yawn 2

I left the following comment at a Facebook discussion of Tris McCall's opinion piece:

First, I should say that, while I've lived in Jersey City for years and have 1000s of photos of walls with murals, but not only walls with murals, I now live in Hoboken.

Second, I simply don't know what to make of McCall's piece. Here's what I gather:

1. He likes stone and brick, for what they are as materials, for the labor invested in them, and for what they represent about the urban environment. Agreed.

2. He offers a general caution about casually painting over those surfaces with murals. Agreed. I'm with John Fathom: " Stay away from historic sites and churches, private homes etc. Rest is fair game." I should also say that I don't care whether or not some, many, or even most murals are appealing to me. The urban landscape certainly needs to be richer than my personal taste.

3. Then he focuses on the Coles Street Underpass. He likes it: "The play of daylight on walls, the union of concrete and metal, the cadences of the great columns that hold up the highway, the slanting roof of road that pours cars and trucks into the tunnel...." That's also why I think it's a great place for murals. He goes on: "...the faded industrial blues and weathered cream-colored whites, the rich orange-red of rust and brick..." OK, except...

4. I gather that he doesn't want to see that area covered with murals. I disagree, but that's OK. We can disagree. But...

5. For as long as I have photographs of that area, which isn't all that long, only back about 13 years or so, most of those bricks have been red, not because they fired red, though that may be the case, but because they've been painted red, sometimes different shades.

What was he seeing when he rode "under the bridge on my bicycle hundreds of times"? Was he looking with his eyes, or with his mind? He's an art critic. He's supposed to use his mind to examine, explain, and elaborate on what his eyes see. Here he seems to be using his mind to ignore what his eyes saw.

6. He concludes by saying: "I hope the festival is a success, and I hope you are amply rewarded for your talents. But before you whitewash that wall, please give some thought to what you’re taking away." Really? That's only one of three areas for the festival, but it has by far the greatest number of murals. Without those murals covering all that that red paint, the festival would have been much diminished. A much more modest success.

Quote:


*yawn*

I have a question for the muralists — here and elsewhere. Are you sure that what you are adding is better than what you are subtracting?

https://jcitytimes.com/a-message-to-the-muralists/