Small Spaces: the news skews views

the other day, the rain brought in the cold.  it's here and it's not going anywhere.  so with that in mind and because i like the cold, i got out and put up two new pieces this afternoon.

the first is titled death of a revolutionary.  i'm appropriating jacques-louis david's death of marat.  the original painting carries a lot of metaphors and was a great propaganda painting of the french revolution.  my take uses marat, himself, as a metaphor for the small spaces project.  the J&C has snuck in to stab the project in the chest.  the letter reads: 'these pundits don't define me.'  and a spray can lies in marat's dead hand.  i feel like this was a revolutionary project for this city and the J&C has only done things to kill it and pander to an attitude that holds back new ideas.  but like the saying goes: 'you can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill the revolution.'  this art is here to stay.  the town can be buffed back to beige, but we'll keep coming back, because we live here too.

my other piece is a simple tag: the news skews views.  it sounds like truth to me.  something that J&C cannot distinguish from facts.

needless to say, i'm not super excited about the news coverage of small spaces: lafayette.  so these are both responses to their coverage.  their sensationalized and one-sided reporting of this project and this type of art was unfair.  they created fake controversy using loaded language from the get go.  our introduction to the community was 'graffiti warfare.'  what part of that title is not loaded spin language?  to bill this as graffiti is bullshit.  there is nothing illegal about what we are doing.  this is a publicly funded street art project.  every wall is sanctioned and signed off on by building owners and approved by the city, the economic development office, and the historic preservation commission (where necessary).  artists were invited or contacted me directly with interest (in which case, i met with all, went through portfolios, discussed concepts and took the time to communicate with each interested party individually).  the idea that this is some punk rebellion project is just ridiculous.  there are artists from all walks of life involved, from high school students to grandparents.  and i believe that the work celebrates the diversity of ideas represented within our community.

I wanted to make art a part of the lived experience of lafayette.  to make aesthetics an integral part of a thoughtful community.  but the newspaper pundits at the J&C have only continued to write sided arguments, which only seek to define art in terms of love or hate, rather than thought and discussion.   but have heart lafayette.  extend a hand.  have a thought.  enjoy it.  hate it.  express it.  feel something.  just stop getting your information from the J&C.  come downtown, look at the work, and make up your own mind.