random posts of pretty

We saw some of the strangest, most beautiful street art while in Valencia. It's like every corner we turned there was a mural painted on the wall of a building lining some random alley. And no, no story behind this. I just love me some street art....

random posts of pretty: iranian street art

Like many of you, I've been following what's been going on in Iran with a mixture of disgust and awed fascination. Since cable news has proven to be absolutely worthless when it comes to reporting this story, most of my information has come from a combination of blogs and YouTube videos, and although I don't use Twitter as a news source, most American news bloggers have admitted to getting much of their inside information from Iranian tweets. This is a separate source of disgust/fascination - where were the "legitimate" journalists when this story was breaking, and who would have thought that fun social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook could be so essential at picking up the ball when the "real" news drops it?

Apropos, one thing we can learn from the current happenings in Iran is to never underestimate the power of youth. The seasoned can dismiss their hobbies and forms of expression, but they do so at their own peril. Iran's youth are currently showing the world that they are engaged, modern, creative and desirous for change. Proof of this abounds, however, some of the street art that's been springing up on the streets of Tehran only furthers the point:

(Via Andrew Sullivan, Via Frying Pan Fire)

field trippin': the heidelberg project

This past Saturday Nate and I caught the Art Spiegelman exhibit over at Detroit's Museum of Contemporary Art, and since we were only a stone's throw away from The Heidelberg Project we decided to finally go and see it in person. For those who don't know what this is, allow me to quickly summarize the backstory:

When Tyree Guyton returned to his home on Heidelberg Street after a brief stint in the Army in the 1980s, he was shocked at the rapid deterioration of his neighborhood, remarking that its looked as if "a bomb went off." Unfortunately, there's no shortage of neighborhoods like this in Detroit; however, rather than pull up and abandon his street to the rats and the weeds, Guyton felt compelled to do something. In 1986 he covered his own house in polka-dots, and from that grew The Heidelberg Project: an outdoor community art project that's part political protest, part museum, and part love song to a fallen neighborhood. (Source)

Although I've known about the Heidelberg Project for years, this was my first time seeing it, and ....wow. Approaching Heidelberg Street is like entering a total fantasyland - an entire street's worth of mostly abandoned houses covered in paint and garbage. One house is completely covered in trashed stuffed animals. Brightly painted discarded doors form sculptures that sit on now-empty lots. Shopping carts and old shoes hang from the trees, old tires are now sculptures, and a row of broken vacuum cleaners topped with gloves form a waving line. It looks every bit as crazy as it sounds, but it's also totally MAGICAL. These artists have taken a street that would otherwise have been a dangerous eyesore and turned it into this amazing, warm, welcoming place that's become a must-see tourist spot.

I fear that my pictures don't even come close to doing it justice. You really need to see this thing for yourself, but here's the best of what I could capture on "film" just the same:

old trip, new finds

I tell you what - I may still get carded for booze and the occasional "R" rated movie, however, it's trips like this last one that remind me of how old I'm getting on to be. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the brutal return voyage - spending twelve hours traveling through the night on a chartered bus, the seats of which are designed in such a way that it's physically impossible to sleep without being wrenched awake every twenty minutes - but I fear it's going to be several more days until I'm back to some semblance of normal. Fie, but my ancient bones ache!

Ah, well. It was a good trip nonetheless. No one got lost or kidnapped, everyone had fun, and even if our tour guide kind of sucked ("Look kids - H&M! You don't see that at home, I bet! Now go on and shop for a bit while I sit on this here bench for the next hour or so."), my students didn't know enough to know any better. Everything was just wonderful, and they had the time of their lives.

As for me, it's getting to a point where I'm starting to feel like I've seen pretty much all there is to see of the tourists' NYC, so no new wide-eyed revelations for me, alas. There were, however, a few new wonderfully strange sights I was able to add my traveler's collection. Firstly, this albino peacock:

Strange, because 1) we found it in the middle of Harlem, 2) I swear it was posing for my camera, and 3) whoever knew there was such a thing as an albino peacock?

