Pianocrasher Is Tickling the Ivories of "Play Me I'm Yours" in the British Library Courtyard.

Luke Jerram's "Play Me I'm Yours" street pianos initiative is a reaction of a creative individual to the general rule, prohibiting anyone to play music in public places without special arrangement - no matter how skilful you are at playing your piano or how popular your music is with the audience.

Any musician would have been stopped immediately by security outside this street festival.

Camden based artist and professional musician Oleg Lapidus, aka the Pianocrasher proved the point more than once by playing music unexpectedly in public areas and being stopped by security.

In 2008 he turned society's unacceptance of impromtu music performaces into a provocative creative trend, called Acoustic Graffiti Arts: video recordings of his own music performances and his visual art works, based on music stopped by security.

You can view Oleg's pianocrashes on:
http://www.pianocrasher.com
http://www.youtube.com/thepianocrasher

Street pianos and acoustic graffiti arts share the same artistic vision - they encourage general public to create freely and to use public space as their playground.
Pianocrasher is sincerely delighted to have come across a similarly thinking artist in the UK.

Mr Lapidus considers "Play Me I'm Yours" project as a variation of his own Acoustic Graffiti concept and a manisfestation of Prohibitivism. It lets people use their creative abilities at places where they normally wouldn't have any chance to.

Acoustic Graffiti performances and art works, created by Oleg Lapidus signify the spread of graffiti culture into music world. While classic graffiti usually stands for painting on a prohibited surface, acoustic
graffiti is a music performance in a prohibited place at a prohibited time. The difference between the two would be that visual graffiti is a form of street art while acoustic graffiti can happen indoors, including
the most high profile venues, where classic graffiti would equal vandalism. The moment of truth comes when security appear on the scene.

It is the symbol of prohibition imposed on an individual by public order regulations.


The Pianocrasher title refers to Italian piano - meaning soft and can be interpreted as breaking silence. Talented and versatile musician, Oleg is a virtuoso clarinettist and saxophonist, a skilful
pianist, flutist and a music teacher. For this reason his pianocrashes involve not only actual piano performances, but also flute, sax and clarinet.

Oleg's recent pianocrashes include the lobby of the iconic buildings on the South Bank - Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal National Theatre, the legendary Ronny Scott'sJazz Club, a number of top London hotels, like The Dorchester and Grosvenor House in Park Lane, historic Browns Hotel in Mayfair and The Ritz as well as restaurants such as glamorous JUST St.James's in St.James's.

"I use the sound graphs of the final notes of my performances when creating my art works. These sounds reflect the state of mind of an individual facing the dilemma: to keep playing music or to quit. It is an allegory of everyday life where people have to make choices under pressure. It first of all refers to new creative initiatives that face misunderstanding and often fall under attack at the start. They can only survive if the artist persists." Oleg Lapidus

Pianocrasher tried his hand at a number of street pianos during the festival. British Library Courtyard was one of them.

Eugenie Absalom
http://eugenieabsalom.livejournal.com
http://www.beaumondemedia.webs.com

1. By: EugenieAbsalom
2. Categories Art & Animation, Music & Dance
3. Views 462
4. Added :26-Jun-09
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