This is modern art on your sidewalk instead of at the MoMA. There are three-dimensional collages composed of wooden blocks, dryer lint, wires, and anything else disposable (or available?) that can be recycled into art. Drawings/sketches/paintings, on what appear to be butcher paper, are cut and pasted (the old-fashioned way) onto boarded-up buildings or under an overpass.
While some of this art is flamboyant and demands your attention, there is a fair share that requires more than just a cursory glance to notice. By letting me in on the secret, she helped create an awareness in me of these more subtle, alternative forms of artistic expression that exist in public space. She has shown me how to see my neighborhood with new eyes.
Let me show you some examples. These were all up on Milwaukee Avenue between Western and Damen.
A wooden collage boarded up among bar advertisements. Does the collage have meaning independent of its location? Or is its showcase in public space the art?
On this fence are two works by, I suppose, separate artists. I wonder if they know each other. Or if this location is, for some reason, significant.
*Thank you to the artists who positively contribute to our communal space.*
1 comments:
I remember the first time I noticed something like this in the city. It was in the West Loop. I had parked my car and was walking to Wishbone when I spied something unusual suspended on a street/sidewalk pole. You know how these poles have nuts and bolts used to secure bus route or street signs? Well, an artist used this instead to mount his or her small contribution to the urban landscape. I thought, wow is this person inventive, not only did they produce their work, but they installed it in a unique and novel way. The effect? Aside from the joy of discovering the artist's work, I started paying close attention to all the poles on the sidewalks. Kept looking for more art-jewels. Guess what? Found 'em! Who knew an art bonanza lay right in front of me all along.
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