Check out these visual art images:
Taggers vs. Art
Image by the_toe_stubber
On North Figueroa, Highland Park, CA.: In which dumb taggers deface another mural while leaving hundreds of perfectly empty billboards untouched.
Don’t get me wrong, this has nothing to do with the law. I have no idea if this mural is legally legit, though I suspect it probably is, since it’s on the side of a building in an open area and probably took a while to paint. (This is only a detail of it.) It’s not the greatest mural in the world, but it’s pretty ambitious, with cool images, and I think it’s well-done. My argument is NOT to get cops involved, or that "there oughtta be a law" (the first civic resort of people with absolutely no imagination – don’t get me started). I’m just pissed off.
I like graffiti. It’s not even a matter of how long it takes to do – some artists can throw up a piece in a couple of minutes that you want to stare at for far longer. It’s just that this scribbly toy tag shit is just so fucking weak. Hell, I know there’s no recourse – it’s the wild wild west out here – but it just says so much when a person is this clueless about the visual world but still considers himself qualified to wield a paint marker. Must be all that self-esteem crap I keep hearing about.
Is it gangbangers or Timberlake fans or right-to-lifers? Who cares – all I know is, they could have smeared their kindergarten scrawl on anything in the neighborhood, but chose to piggyback on someone else’s creativity. Nice going, doucheface.
Taubman Museum of Art
Image by o palsson
The Taubman Museum of Art is an impressive new building in downtown Roanoke, Virgina, designed by L.A. architect Randall Stout (who was a senior associate of Frank Gehry’s for many years, as can be seen from the style of this building). I had no idea it was there, I haven’t driven through Roanoke in at least a decade. I was very pleasantly surprised to spot this fascinating architectural creation right by the side of the main road through town, so I had to stop and take some pictures in a hurry. This is a partial side view, shot with the camera tilted to bring together in one visual whole many of the key style elements of the building’s design.