But here it is just the same - stately, snow-white, and sorta pissed off at me for getting too close:

Next, I caught a piece of graffiti that I'm 95% certain is a real Banksy:

And even if it's not a Banksy after all, I'd like to think that a spray-painted image of Hitchcock declaring that "Life is Brutal" is a pretty rad find all the same.

And finally, I caught this on the B train to Brooklyn after abandoning my young charges in Chinatown so I could go play hookie for a bit:

Isn't that wonderful? I suppose it's fortunate I don't have to deal with the subways on my morning commute, however, I'd like to imagine that this makes the daily lives of the folks riding the B train a bit happier. It made me a bit happier, anyway.

And that's all for now. More pictures to come, but for now back to bed I go de go...

random posts of pretty

On the cusp of both Gustav and the three year anniversary of Katrina, here's some pretty powerful examples of Banksy's work that have recently popped up in New Orleans:

 

Thoughts and prayers, folks.

(Via)

random posts of pretty

I love it that people have recently taken to feeding me things to blog about. I hardly need to think about it this way, which is wonderful. I's gots enough to worry 'bouts right now - all sorts of probletunities and such.

Again, this comes from Carrie, and similar to Harris' inflatable street art and Curtis' reverse graffiti, D.Billy's balloon graffiti is the sort of street art that most anyone can appreciate. Wouldn't you agree?:

(This last one makes me chuckle.  Can't you just picture some goofy thug clown "spray painting" balloons in the 'hood?  Love it.)

random posts of pretty

Like most folks I generally hate forwarded emails, but when one comes from my mom I at least make sure to open it. She birthed me, after all; it's about the least I can do. And so, believe it or not, these pictures of Julian Beever's 3-D sidewalk chalk art come from a mass forwarded email. But aren't they amazing? If all forwarded emails were this cool I might even consider opening them before sending them to the trash...

random posts of pretty

This has more than made the rounds by now, but in case you haven't already seen it, this video of Joshua Allen Harris's "inflatable street art" is pretty rad.  He uses plastic shopping bags and trash bags to create "balloons," which he then affixes to New York subway grates so they can then inflate to become animated polar bears, Loch Ness Monsters and all sorts of other et cetera.  Pretty ingenious, if you ask me.

 

(Via)

random posts of pretty

A few days back I stumbled upon this video via Current about a huge reverse graffiti project recently created by Paul "Moose" Curtis in San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel. I'm guessing you've probably seen it by now, - it's more than made its rounds on the Internet, as these things tend to do - but in case I'm overestimating the time you spend reading random blogs, here's some rad still shots I found via Flickr. Reverse graffiti uses soap and water to make images by cleaning grimy surfaces rather than painting over them, and I think it's just about the coolest thing ever:





It truly makes one pause to consider how filthy our world is, which I imagine is the whole point.

perhaps not so pretty, but definitely pretty cool

And, I'm back!  At least, for the next few days.  

If you've been following along with my Twitter updates, then you probably noticed how busy they kept us.  (If not, then I suppose you wouldn't have noticed.  But trust, busy is what we were.) What I didn't mention was how much it rained, especially the first day we were there.  Unfortunately, the pace, weather, and less than optimal sleeping situation all combined forces to hit me upside the head with a wicked cold. I tell you all of this not because I'm looking for your sympathy (although I wouldn't exactly send it back if  you decided to send it), but because I want to assure you that I have loads to tell you - some pretty things, a Monday book review, thoughts on city life, a new perspective on the ninja vs pirate debate, my personal feelings re: the oxford comma, and much! much! more!  - but that I lack the cognitive ability and general alertness to do so at this moment.  

But it's all coming.  

Soon.  

(ish.)

Until then, here's a pretty mindblowing video that my husband sent me while I was off gallivanting.  It's a pretty amazing piece of stop-motion animation created with constantly changing city graffiti (and if you haven't yet figured it out, I really sort of dig graffiti).  I can only imagine the amount of time, energy and creativity that went into this.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.  

I hope you like it, and I'll be back in as long as it takes for me to consume a double dose of cold medicine, tackle all my laundry, bathe, and attend to the long line of Scrabbulous games my absence sent into a screeching halt. It might be a little bit yet, but at least when I return I'll be in a more fun, drugged-up state, yes?


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo

random posts of pretty

Banksy!