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.             

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.                  

GOAL POSTS

St. Louis has a long, graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi River floodwall. There are some industrial facilities behind it. It faces west and can simply glow in the late afternoon of a clear winter day.               

NOT THE LOCAL SPACEPORT

Gotta get back to normal stuff. When I took this picture my loose associations made me think of a rocket gantry but it's just some kind of industrial structure along the riverfront. That diagonal piece on the left is a type used to get material on and off of barges. Which would be great, except the Mississippi is running dry, sort of and at most places the barges can't get close enough to shore. I hope to get some pictures of that.

A bit of the Paint Louis section of the floodwall is at the lower left.            

PAINT LOUIS IS BACK

Paint Louis, which takes place here over Labor Day weekend, is a big international gathering of graffiti artists, taggers, DJs and hip-hoppers. It's arguably the largest single graffiti event in the world, covering a 2 mile / 3.2 km stretch of the Mississippi River floodwall south of the Arch, all sanctioned by the city. The result is considered the longest mural in existence by the Guinness Book of World Records. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Louis 

I went for a look late yesterday afternoon and things were just getting started. It's supposed to rain most of today and I don't know how it will affect the schedule. https://www.facebook.com/PaintLouis/ I'll be back when the weather permits.                

YESTERDAY DID NOT GO AS PLANNED

I keep saying that I am desperate for material. During the warmer months that involves outdoor events. Of, course, there are next to none. There was to be a rally downtown at the main post office in opposition to our wicked national administration's attempt to cripple the postal service in an effort to discourage voting by mail. So I found a place to park in the shade where I could see the entrance. Nobody there, so I sat in my car with the engine off listening to the weird music I like (anyone into Caroline Shaw?) through my phone. Eight or ten people eventually showed up. I tried to start my car and - nothing. Troubleshooting led to the conclusion that the battery was dead. It took the auto club an hour to get to me to jump start the thing.

 

The technician did tests and told me the battery was about kaput. I called the dealership and their service department could work me in. So, by late afternoon, I got home with a new battery and no photos.

 

Back in the recent archives, then. I found these mean-looking guys and their bikes by the graffiti-permitted section of the flood wall, kept my distance and shot this through the windshield with a telephoto. Downtown streets have been pretty empty lately and there has been a real problem with people racing on souped-up motorcycles, doing dangerous tricks and even gunfire. (Remember, this is America.) The city has blocked off some major streets down to one lane and closed the old bridge over the Mississippi. I wonder if these chaps were on their way to such sport.                 

GOOD ADVICE, MOSTLY

A concrete barrier in front of a closed flood gate along the Mississippi. Be patient for what? The water going down? The river is doing that but it will take some time for it to recede below the street behind this gate.

This is generally a good idea but there are times when patience is a bad choice. Say you were being chased by a wild animal or your chemotherapy isn't getting scheduled.             

Big Sky Country

I was driving around the riverfront late Saturday afternoon looking for something to shoot. The light was very nice. That's the graffiti-permitted section of the floodwall in the foreground and an old railroad bridge that seems to be supporting a big cumulus cloud. Not many of them around in late autumn. I think of them as summer clouds.        

B&W Challenge, Day 2

Once again, the plan is seven days of B&W photos, no people, no words. Need to go back in the archives to do this series. That's okay. I have a black and white album on Flickr and it made me go back and see what worked and what didn't.

I think this worked. Taken from the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Eads Bridge in the middle layer. The bottom layer is a floodwall with heavy concrete and steel supports to hold back the river.       

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Shadow and Highlight

I've been cruising around looking for high contrast images. (Well, Photoshop helps, too.) This one is my favorite. Taken from the riverfront in East St. Louis, Illinois, looking back at the Arch. The concrete structure in the bottom foreground is a floodwall, holding back the highest levels of the Mississippi. Note the angled support posts. I bet there is steel inside.

The dark structure is the Eads Bridge, often seen in these pages before. (For example, here.)

Have a look at the submissions from CDP members around the world here.

There are a number of other high contrast B and W shots I took around the same time. More pix from Kansas first but then I think I'll roll with this set for a few days.                   

The Things You Miss When You Visit France

Paint Louis took place two weekends while we were wandering around Provence. It's the annual re-decoration of a section of the Mississippi River flood wall by graffiti and street artists. It would have been fun to photograph it in progress but, hey, we were having lunch at Nathalie's near Beaumes de Venise. I had time for just a brief swing by yesterday. These examples announce the event. More later.                      

