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| Flight of the two-dimensional London, ON April 2022 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
Sometimes it’s hiding in plain sight, on crumbling concrete walls in the shadows of run-down buildings surrounded by gravel and asphalt that’s been baking in the relentless sun for too many decades.
This is the last place I expected to be wowed by the kind of artistic gift anyone would wish to have. Once upon a time, this wall was Ground Zero in a pitched battle between graffiti artists and the city. Over time, it would get covered by graffiti, then the city would painted it over in uniform grey. Every time I rode past on the adjacent bike path, it would be either one or the other, a never-ending cycle of lawlessness and redemption.
But a funny thing happens out on the street: those who spray paint graffiti generally won’t tag real art. It’s a respect thing, apparently, a rule of this clandestine community that most folks who turn their noses up at places like this would never understand or appreciate.
Eventually, real artists had their way with the rough-hewn surface, and the spray painters have stayed away ever since.
The work isn’t signed, and it isn’t listed on the city’s official Public Art Program website, but I imagine there are other hidden gems like this throughout the city, just waiting to be discovered and appreciated.
Human nature is a funny thing. We tend to discount the value of art in public spaces. Or dismiss it as inconsequential.
We might want to change our tune.
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Related:
Art in the shadows, March 2021
Artistic genius on a shadowy brick wall, October 2019
The colors we find in the most unexpected places, August 2019
Venturing into a dark alley. December 2018
8-bit art in a downtown alley, August 2018
A vision on concrete block, January 2007
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