Great Walls of Color

Great Walls of Color

I have been watching with interest the development of a magical mural being painted over the entire surface of an industrial-looking building  at Broadway and Cloverfield Streets in Santa Monica,, rising like a multi-hued phoenix over the gray pavement.

Intense gradations of color flow over the building, which look airbrushed…spray-painted. This looks like the color foundation. The windows are protected by taped plastic.

Detail painted in representational style goes up over the rich hues. The building stands in stark relief to its surroundings. Is that a little girl painting the Broadway side wall?

Close..an image of one…realistically rendered, yet with a certain comic book illustrative feel.

The look of drips, air brush painting, gradated color softly shifting in value, and graffiti art combine to create something striking, all rendered in stunning color.

Masterful use and blending of color creates a vista of skulls which seem to incorporate elements of urban art and graffiti and intensify the feeling of a “dreamscape”, or landscape of dreams.

This magnificently adorned structure is now the stuff of dreams and magic, lifting us out of our daily reverie, and shocking us out of ordinary reality, into another order of being.  Gratitudes to those that conceived of this gift, passed it through the powers that be, and made it happen.  Thank you for sharing with us a true example of art’s transformative power.

Siting Santa Monica: Stumbling Upon Art

Siting Santa Monica: Stumbling Upon Art

Walking in Santa Monica yields beauty and discovery, as well as the unexpected revelation: all manner of art that somehow just happens to be there, as you turn the corner, cross the street, peak into front yard, or stride past a chain link fence.  Who has made these things…has these ideas, puts their creations out on the street for the rest of us to be surprised by, revel in, and adore?  Above, the “yarn bombers” send out a supportive message and wish to all who walk by and take the time to see it, on 17th Street near Olympic.

This beautiful elephant welcomes walkers on the Southeast corner of Idaho Street (or is it Washington?) somewhere between 17th and 25th Streets.

Adjacent, an all seeing eye is looking at you, kid.

A silvery car decal brings to mind the image of a  lotus. Parked at 17th and Wilshire.

I have shared this one a number of times before…magnificent painting on a front gate…somewhere between Wilshire and Montana Street.

Fascinating use of crushed cans…which become a mosaic surface of a building in someone’s artful hands, somewhere south of Wilshire, and west of 17th Street..

I saw this while driving in an area south of Olympic Boulevard, in the Pico neighborhood (as I recall), and was blown away. I had to park, get out, and document this novel use of teapots!

The use of flamingos and butterflies in this yard makes me think of Florida…someone created their own wonderland, visible to and thus shared with those walking northwards towards Montana Street…but on which block, I could not say. Part of the fun is stumbling upon these treasures, and then stumbling on them again.

I saw this leaf on the sidewalk, somewhere south of Wilshire, near 17th…and was struck by its gradated color. Nature’s paintbrush is a hard act to follow, but I am glad the neighbors are trying!

Thank you for the magic, and the transformation of the every day, to remind us that there is no such thing as the “every day”…every day!