By Marta Morientes

40 Stansfield Rd, London

Last Sunday I took my two Spanish friends, Isa and Héctor, on a tour. I like doing that kind of stuff. They do not know where I’m taking them. Last time they had to walk blindfolded around Notting Hill to finally arrive to Rough Trade West. They know this neither is going to be an amazing discovery nor pointless, it’s going to have some kind of reason or meaning.   

We were walking through Stansfield Road when I took a speaker from my bag and ‘Space Oddity’ song began to sound. We stopped at number 40 (photo) and I said:

-Amigos, esta es la casa en la que nació David Bowie! / Friends, this is David Bowie’s birthplace! (Space Oddity sounding in high volume).

Yes, I love to dramatize mundane situations with the purpose of paying tribute to art (?).

David Bowie was a singer, songwriter, musician, actor, painter, publisher, curator, editor, and art collector; but above all, he was an artist. 

He was continually reinventing himself.

He kept disrupting his own status quo.

He was one of the best visual artists of the last century. 

He made it cool to look weird. 

He was interested in people; really interested, especially other people in the arts.

He brought together millions of people across different generations, beliefs and interests all around the world. 

His mural in Brixton is full of burning candles and fresh flowers 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. 

SCA may be in a church but if I have to pray for creativity I’ll go to Bowie’s Mural. 

His approach to the creative process is incredibly inspiring for me. 

A great example appears on “One+one=Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking” by Dave Trott. ‘Where isn’t everyone looking?’ is one of my favorite chapters: Dave Dye (Art Director I admire) was telling Dave Trott about Dave Wakefield. Dave Wakefield was in a band with David Bowie when he was young. Dave Wakefield said that they always knew he was going to be a star. While everyone was collecting mainly rock and roll records, David Bowie was collecting everything, really weird stuff they’d never heard of. 

He was a collector of ideas, personas… 

I remember I went to David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s house in Schöneberg (Berlin) in the summer of 2017. I moved to Berlin because I wanted to live in such a creative vibrant city. I was a Segway tour guide, not the kind of vibrant atmosphere I had expected. 

Two years later, I’ve just visited his birthplace in Brixton. I can’t be happier and more grateful with my life in London. 

Marc said someday that we are ‘meaning makers’. That’s what I do with Bowie’s houses. Every one represents a stage in my life. 

The next Bowie’s house I’d like to visit is in New York. Who knows what will be of my life in a couple of years?

I’m still a fan of everything. As David Bowie.