WATER GATE

 

A gate in the flood wall along the Mississippi, part of the graffiti-permitted Paint Louis section. The river lies just beyond the trees. I've never seen this gate closed, but then I wouldn't drive by if the water was that high.                         

ANGELS IN ST. LOUIS

Okay, more Paint Louis. These are three sections of a long, continuous work, which I will leave to you to interpret. In the air today and tomorrow, so maybe i’ll switch to pictures of airports.                        

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.                     

PAINT LOUIS

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest graffiti wall anywhere is here in St. Louis. It is a 2 mile / 3 km section of the Mississippi River flood wall south of downtown. Every Labor Day weekend, painters who have applied from around the world are given a section to do with it what they will. This is a first sample, perhaps a comment on liberty and capital. I’ll go back for more now that the crowds have left.                 

HEROES AND VILLAiNS

 

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.             

THE BIG GUY

 

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.           

UP AGAINST THE WALL

 

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.                  

ARTISTS FIRST

 

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.                

HEY, MISTER! WANNA BUY SOME ART?

Like the paintings on the flood wall and wish you could have some on the wall of your living room? Not for me. Most of it would haunt my dreams. Someone must be interested but I didn’t see a lot of product moving.                

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

 

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.                     

MENTAL HYGIENE

 

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. 😃                

LAST CHANCE SALOON

There were many vendors' tents at Paint Louis. A variety of merch, food and drink, but none so bluntly displayed as this. I recognized the address on the back of the tent as the former location of a notorious biker bar. I didn’t think biker bars ever went out of business, except maybe by arson.              

QUALITY CONTROL

 

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.                       

EVERYBODY PAINTS

 

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.