COLOR VISION

I should be moving away from Paint Louis pictures but I like this one for its simplicity and vibrance. Some birds have better color vision than humans and are able to see part of the ultraviolet spectrum. New stuff coming since we are traveling this weekend. The people at our destination technically speak English but we’ve had trouble understanding some of them. (And no, we're not going to Alabama.)                

DALI LIVES

Or at least shows his influence in an enigmatic image at Paint Louis by well-known local artist Phil Jarvis, https://www.philjarvispainting.com/.  Color? But then we think of Ceci n’est pas une pipe.                  

DETAIL AND CONTEXT

Something from Paint Louis that caught my eye. The detail, in a way, shows the point of the whole event. I think it’s perky. The whole panel, though, is unsettling. A baby covered with tattoos and wearing a balaclava (ICE agent?). References to Chicago like the central tattoo and the CTA transit car. Why is the baby cradling what I think is a bolt cutter?  It’s cringy.            

INTERPRETATION NEEDED

There was much creative mural art at Paint Louis but a lot of what went on the walls can be described (if I understand correctly) as tagging. I looked for information online to distinguishing graffiti from tagging and found only a little, such as https://www.edenart.com/news/graffiti-vs-tagging.  Is this hyper-stylized lettering? I can see hints of letters, an R here and maybe a K there, but I can’t read.it. Is it meant to be intelligible to someone? Comments welcome.                       

VISION OF ST. LOUIS

Another from Paint Louis. Besides the beautiful, evocative portrait, the background is of particular interest to me. The view is looking west toward the Arch and downtown from the Illinois side of the river. However, it isn’t today’s downtown, but from decades past, when the Arch was newer and I went to work there 51 years ago. Modern buildings are absent and the one by the left leg was razed long ago. Was the artist aware of this? If so, why was this picture used?                 

PAINT LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

Clever, and one of my favorite works from Paint Louis, a wonderful mix of references. It brings back dim memories of when we walked down the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Karnak-Luxor decades ago on our earliest big adventure.               

HOW IT’S DONE

Painting a mural on a scale this big is a challenge. The flood wall is built in sections (you can see a vertical seam in the center). I don’t know the exact process, but the artists seem to get two of them. There must be a lot of planning, design and expense (think of all that paint!). The well-funded ones rent these jack lifts. Those less so bring tall ladders to go all the way up.