Community Mural

The wisdom of  San Jose’s privatization of graffiti abatement is still in question. Contractor Graffiti Protective Coatings went $166,700 over budget in its first year. The greater issue is the failure to utilize a holistic approach that includes murals in its long-term strategy. San Jose was the poster child for a community based abatement strategy without murals, when it began passing out buckets of paint to its citizens and organizing teams of volunteers to go after graffiti. When Rick Stanton…

The Mission district of San Francisco has long been one of the prominent areas in the country for murals. It’s gentrification in the past decade has never been more evident than in the re-design plan for the 24th Street “Plaza.” Not a single artist artist for the project is from the Mission. And its not like there is a shortage of talent. BART officials, notoriously out-of-touch with community, claimed that sufficient local outreach was conducted. Still, el Tecolote reports that…

Artist Adam Niklewicz’s Pearl Street Replication Of Historic Tree On Side Of Former Hartford Synagogue There’s a new mural in downtown Hartford, on the side of a building on Pearl Street. Just go to Bin 228 Winebar, cross the street and walk through the alley between TheaterWorks and the now-vacant former synagogue. Turn to your left and look up at the old brick surface of the synagogue. That faded thing is brand new? Yes: Just wait until you see it wet. Adam Niklewicz’s…

This is an interesting perspective on unsanctioned writing. It is powerful that so many in the community became attached to this piece. Once again, the buff is used to censor revolutionary perspectives that empower the people. Aerosol writing covering the walls of Cairo’s iconic Mohamed Mahmoud Street off Tahrir Square was removed one again by Egyptian authorities on Wednesday. The street, which has seen some of the most intense clashes between protesters and police since the start of last year’s…

For Immediate Release – September 24, 2012 (Berkeley, CA) – With more than 100 completed murals in the last three years, Oakland-based artist collective Community Rejuvenation Project have put their stamp on public art in the East Bay. But “Art Facts,” a new gallery exhibit currently showing at Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center, shows a different side to the well-respected street art crew. Consisting of mixed-media pieces, canvases, tryptyches, photographs, etchings, prints and collages, the “Art Facts” show is a…