Urban Art Walk

One can find graffiti in every city. Nowhere in the dictionary does it tell us that grafitti is a negative thing; it is simply defined as writing or drawing on the wall. I would define it as an expression of oneself or one's culture. Then, why can't graffiti become art? The painted mural called Yesturday's Tomorrow by Brian Holderman in the Cultural District of downtown Pittsburgh reminds me of graffiti art because it lays over a tall, brick building. The sky blue paint at the top of the mural blends in with the sky I see between and above the buildings. The only difference is, the real sky appears to be in motion. I think of my recent trip to Spain, where graffiti art is quite popular. Each city we entered had entire walls dedicated to graffiti. These were not necessarily run-down places, though they could have been temporary. (These are two pictures from Spain. They are both very interesting to me and open to interpretation. The second is actually poem-like but also pretty disturbing to consider).

The Liberty Avenue Musicians by James Simon were in my top three for most visually stimulating. They were grand, green-ish statues of men, one with a guitar, one with a trumpet, and one with an accordian. The description provided for the art doesn't answer my questions about it: why are they so caricatured? what ethnicity was he representing? what made him put lizzards on the accordian's tie; why is there a phone in the trumpet player's pocket; why the rings on the guitarist's right hand? They are interesting characters to say the least, and perhaps there is some deeper significance behind these musicians which could be applied to Pittsburgh's history.

I must admit my favorite work of art was Magnolias for Pittsburgh by Tony Tasset. These were two bronze trees with 800 petals each. The pink buds looked real, as well as the bark. However, there was something disturbing about the facade these trees presented. The intention was to lend Pittsburgh some magic and fairy-tale, according to the artist. But how long ago did we build this city, thereby destroying the trees (regardless of their origin), only to bring them back again in an altered form, not rooted in the ground. Then again, I'm being a hypocrite because the vision of these trees, real or fake, was appealing to me.