Art, unplugged.

Traveling through Buenos Aires and now a couple cities in Chile, I’ve been moved by the amount of graffiti and street art everywhere. I prefer to use the term wall art, since graffiti comes attached with so many negative connotations these days. I’ve captured these pieces of art on camera, because I’ve noticed them almost every place they’ve been. And most of the time, I’m the only one with my camera out, because it’s really just background to everyone else. But to me, it’s art. And it’s art in its most expressive form, that it almost feels like a concert, unplugged. No loud speakers, no spotlight, no corrective technology. Just, art. |

The wall art here made me think about art back home. Graffiti is controversial in North America. And while there are commissioned places for graffiti sometimes, where it is actually admired and appreciated, graffiti, even really gorgeous-talented-amazing-my-jaw-is-hanging-open type graffiti, is looked upon as dirt, garbage, contamination of the beauty of a city. Almost everywhere. And then it got me thinking, what are the avenues we have for unstructured art in North America? Where is our art unplugged? Where can artists express themselves at the spur of the moment, not within the confines of their home, not within an artist studio, not within a paid performance. Where do artists go to just make art? I’m starting to sound all existential right now, I know, but that’s not the intention of this blog. Really, as someone who loves art, and knows a lot of artists, and knows them enough to know that artists  are almost always free-spirited, unstructured and prefer to be “unplugged,” I’m starting to wonder if the way art is encouraged in North America is a bit too structured, so that the real artists lose interest, and try to find other ways to express themselves, to defy structure, and stay true to themselves. And maybe that’s all that graffiti is, a message – don’t tie me down, and I’m less likely to interfere with your life. Or something less dramatic. So let’s stop walking past and take just a moment at least, to see the art and not the wall in all the wall art around us.

Dedicated to all the artists and free spirits I know and love.