Exhibitionism and a Dark Alley
He wore a Chicago Blues Fest t-shirt. Grant Park, it read. It was red, white and blue. Out of place on a day like that day. Yet, he followed me, pushing his stroller laden with his little girl sporting red shoes and the pink shirt that proclaimed she was a ‘Girly’ on the back.
I found some random graffiti, and I wanted to take a quick photo while MTM paid our tab and my friend Alison went to the facilities in our hip-and-cool Sao Paulo spot. So, I snuck around the corner for a quickie. At least, I thought it would be a quickie. The man in the Chicago shirt changed all that.
“There’s more. Around the corner. To the right.” He spoke slowly, his native Portuguese making certain I understood his faltering English before he left me. He directed me to an artistic wonderland of graffiti, though I didn’t know it then. Really, I didn’t thank him properly for following me, because he evaporated too soon.
We wandered along a cobbled street and turned the corner as instructed. The street opened into an outdoor gallery, street art that went on and on and on. It was gorgeous. Colorful. Illicit. Almost like the photos Liz Duren snapped of me on the eve of my fortieth birthday. She picked the location, and it was also a riot of graffiti.
Perfect for me. Both of these places, covered in color. How did he know I would love it? Why did he follow me?
Have you ever taken a wrong turn and found a riot of art?
This post is the fifth installment in the series Eye of the Beholder, my wandering observations about works of art that speak to me. If this is your first visit to the series, please click here to catch up on the first post, go here for the second, here for the third and here for the fourth.
Most days – but it’s taken me a lifetime to see it:)
You know, Roger, that’s so true about life, isn’t it? Little gifts are everywhere, if we choose to see them. Great comment.
That I have. I have taken a wrong turn, caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, and done complete double takes or U-turns to go back and see something. My late mother had a love of murals that would take up building sides and as a young child we were always hunting them down or swooping back to find one that had snuck up on us. Or, while walking down small streets in Charleston or New Orleans, you will catch just a hint of something in the window of a small shop or at the end of a narrow alley gallery.
I love the art you don’t expect. The unplanned experiences.
That’s one of the great things for me about street art and installation art. Most of the time, I don’t expect to come upon it, so I always appreciate it when I do.
In a couple of art museums, wandering without a guide sheet so I can be surprised by what room I go into next.
I never use guide sheets in museums. They are too much like ‘instructions’ to me……. and we all know I don’t read those…….
Tru dat….
Several years ago Katy and I were geocaching in in Charleston. I think it was in West Ashley, but I do not remember. Anyway, this cache was behind a grocery store and on the back of the grocery store was a bunch of awesome looking murals or street art or whatever it is called. I took pictures of them and have them somewhere online.
They do have some great graffiti over there, so I’ve heard. Joan Perry has snapped pictures of some of it for her blog. http://charlestondailyphoto.blogspot.com/2012/08/avondale-trash-monster.html
I need to broaden my hikes.
Your hikes are lovely. I always enjoy seeing your pictures, Lori.
I have, Andra, though not as vivid in color as your unanticipated discovery. These are breathtaking murals.
Tom and the girls were off horseback riding or biking through Peninsula Park in Door County. I was driving around, veering off the main road, seeing what I could see and what I saw was a sign that said Toe Path Studios. It was a lovely house, set deep in the woods. A lovely lady was weeding and said, come on down the path – the toe path. Usually a cautious person, I abandoned my senses and walked along the narrow path, one foot in front of the other, thinking it was good had small toes – and entered paradise. She showed me her garden then asked me to tea! It was a charming interlude. As the tea was brewing, she showed me her studio, I purchased a print, and had a story to tell Tom and our daughters.
Knowing how much you love gardening, Penny, that was an incredible gift for you. Have you ever gone that way again?
It was, Andra. I have, but couldn’t find the studio. If I didn’t have the poster, I would think it was just a dream.
There are murals, and then there are murals…..
This one graces the side of an old building here in LaGrange: http://indianajones.smugmug.com/Hoosier-History/Indiana-Historical-Sites/102512_s5XrcG/4184793_yQWMo#!i=4184793&k=yQWMo
and this on an interior wall of our post office: http://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/4528718583/
These are fondly remembered as a large part of the streetscape in Anacortes, WA:
http://www.trailergypsies.com/Washington/Anacortes%20Mural%20Project.htm
I will stop, study, and admire this kind of art every time I encounter it!
Oh, what awesome links! I love all of these, Karen.
Sadly, I have never had such an aweseome experience. I love that the guy pointed you towards more when you never would have found it otherwise.
I’m glad he spoke enough English to make me understand, because the Portuguese was totally lost on me there.
What beautiful shapes, patterns and forms, Andra. Such a surprise!
It was a whole street of it, Kate. I could’ve spent hours there.
I really haven’t experienced that same sense of surprise, Andra. What a wonderful find! And if you hadn’t been curious about what was around the corner, you’d have missed it!
D
That image is incredible. During my trip to Slovakia last year, I was continually struck by the beauty, diversity and power of the graffiti. It was a fascinating study between the clash of the old with communism and the beginning of the new.
wow! I’d pay someone to do the second one for me!
So cool. It’s one of my favorite things about living in a big city that you can stumble on street art, cool architecture, or other neat finds totally accidentally; I had no idea of the murals I was going to find the last time I walked to the top end of the High Line.
Here, it is largely relegated to unseen corners and crannies. Which is sad.
What a cool sight to see… some wonderful street art there… and nice of the fellow to show the way to more. Was this when you took the pic of the Scary Eyeball Building?
p.s. you might want to avoid using ‘snuck’ and ‘quickie’ in the same sentence.
Oh, come on. That’s great writing….
It’s amazing how “art” works, in the mind, and in the heart.
And, maybe, in a story.
i hope so