Not sure if many people follow tiki artist, SHAG, but you can see his images here. SHAG was actually inspired by mid-century commercial artists that painted in a similar style. I love the style and have a bunch of SHAG prints. But the mural needs more tikis and martini glasses.
Not sure if Portz was inspired by SHAG, but now days nothing is original, and I certainly steal ideas from several artists, most notably, Andy Warhol.
During the video the mayor made the comment that they are ‘doing it the right way’. According to who? You? He also said that the image was ‘Non-Controversial’ though I do see a nod to this guy going on. As the mayor also said ‘Art is subjective’ and exactly the reason that we shouldn’t allow ONE person or special group of people to be selecting public art behind closed doors.
During the public input period at the Active Transportation Board I commented on the darkness of city hall and how I have never seen it this bad in 20 years. I told the board, until you have a transparent government you accomplish very little.
I feel bad for all the good people involved with this project, from the artist, to the donor to the city staff who have to tow the line of secretive government because that is what your master demands, but at the end of the day you can either feed at that trough or you can do the right thing and say ‘NO. This is wrong.’
The mural will ultimately be an improvement of what we have now, but golly, that’s a lot of lipstick!
Yes, let the Mayor have it painted, according to his standards, so everyone will forget that the ramp will never get developed and finished!
Glad the mayor had another photo op.
Word I’m hearing is that he is no longer at the skatepark association due to some pretty bad things going on. They had to pull out of an event downtown as he took the ramps, etc. hopefully Walter doesn’t abscond with all the money and paint Matt is giving him and we end up with no mural. You may want to do some digging into his exit.
Uh … Ugly.
Instead of an antiquated design of giant color blocks, the city should be recognized for its Authoritarian Charter. Why not a giant portrait of Kim Jung Un?
Actually, Andy Warhol once stole one of his ideas from the fine folks and artists at Campbell Soup.
I get it. We even want to make the Bunker Ramp look even more like the Berlin Wall, huh?….:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/berlin-wall-destroyed-pankow-1822947
The ultimate cover-up.
Lipstick on a pig. Curious if we get to see the sponsorship contract on this project? What promises are made for $30,000? What happens if a developer calls next month with a solid plan to finish the hotel and street-level commercial space?
This mural is only temporary (hopefully). Taxpayers have a vested interest in getting this building finished sooner than later. I hope we don’t lose focus on the bigger picture (pun intended).
Dan, funny, while the mayor was standing right next to the artist today at the presser he said, ‘I showed it to one of my friends and he said it was ugly.’ FOOT IN MOUTH?
Joe, yeah, they had to let him go as executive director because they couldn’t afford his salary anymore, he doesn’t live here and he has been consulting other cities and skateparks (conflict). I guess there is a lot of quartzite at the site that was not anticipated and some other major cost overruns that the association has to come up with privately so that is the main reason. I love the skatepark and the people involved with it and some are friends, so this is as much as I will say about it, but after it opens hopefully I can tell the full story of the journey this project has taken (I think they have been working at this for almost 8 years!)
MMM- I kind of wondered the same thing, but when you spend your day doing jumping jacks at an elementary school you don’t have time to be bothered with making long term strategic plans.
A part of me wants Walter to take the money and run!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eizQ9l9Qu0A
I love all the subtle hidden imagery. There is so much going on in this mural. I know what I have found, anybody else?
There appears to be two stairways to heaven, but only one gets you there, while the other appears to take you to a camper trailer, which is symbolic of how, until we die, our only saving grace, in terms of the housing crisis around here, is to resign ourselves to a life in a trailer.
“Ich bin ein Muraler”…..
you can’t polish a turd, but you can paint a mural on it.
blue period = cry for help,
u dont have to govern alone
Make this an outdoor drive-in screen. Show 24 hour city propaganda videos. Serve Russian vodka and caviar to city cult members and Trump groupies. Make it Irish whiskey and escargot. Then, I’ll come. On 2nd thought, not. Mayor would use bag of tricks to arrest me 8 hours without being charged.
Great idea DS! Here’s the first video we should show on your proposed screen. Or, would we just get arrested for showing it?…..:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I