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| Pac-Man Ghost, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
Lastly, I wanted to include to other example that I found
but that I won't have time to write about. I place both of them in the street
art category, although both are done with spray cans. Again, there is no clear line
of demarcation between graffiti and street art, instead its a continuum. There
are certain clear undeniable differences but where they meet, where they
interface is a spectrum of gradual shading. This two works serve as perfect
examples.
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| Surge, downtown San Diego, CA July 2013 |
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| Surge, downtown San Diego, CA July 2013 |
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| Surge, downtown San Diego, CA July 2013 |
First is this piece by Surge. I found this downtown. Its
location is super ephemeral. He spray painted this piece on temporary wood
walkway of a building in construction. Once this building is finished, his work
will be removed. The work portrays several characters walking around through
the walkway. The characters each home some unique characteristic, some weird
twist to them. For example the skater peace-sign hand rabbit character has a
hand that is waiving the same peace sign. The boy with strait-edge shirt has a dog
has missing leg. There's a cool cat guy walking around like he's number one. A
girl with shirt that has a face that is looking a back at her, and spray can character
with a spray can in his hand. I think this piece reflects a community. It
reminds us that we're all different, that we each have our own story, our own defaults,
our own graces.. but together we form a community. This piece also successfully
turns a liminal space into something for with a message. The message is
subjective but the importance is that people we see it, they will be drawn to
the place, they will stop and look and hopefully discuss what their interpretation
of each character is.
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| Pac-Man Ghost, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
Another great example of how street art are these ghosts and
robots. The ghost have such an interesting expression. The look depressed and
sad, like there's no room for them this world anymore. What is the significance
of the reference to pac-man? We know that street art can change the narrative
of the city. How is this piece doing that? To start with it imbues the story of
pac-man into this city. What is the story of pac-man. Prima facie we have
pac-man that is trying to consume as much as he can.. without letting the ghost
kill him. If we think of this in terms of capitalism, pac-man represents the quintessential
consumer that is trying to consume or gain as much as he can. From the perspective
the ghost represent anti-capitalist anti-establishment movements or ideologies.
So why are the ghost sad? Why are we feeling empathetic for them? I think the
artist does a brilliant job of drawing attention to these ideologies and getting
us to think about the narrative. What about the robots on the other side?
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| Pac-Man Ghost, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
Those
are separate piece and deserve their own analysis. However we can at least see
that they are humanized. I can don't think the location is accidental. The
location to me seems perfectly placed.. Its a dump yard. Its place were leftovers
from our cities consumption a discarded. I think that its a sad place that
reminds us of how wasteful we can be in this particular area. These ghost are
sadden by that.. i don't know but that's my best guess. I should also mention
that work activates a space that would otherwise be overlooked. In doing so we
are being forced to give thought to the location and it successfully opens up a
new narrative. We want to know why the ghost are sad and why there are where
they are.
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| Robots, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
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| Robots, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
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| Robots, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
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| Robots, UCSD Mesa Housing, La Jolla CA, July 2013 |
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