Public Art Jawn

I just framed my first Steve Powers print!  This one was designed by the boss and a client and I love this primary yellow frame with it, I think especially because the color is not present in the art, but yet the value of the color is spot on.  (I guess he does know a thing or two after all ;)

The print, one of a very limited run of 300, was released just a few months ago and is based on one of the 50 murals in the greatest and most ambitious Mural Arts project ever.  Love Letters is a succession of murals by Steve Powers along the tracks of West Philly's elevated Market St line.  And they are f***ing amazing.  Please read about them here and here, or even in the New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

And for you out-of-towners, here's some of my other favorite walls, all images from aloveletterforyou.com:

Philly is a great city for public art--did you know Philly has more public sculpture than any city anywhere, including European cities?  (Not sure I can back that statement up, but I am sure I've heard it said.) 

As I was looking over the accompanying book which documents the murals, I was pleased to find Zoe Strauss in the list of photographers (and other Philly geniuses, Adam Wallacavage, et al.). 

Zoe Strauss just completed her own great and ambitious public art project I-95, earlier this month.  Hers was a display of 231 photographs on the columns that support Interstate Route 95 in South Philly.  It was held the first Sunday in May every year for the last ten years.  The photos are up by 1 pm and attendees are allowed to take them down at  4 pm.  Prints of the photos are sold for 5 bucks each at a table near the front.  Totally accessible art.  This short video pretty well sums it up:




I snapped this while there this year.

And I bought 2 prints, both images of folks in my neighborhood (Bunny, the woman, was the first person I met on my block--she has since moved), to have something personal to remember the installation.

And then came the daunting task of framing them.  Ultimately I decided to suggest I-95 in the framing by floating the images on a concrete-colored mat, and then making sidewalls in a neutral metal frame to raise glass off the art.  (Sidewalls in metal are unnecessarily difficult in this simple design, but framers will appreciate the effort, and I wanted to show some love.)

It may seem as though I've gone off topic, but I really wanted to talk about both of these artists in the same post.  There is some overlap (and not just that I'm a total fangirl of both).

2 photos below are from Zoe Strauss's blog/flickr.

and below here a completed Steve Powers mural at S 60th St.