Last week I completed X at the corner of Preston and Greenmount, a couple blocks south of the new Baltimore Design School and the "P" mural. "X" has been one of the murals I have been most excited about in this project as it derived from the original painting that spawned it all! I went to a community residents meeting while working through the project with the builder. I shared the story with residents and one of them had an idea to put hands raising the children up. AWESOME IDEA! How about a few hundred of them!?! Check the detail shot below to see the layers that went into this one. "R" really set me off to this technique where I'm using stencils upon stencils to create textures and larger patterns. The green and purple palette was pulled from the painting.
One of the original concerns/conversation points was the race of the child. As a white artist working in a mostly black city, this comes up a lot. This is one of the reasons most of my figures are so minimally described. I can paint the hell out of a figure, photo-realistic if you want...but the more detail you put in, the less people can relate. "He doesn't look like me/ I don't know anyone like that / I don't like people like that" are all comments that ACTUALLY have been said. From those statements it's much harder, but not impossible, to connect with that viewer. By using unrealistic colors and taking out a majority of the features, this is not as much of an issue. Now the cornerboys, tranny hookers and lake trout aficionados that kept me company while working on "X" can really appreciate the piece! LOL
These pieces are for me, they are for you, for my son, his friends, and their kids one day. They are for everyone. How much do I consider my audience? Entirely and whole-heartedly.
(Pro pics of "X" coming soon)