Meanwhile In St. Louis

Meanwhile in St. Louis . . . what? Who cares? I'm outta here for eight days. A somewhat unusual Thursday Arch picture tomorrow and then cowboys and Indians, bustin' broncos, ten gallon hats and prize steers, followed by mountains, glaciers and icy, pristine lakes. Trip theme songs here and here.

The photo is from Paint Louis, the recently redecorated part of the Mississippi River floodwall.                       

Paint Louis

I missed some local events when I was in Chicago last weekend. One of them was Paint Louis, the sanctioned but irregular opportunity for graffiti artists to redecorate the long floodwall that runs along the Mississippi south of the Arch. I swung by on my way home from work last night and got some shots. Someone, presumably from that city, even painted the flag of the City of Chicago to remind me of my travels.                    

Keep St. Louis Freaky

There are some parts of our metropolitan area that are godawful boring. Soulless, seemingly endless suburban subdivisions. Shopping plazas off the city streets, housing the same numb franchises. Walmarts that spread to the horizon. Makes me think of Frank Zappa's Hungry Freaks. 

But it's not all like that. We are fortunate to have a strong undercurrent of weirdness, more visible in the city proper. This bit is a tiny, wacky park at the entrance to the riverfront trail that starts north of the Arch. It was designed by the late Bob Cassilly, founder of our very, very strange - and delightful - City Museum. Work on the site seems to have stopped after Cassilly's death but it still radiates the spirit of an artist who refused to be defined.

So much to shoot in the coming days. There are two St. Patrick's Day parades this weekend. The city's is on Saturday and it's huge. There is a smaller one, less flashy but somehow more sincere, that is always on March 17. Since that's Sunday this year I get to shoot it. It's run by an organization that calls itself The Ancient Order Of Hibernians in a neighborhood with the picturesque name of Dogtown.  Then there's a quick business trip to New Orleans on Tuesday - work in the morning but the afternoon and evening free to shoot. Whew.          

Girl Rising

In 2013, and every year.

Something new found on the graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi River floodwall.        

Not Without Reason

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It is said to be the shortest verse in the Bible, at least the King James and related English versions (John 11:35). It might also be the shortest phrase on the graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi River floodwall. The point of view looks back into a lonely area of railroad tracks and scattered light industry. When I go back in there to shoot it makes me think of the old Bob Dylan song Desolation Row.   

I've posted lots of images of this graffiti wall over the years. A few commenters have vehemently objected to graffiti in general and the content of these photos in particular. I couldn't disagree more. It's allowed, it's encouraged in this area. A tall, blank wall a few hundred meters long in a remote location is the perfect place for an outlet for these artists. And they are artists. Much of the work is fantastically creative. It doesn't bother anyone. Nobody goes back there but a few workers, the occasional cop and me.

Je T'aime

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Another section of the Mississippi River floodwall where graffiti is permitted. It gets painted and repainted over the years, leaving as many layers as the ruins of Troy.

Need to go find some new material but it was a very busy week and the next one will be worse. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though: I leave next Saturday for a week at my beloved camera camp in Maine. Doing an intensive workshop on street photography. Lobster! Cool temps! Breakfast with Birdman in Portland on my way up from Boston!

Made-U-Look

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Did I? What did you see?

From the Mississippi floodwall. By the way, the figure in yesterday's post was watching the icy water skiing in the river on New Year's Day.

Post-Apocalypse Now

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This kind of stuff just gets my eye. Some people might find it ugly. I think it's interesting, really interesting. This is a section of the Mississippi floodwall with a gap for access to barge operations. (The gap can be closed by a movable section of wall). There is wild, chaotic color juxtaposed against apparent desolation (but it's just river industrial operations). It kinda reminds me of paintings by Yves Tanguy.

I'm writing this at my desk late Friday afternoon. It's been a long week. The postcard I keep here of Richard Avedon's portrait of William S. Burroughs is creeping me out. Time to go home. And Saturday? Must...take...pictures...

The Purpose of All This Effort

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Some people, like stoics and saints (and my partner's sister/paralegal) never complain. They shoulder life's burdens quietly. I think it's kinda fun to complain sometimes. You know, get it off your chest, wheedle a little sympathy. My day job is long and this blog takes up a, um, disproportionate amount of my scarce free time. Why make the effort? See above. That's what it boils down to.

I founds some new - to me - graffiti yesterday on the section of the Mississippi floodwall where it is permitted. This one seemed like a good way to note 1,096 days of an open-ended project. Which must mean that tomorrow (drumroll) is STL DPB's third anniversary! Stop by for something from the confectionary.