The Streets Of The Marais

We are staying in the Parisian neighborhood known as the Marais, to the east of the Pompidou Center. I haven't looked this up to be sure, but my memory is that was once the Jewish quarter, and once just sort of run down. Now it has a vibe similar to Soho in New York, albeit with much smaller and irregular streets.

We walked to the Picasso Museum today. It's a beautiful old building (the bottom two pictures are the courtyard) but I couldn't appreciate it. My only, constant thought was I need to sleep now. Whatever I have is not a simple bacterial infection but I won't know for sure until I get home and see my doctor. It's a really good 24 hours if I sleep less than 12 of them.

We can easily conclude that Paris has better quality wall art than St. Louis.          

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Intermission

A day's break from Fringe Festival pictures. The show I'm working on now is difficult, for a couple or reasons.               

But there is a lot of other stuff going on here this weekend. One of them is Paint Louis. There is a long section of the Mississippi flood wall south of downtown where graffiti and wall art are permitted. Once a year spray can artists are invited to renew it. It's going on now. Back to The Fringe shortly.

The Lowdown

What's the bird's eye low-down on this caper? Whatever that means . . .

      - Nick Danger

      The Further Adventures of Nick Danger

      Firesign Theatre, 1969

Anybody else out there old and strange enough to remember that? One of the funniest and most challenging things I've ever heard. Firesign Theatre was a major influence on the person I became.

This is on the graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi flood wall.

STL DPB In New York - Protect Your Heart

Graffiti or street art, as you prefer, under the southern end of the Highline. The first one could break your heart. The second might be advice for lovers and the third a response to it. 
        

Signs In The Street (In Saecula Saeculorum)

Most of the time you need to keep your gaze forward while walking the streets of New York. Don't run into the hoards of other pedestrians, food vendors' pushcarts, potholes or traffic. (Although New Yorkers, including me when I'm back, have a particularly aggressive way of crossing the street, as if saying to oncoming drivers C'mon. I dare you to hit me. I've got a badass lawyer.)

But sometimes you should look down at the pavement for unusual detail. The words in the first picture are painted onto the sidewalk at the entrance to the International Center of Photography, much beloved of us shooters. For ever and ever throughout the universe? So, after our species extinguishes itself, which does not seem a remote possibility, the computers that may replace us can use your image millennia from now on billboards on Tatooine? The lawyer in me says nobody who enters the building sees this and the release is unenforceable.

Further down, playing cards that have somehow affixed themselves to the sidewalk on E. Houston Street (New Yorkers pronounce it HOW-stun, not HOU-stun), and a stencil that is all too believable.

Missed It

I'm really sorry I missed Paint Louis a week and a half ago. I check the What's Happening lists frequently and didn't see any mention of it. Maybe the organizers didn't want a crowd of gawkers getting in the way of the artists.

This panel on the flood wall attracted me. It took a lot of planning and precise execution.  The sun and the earth, I suppose, although I don't know how the spiral fits in. And the scene has my favorite kind of light, bright sun coming from behind the shooter and dark cloud in the background.    

Art Research

I was contacted last week by a student at St. Louis University, my alma mater. She and two friends were doing a presentation for a communications class about our graffiti-permitted flood wall, its artistic merit, place in the community and public reaction. They found some of the several posts on this blog about the wall (this one in particular) and sent me an email. Could they interview me? Sure. I'm an old Billiken, too. Happy to help.

We met late yesterday at the wall. Paint Louis, the annual re-do of the wall, happened a couple of weeks ago and I totally missed it. Still, it was all new and fresh, sort of an annual rebirth. Aubra, Jacqueline and Hanna put me in front of this section and did a video Q & A session. After I was done they stopped any passer-by they could find. The runner in the bottom photo was from Portland, Oregon. He didn't know much about the wall but he liked it.

Hey, Man

That unmistakable smell was strangely absent from this section of the flood wall. I'm not aware that Cheech and Chong ever drove through St. Louis, dodging the attention of the police. Somebody still remembers them. There was an interview with Cheech Marin on National Public Radio earlier this month.     

Golden West

John Wayne wouldn't recognize it.  Nor would Giacomo Puccini. I don't know if the name and logo on this hopper car has something to do with the corporate owner or whether, perhaps, it carries grain. The graffiti looks sort of like the style of Pacific Northwest Native American art.

I threw some flash on this, which is what makes those reflective bars really pop out. We are into trains here in the heartland.                       

Everyone's A Critic

Everyone and everything that walks by an art display becomes a reviewer in one way or another. You might measure the degree of interest by the amount of time spent before each work. 

As with many similar photos, this is on the Mississippi flood wall south of downtown. The display constantly changes and evolves.                  

Another decade . . . need something local

Well, ten years down and whatever to go. Seems appropriate to have something local and seasonal to restart the timer. Opening day for the beloved Cardinals is only ten days away. These variations on the mascot were on the ever-changing part of the Mississippi flood wall where graffiti is permitted.

Those facial expressions, even as cartoons, are saying very different things.          

Make America Great Again

Look carefully at the smaller lettering across the center. 

If you would care to see a more blunt and crude version of these sentiments, click here. Not fit for the blog itself, but the wall painting is beautiful. It reminds me of a Chagall stained glass window.

I'm ashamed to be an American today and fearful for the future.           

The Herb

An open gate in the Mississippi flood wall south of downtown. This is the graffiti-permitted stretch. You see these "free the herb" tags everywhere around the city, always with the same lettering. The tagger may be stoned but he or she is persistent. 

However, I don't think it will ever be legalized in this state. We have an increasingly hard right government with a few islands of progressives scattered across. If you want it easy and legal, drive out to Colorado.

By the way, the old factory in the background is across the river in Illinois.               

Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

One of the area's safest fall-back subjects, the graffiti-permitted section of the floodwall along the Mississippi. It's always changing. Some people like these paintings, others don't, but I think this one is pretty clever.           

I Could See This At The Whitney

Need some filler. This was inside the ruins of the Cotton Belt Building. I noticed what seemed to be a burst of railroad ties through a busted out doorway. It looks like something you might see at The Whitney in New York.                  

This Could Have Been Found On The Sidewalks Of Cleveland

But no, it was on the pavement on Cherokee Street in south St. Louis.         

In The End

Found on a boarded-up building on Cherokee Street. The possible references are many, particularly for Americans.       

Entertainment Or Sustinance

A boxcar in East St. Louis near the river. I assume the part on the left is a reference to the singer/dancer/entertainer/not-very-good-role-model M. C. Hammer, or, if you prefer, Stanley Burrell. He does dance well. The part on the right is more puzzling. Who needs to be reminded?                   

Intimidation

           

Found in the old derelict industrial area south of the Arch park. My take is that it is meant to intimidate, the Mississippi River being close by.  

It reminded me of this 2012 photo, taken just a block or two away. I wonder if the same person or persons was involved.                      

I Got Nothing So Why Not Post...

At least it's enthusiastic.

So short on time...