck you , there was a reason that the ship left this wretched place !!! and it stands to reason that if she were in the harbour now ??

we could have had urban gardens , housing co operatives , urban regeneration - community orientated investments - neighbourhood production and engagement schemes - instead what do we have - some student bedsits - a ' museum ' - a university ( the cost for attendance by the way !!! ) the drake circus mall - the ' barcode ' a statue of a woman on royal parade that has been so weighed down by this unending age of austerity that she is almost doubled over and attempting to steady herself with one hand !!

and We cant say that I haven't tried, in the short bursts of utter frustration that I find myself in in this , the arse hole corner of Boris Johnsosn Brexit Britain in Donald Trumps age of the utter Charlatan , every time I return here , its just more and more of the same !!  ten yeas ago I went to war with this particular authority - all I was trying to do was test an architectural design idea and a few little exhibitions - I managed it in the end , but had a year and a half legal fight with some utterly incompetent administrators in the authority and decided I would be better off in Amsterdam - it cost me a great deal of trouble - and even my first marriage , but I was happy to just cut my losses and run - although at the time there was a very similar case taking place between a guy that had appeared on the t.v show dragons den ! and Plymouth city council no less … in the end I believe he was awarded a fair amount in compensations for his unfortunate experience with a very corrupt and underhand organization , that often tries to hide its ruthelessness, as simple administrative error !!! … I was feeling a little more humanitarian than that , and was more than happy to just be rid of dealing with the organization that had no money ! and I wonder if I had hit these pieces of shit there and then for compensation …. if their attitude towards me since might have been different and instead of constantly trying to cover for their previous ' mistakes ' they just acknowledged it and collaborated past it

tens years since … ten years of political nonsense . homes under the hammer and stags estate agents

In Amsterdam for a while the exhibition's title was ' Brexit Refugee ' - and of course in hindsight  it was worthy of the controversy it caused me ! I am sure that I saw a real hit from the populist markets back home !

but I find myself  back here again ,literally trapped this time !! and I have to wonder , under these current circumstances , just another chapter in this unwinding series of circumstance - with art as my only means of defence -

am I being persecuted here ? is this really just a haphazard series of ' bad luck ' scenarios in this ridiculously hostile environment ?? … I thought that If I worked hard , I was supposed to get ahead ! if I was innovative and entrepreneurial and tenacious , then eventually all the hard work is supposed to pay off right ?

well apparently not ,

maybe this country is just a hostile environment now - a political class - a millionaires class - an upper middle class - a middle class -  a working class ….a benefits class..... and me, the rebellious class ??

but maybe , just maybe … I have accidentally slid myself into a position of  public influence … and just maybe I have been , mad enough / clever enough and articulate enough to call some pieces of shit out on their game at some crucial junctures !

maybe somewhere along my travels  I fucked someone's daughter and they just got moody about the hippy influence I had on their genetic spillage  ??

maybe that weird Dominic cummings creature is trying to throw  some Jacobs ladder inspired Analytica at me ??

but what ever the reason and I am not the only one being hit hard for it !

Artby Valerio's Art B&B Amsterdam 2017

Following the Awesome success of our Year Long Pilot Project in Amsterdam last year  to test the long term viability of opening an official Art By Valerio base in the city

,,,we have indeed decided to attempt to go for it ...... for the 2017 Launch we will of course be doing prize giveaways in the normal fashion of like and share competitions for Holidays and Art work ... but for now ... if you are interested in finding out more follow the official airbnb Link

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/10984461?preview or alternatively contact us directly via e-mail

artbyvalerio@hotmail.co.uk

So come and use the awesome space as a base for your vacation ... or try our bespoke Arts and Creative Experience by trying any of our extra curricular activities during your stay x

Artby Valerio New Years Benefit Auction

Details Coming Soon x