I've read about hip-hop's purported origin, spontaneously at a block party in the South Bronx. (I went to high school in the Mid Bronx. We didn't know about this stuff.) No criticism, but the style, the culture, the sound is alien to me. I'm an old white guy who went to his first symphony concert at 11 and got hooked (you can see me with the glasses off Lenny's left shoulder - https://tinyurl.com/mt52k9jx.) Generations pass.
Walls Off Washington has a central nave, the alley between the painted buildings. It is usually shrouded in shadow but light filters down from above. The place can feel like a secular cathedral, which, of course, needs appropriate windows.
The alley between the buildings of Walls Off Washington is narrow. It is hard to get a good perspective,even with digital editing. This tropical image, a bit reminiscent of both Gaugin and STL's summer climate, is called I Dance, Too, by Rowan Bathurst. I don't, though.
A corner at Walls Off Washington, where a six-limbed dinosaur threatens a human with a torch. The beast seems to radiate like Godzilla. The St. Louis Big Top is in the right background, home of our own Circus Flora. The season is about to start and we're taking the grandkid on Saturday.
This image is a zoom into one of the sections in Walls Off Washington. The plaque underneath says it is called My Sky Sings Joy by Shinique Smith. It may be hard to see on a screen, particularly a phone, but individual elements are amazingly detailed. Look, for example, at the green paisley-like area. This took a lot of planning.
That's what it looks like to me, late Matisse, his birds painted or made with paper cut-outs. I don't know it that was the artist's intention for this section of Walls Off Washington but it is carried off well. It does seem, though, to have a bit of irony, peaceful symbols covering all those volts.
A small connecting building between the larger ones in The Walls Off Washington. All the other surfaces have designs, figurative or abstract (or a mix). This part makes for a good transition.
Why haven't I ever gotten through here? Walls Off Washington has been around for a few years, another project supported by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. Kranzberg is a major sponsor of the St. Lou Fringe Festival, which, as long-time readers know, is a big interest of mine. Most of the wall art is along an alley between buildings mostly devoted to arts organizations. You can't see much from the street. More to come.
