Philadelphia's Many Murals... a detriment to the city? (Gordon, Clark: townhouse, construction jobs)

[voilalaura]

That picture is graffiti you dumby! The murals are beautiful. I feel like people don't understand the world that truly goes into them. Even if you think every single one of them is tacky, the skill of the artist is still incredible. Painting is hard. Blowing that painting up to the size of a building and painting something is much harder.

I personally love the murals and the abundance of them is one of my favorite features of the city.

[Pine to Vine]

When I moved to Philly, I heard quite a lot of hubbub about the murals. I thought the emperor had no clothes, but given the local enthusiasm, I figured I'd just keep my mouth shut and go along with things as they aren't horrible. How refeshing to learn that I am not alone. I do not think they are "beautiful." Most of them appear equivalent to the work of "starving aritists" on sale at suburban Ramada Inns around the holidays. That said, I do think they are better to look at than the empty sides of abandoned buildings or even worse - graffitti. I am a bit surprised to learn that any local neighborhood might view them are preferable to new development, however - I just see them as place holders. Keep them up, but I haven't seen a mural yet that warrants deferring any new retail, residential or other well-considered development that will benefit the entire city by enhancing the tax base. If I want to enjoy quality art, I'll seek out some of the great museums here in town.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by jm02

When I moved to Philly, I heard quite a lot of hubbub about the murals. I thought the emperor had no clothes, but given the local enthusiasm, I figured I'd just keep my mouth shut and go along with things as they aren't horrible. How refeshing to learn that I am not alone. I do not think they are "beautiful." Most of them appear equivalent to the work of "starving aritists" on sale at suburban Ramada Inns around the holidays. That said, I do think they are better to look at than the empty sides of abandoned buildings or even worse - graffitti. I am a bit surprised to learn that any local neighborhood might view them are preferable to new development, however - I just see them as place holders. Keep them up, but I haven't seen a mural yet that warrants deferring any new retail, residential or other well-considered development that will benefit the entire city by enhancing the tax base. If I want to enjoy quality art, I'll seek out some of the great museums here in town.

Well, most of the murals are not "professional" murals done by commissioned professional artists. This is a good thing about them, I think, as it gives them a little more heart. They were mostly created by the city's MuralArts program. It developed out of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network in the 80's, which was program to clean up graffiti in the city (a very popular 80's pastime). Convicted graffitti artists (many of them teens) were given the task of painting murals as community service. They were pretty primitive in the beginning (and some of those are still up), but the program has come a long way from where it started, and the quality of the murals has continually gone up over the years. Many of the artists and people that run the program today are former graffiti artists. I think it's a great program, and has been a model program for similar groups in other cities.

It's a really positive thing that Philadelphians should embrace and be proud of IMHO, so I understand why some would not want to see the work destroyed.
But as I said before, I think the nature of painted murals is to be temporary, and the act of painting new ones in new sites is a more productive activity than attempting to make old ones into permanent monuments.

[mancat100]

A few of them are excellent. Most are sub-par.

[voilalaura]

Originally Posted by jm02

If I want to enjoy quality art, I'll seek out some of the great museums here in town.

and if you want to enjoy local art, you can look at our buildings...

I'm telling you, from the perspective of a small scale artist, anything non-abstract on a building is quality art. Those people have talent.

[Icy Tea]

I saw many that were very nice, even beautiful. Others looked really bad and were not very artistic. Hopefully the property owner has the most say in what goes up if they're willing to let a mural be painted on their wall. Neighborhood groups sound like they have too much power (and time on their hands) when they should have little if any. Tell them to get lost.

[greenink1]

The group's facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-...76933585721015

[2e1m5a]

Originally Posted by phillies2011

For reference here's some pictures of the murals I'm talking about. The beloved neighborhood mural behind parking spots:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/50277597.jpg

The ugly Frank Sinatra mural on South Broad:
gas station - Google Maps

What do you think? Save the murals or move forward with development?

That first mural is actually one of my favorites but I agree that they are temporary solutions for bigger problems even though there are murals in wealthy as well as poor neighborhoods. I feel murals can be covered up and developed as long as the Mural Arts Program continues to exist and continues to actively engage children in art instead of other negative activities, which is a main purpose of the program.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by voilalaura

I'm telling you, from the perspective of a small scale artist, anything non-abstract on a building is quality art. Those people have talent.

I feel one of the best aspects of art is the debate it inspires. Although I disagree, it is fine if you hold this opinion above. It is simply best in my own opinion to express it as such - not as a given fact.

[Avalon08]

I think a wall mural can be a surprising bright spot on an otherwise bland or unattractive view. I like the ones that are "trompe l'oueil", so they blend in and don't scream "mural!". Or, sometimes just something pretty, such as the tree mural above, or a colorful abstract. I am not fond of the "African-American kids playing", or "Frank Rizzo's face", those types. One of the murals (that was being protested by neighborhood residents before it went up) depicted scaffolding in the mural itself -- like, scaffolding is not ugly enough on its own, it's gotta be added to the mural? I do like the idea of community participation in the project so in the end, the neighborhood residents feel a connection and sense of pride in it.