Prior to settling in Vermont, I had a number of adventures in a variety of Latin American countries in which I mixed cement on top of a roof in a mountainside village, snorkeled with penguins and discovered a deep appreciation for the agave plant.
In addition to these things, I also developed a curiosity for political graffiti and other forms of street art. Every once in a while I see a piece of street art in Burlington that makes me giggle.
This particular depiction of Obama was on the back of the YMCA facing the City Market parking lot last year. I took the picture with my cell phone after walking by it several times, and I'm glad that I did, because soon after, Obama's face was gone and all that was left was a splash of light yellow paint.
There is Street Exhibit happening in Burlington this month that features the photography of Ned Castle in which two photographs are displayed side by side depicting the high point and low point in an at-risk-youth's life. I stopped today to take a photo of the two that were showing on my way out of the parking garage.
Next to the photographs is a poster with a 1-800 number that you can call for a narrative to go along with the photos.
In July, my 1.4 square mile city featured a "Pop-Up Gallery" in the empty store fronts that have been vacant since our "downtown revitalization" about 6 years ago. It was pretty sweet and featured some great local art! One of the galleries was selling greeting cards, which was perfect because I was looking for some good Vermont art to send to my cousin Katie who had recently relocated to England.
I found a greeting card with the above scene depicted on the front. How cool! I paid for my card and left the gallery. Walking back to my house, I turned the card over to see where the photograph had come from: LONDON! I had just bought "local" art that actually depicted London Street Art, to send to my cousin who lives only 2 hours south of the city.
This ended up being a pretty great find because not more than a few weeks later, I received a postcard from Katie with the following image on the front:
Apparently both of these images were made by a mysterious England-based graffiti artist named Banksy. It got me to Googling him and finding many more interesting (and many politically charged) images that he has tagged in public places. Apparently he has even made a documentary called "Exit through the Gift Shop" that I am now planning to watch!
I'm not much of an artist myself, but I think that street art is such a neat way to express a point, whether it is social, political or just for laughs. The last time I used spray paint, it was for a disastrous DIY project that stained my porch and left Michael and I black-listed from Big Lots. This seems like a much better use of paint...
I especially loved all of the graffiti that I found in Ecuador. One afternoon, we went to this little neighborhood called Guapulo. It was affectionately named by my guidebook, "The Bohemian Enclave that Progress Forgot". In addition to being a windy road with cute little houses and shops, there was also a ton of political graffiti and street art.
My Spanish is rusty, but roughly translated I think this says, "truth hurts that much." "Mande?" in Ecuadorian slang asks you to repeat yourself.
This is Bill and Alex making friends with some lady-graffiti.
So what about you? Is there any fun street art where you are? What do you think of it? Is Banksy someone whose work should be cherished or whitewashed?
Thanks for sharing in my little corner of the world tonight. :)
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