How to check out cutting edge street art in the fresh air
If you have a craving for museums and art galleries, take to the streets! Not as a protester, but as a street art spectator. You can satisfy your art cravings. By Melinda Ojermark.
The city is an outdoor art gallery
The public art movement in urban centers has been percolating for decades. The more insurgent and unofficial street art knows no bounds in its variety or messaging. Nor does the imagination of the guerilla artists who create the work.
Cities abound with artistic eye-candy. Architecture, sculpture, monuments, and murals are commonplace public art. And, with a bit of curiosity, you can discover other forms like stencil graffiti, street installations, yarn bombing and more. It’s all free for the viewing.
I’ve seen an explosion of mural art in the cities I visit and in my home city of Washington, DC. When I travel I seek out the neighborhoods where mural art is concentrated. Their size, motifs and social commentary stop me in my tracks every time. The thrill of the hunt adds to the adventure. I relish exploring the neighborhoods where street art emerges. My urban safari haunts are alleyways, parking lots, and light-industrial areas. Not the usual tourist track.
From fringe to mainstream
Some consider street art as low-brow, but the art form gave birth to some of today’s most successful contemporary artists. Banksy, Keith Haring, and Jean Michel Basquiat are icons of the art form. The elusive Banksy is best known for Girl with Balloon, the painting that self-shredded at a 2018 Sotheby’s auction. Jean Michel Basquiat, a New Yorker of Haitian-Puerto Rican descent, began his career as graffiti artist SAMO. Basquiat’s painting Untitled 1982 sold for $110.5 million. It claims the highest price ever paid at auction for the work of an American artist.
Philadelphia: The City of Murals
I discovered my love for murals on a work trip to Philadelphia. While roaming the streets near my hotel, I stumbled upon one mind-blowing mural after the next. This was not graffiti. These massive, complex works depicted history, fantasy, and many social themes.
Who knew that the City of Brotherly Love was also the unofficial mural capital of the world? I learned that since the 1980s, Philadelphia has sponsored nearly 4,000 murals. The program was initially created to combat graffiti. In its wake, the city employed thousands of youth and local artists to transform public spaces. Today, Philadelphia is an outdoor art gallery and has earned international recognition as the City of Murals.
Next time you’re in Philly, look up Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation’s largest public art program. The organization offers a variety of tours, events, and exhibitions.
Street art in the Golden State
I grew up in California — both northern and southern. Vast freeways and smog dominate my memories. I have no recollection of street art. When I visit LA today, the air is cleaner and the formerly drab boulevards are alive with cool murals. Parking lots — the most mind-numbing spaces in the LA carscape — are transformed by murals. Strolling along Venice Blvd., I discover wildly colorful images on the corner grocery, the liquor store, and the local dive bar.
In San Francisco, the Mission District claims the greatest concentration of murals in the city. Check out 24th Street, Balmy Alley, and Clarion Alley. The Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center offers three different tours of the neighborhood murals.
Dakar, Senegal: The Open Sky Museum
Dakar, the seaside capital of Senegal, is drenched in outdoor art and color. Wax print fabrics, poster art, and murals light up everyday spaces. The city's art scene attracts famous artists such as Kehinde Wiley, portraitist of President Obama, to set up studios and galleries.
I’ve attended the all-Africa art biennial, Dak'art, thrice and will return in 2024. For a full month, Dakar’s public spaces fill with massive — often politically charged — installations. Smaller exhibits fill cafés, hotels, and offices. The Medina neighborhood is the mother lode of the street art scene in Dakar. The Open Sky Museum project welcomes local and regional artists to unleash their craft on houses and storefronts throughout the neighborhood. Mural painters from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Morocco, Congo, France, and Italy have all left their mark. Each year for the past decade, Dakar also hosts Festigraff, the leading graffiti festival in Africa.
The country uses mural art for social messaging. Senegal fared relatively well during the COVID-19 pandemic, and perhaps some of the country's success was reinforced by public art. The city of Dakar engaged the street art collective RBS CREW to create eye-catching and instructive murals. Contributing artist Beau Graff commented, "We're socially conscious artists so we always strive to raise awareness of current events through pictures."
Street art in the Nation’s Capital
On my daily walks in DC, I’m tracking down all manner of public art. My neighborhood is peppered with quaint fire call boxes dating from the 1860s. Formerly used to alert the fire department in an emergency, they are now part of the project Art on Call. Local artists install artwork in the boxes to showcase the unique identity of each neighborhood. These curbside relics add a pop of color, whimsy, and community pride.
Mural art in DC is full of political and social commentary, as befits the nation’s capital. The U Street corridor is a treasure trove of murals. U Street was the hub of African-American culture and entertainment from the 1920s to the ‘60s. Vibrant murals of jazz greats Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane are reminders of a bygone era. Politicians, sports heroes, and local icons festoon the walls and alleyways. Surrounded now by trendy condo developments, the historic U Street neighborhood is sadly giving way to “development," but public art continues to thrive. The DC street mural Black Lives Matter made history in 2020 when city workers, aided by protesters, painted the giant lettering directly on the pavement of 16th St. leading to the White House.
How to find street art and murals
Many cities sponsor public art projects and organizations that create street art. Check online for maps of mural locations in neighborhoods. You can also find guided tours or create your own. Look for festivals focusing on street art. Number one on my bucket list is Art Basel Miami and the Wynwood walls. The Wynwood walls in Miami are open year-round. The blocks of warehouses at Wynwood are the pallets for some of the world’s leading mural artists. New artists constantly paint over these masterworks, true to street art's transient nature.
A mural captures a moment and a message. It will disappear tomorrow when a building is razed, a property owner repaints, or a new artist takes possession of the space. It’s by nature temporary, so see it now!
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All photos by Melinda Ojermark. Featured photo of LA Parking Lot Mural