At the Cardinals baseball game. She calls these things stuffies and - I can’t be sure - she may have over a hundred. The big one in the middle is the Cardinals’ mascot, known as Fredbird. The one on her right was the give-away at the game. The one on her left was made by one of the nurses when her mother was hospitalized last year.
An old guy walking around with a big camera can get people’s attention. Passers-by sometimes engage me. The most common question is “get any good ones today?” Most common answer, said in a pleasant tone: "Ï’ll know when I download them.” Rarer but much more fun question is “hey, mister, wanna take our picture?” The answer is always yes. I offer to send them a copy and give them my card. Hardly anyone contacts me.
I met these young people in Citygarden, our wonderful downtown sculpture park. The picture was originally in color, of course, but the light was hazy-bright-harsh and my Photoshop skills were not up to fixing it. Still, you can often get a good monochrome conversion.
I don’t have much interest in sports. The violence and exploitation of American football horrify me. But I do have a soft spot for baseball. It’s what I grew up with, when a kid could get a cheap seat at Yankee Stadium on the day of the game for what was in a kid’s pocket. Now I support the St Louis Cardinals. They are having a mediocre year, after a terrible one last season. We rarely attend.
But we got tickets for last Sunday. They had a promotion giving kids a free Cardinals teddy bear. My granddaughter, Ellie, who has the largest collection of stuffed animals and things (a stuffed cup of bubble tea!) in Missouri coveted yet another one. The Cardinals got smacked around but the day was beautiful.
I said I’m not much for sports but we’ve been to a couple of first division soccer/football matches in Buenos Aires, and that was a lot of fun.
So much of the wall art I see at Paint Louis and other places looks like Marvel comic books on steroids. (But, um, I’m getting some in my spine later today. It has its uses.) Being old and not ever being a comic book reader (unless you count Mad Magazine), I don’t get the ethos. What are the artists trying to express or communicate? Inquiring minds want to know.
I’ve never seen anyone use a stencil before at Paint Louis but it makes sense. It’s been hard for me (knowing nothing about the techniques) to understand how the artists get the small details right. The colorful arcs emphasize the big chest and belly, as does the pose with hands behind the back. I particularly like the top of the head scattering into crazy energy mist.
Missed yesterday’s post. Today is two weeks post-op and things haven’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked. A little harder to get out on the street.
So back to Paint Louis. This picture gives some overview of how the process works, albeit just a short selection. The whole thing runs about two miles or 3 kilometers. It becomes a linear art gallery.
Some noble thoughts in this Kieth Haring-ish mural. But maybe it’s better to start at the base of the pyramid, focusing on food, shelter and health care.
Is anyone out there old enough to at least know of the once-popular radio drama, The Shadow? https://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/The_Shadow.php The intro was always "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” I pride myself on loose associations, and that was what immediately came to mind when I photographed this section of the Paint Louis wall.
Some of the wall art at Paint Louis is pleasant fantasy, some political, some social commentary, but to me a lot of it is deeply disturbing. Sure, I’m in my 70s (okay, boomer) and would not understand lots of what’s happening to younger people. Nevertheless, much of the work communicates - to me - a dark, distorted, even apocalyptic world. It is so skillfully executed, but what motivates it? Some of it reminds me of the well-known English artist, Francis Bacon, https://www.francis-bacon.com/paintings, whose images curl my toes and make me look away.
Other than that, have a nice day. 😃
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Of course, the taste of that eye is shaped by culture and experience. I get some of the esthetic of the wall painters on a visceral level but there is plenty that puzzles me. My parents didn’t get the Rolling Stones, either.
I’ve never gone to the earliest phase of Paint Louis. The artists must start with a plan, perhaps on a grid, to transfer their designs onto a large section of wall. There is also a puzzle (to me) about the enormous scripts that all follow a similar style (to my eye) and look much alike. What do I know. I’m old.
We wanted to go to the big Japanese festival at our botanical garden yesterday and got tickets in advance. When we arrived around 11 all of the remote parking lots were full. Literally nowhere to put your car, so we left. Big disappointment, photo ops missed.
Labor Day weekend around here brings the return of Paint Louis, the annual event in which a 2+ miles stretch of the Mississippi River floodwall is turned over to graffiti artists from around the world. You may or may not like the style but this takes a lot of skill and effort. The work may not be art school standard but you can’t pull this off easily. And imagine the expense for all that paint, equipment rental and transportation. More to come.
CDP’s September monthly theme is bridges. Given the rivers around here, we have plenty. This was taken at the dedication of the newest one across the Mississippi, the awkwardly named Stan Musial - Veterans Memorial Bridge. (Stan Musial was, by acclamation, the greatest player in the history of our baseball team.) Simple is good. Crossings from other City Daily Photo members around the world can be found here.
I was more creative about theme days when I was younger. CDP had bridges as a theme 14 years ago. This is what I posted,
