**NOTE: City’s original story on “Wall/Therapy” can be found here.
Our previous update can be found here.**
As the week wraps up, many murals for this year’s “Wall/Therapy” project are
finished, some are getting closer to completion, and the artists who have
stayed in town are beginning new ones.
Manhattan-based twin How & Nosm departed on Tuesday, and Spanish artist Liqen left on Wednesday morning. Rochester
artist Mr. Prvrt began a bonus piece
today in the Public Market (go find it!), South African artist DALeast began a new kinetic work in the
St. Paul Quarter that is visible from a lot across Pleasant Street from where
his wife, Faith47, is working on a large piece. Brooklyn-based
artist Cern and Siloette,
of San Franciso, continue their work side-by-side at
the RecCenter
at 200 Avenue D.
German artist Case began a new piece based on the Kodak
Girl photograph by renowned street-art photographer Martha Cooper on
Lake Avenue near Kodak
itself. Rochester artist Thievin‘
Stephen‘s minotaur on Pennsylvania Avenue nears completion, and he
will begin a second mural this weekend. St. Monci,
also of Rochester, continues his
progress at Roc Brewing Co. at 56 S. Union St.
While you’re checking it out, don’t miss the show of work by the three local
artists inside Roc Brewing.
During my documentation of this project, most visitors who came to view Case‘s
image of a swimmer and a mermaid on Pennsylvania Avenue appreciated the lovely
ladies, while some asked enthusiastically or uncomfortably if they were lesbians,
presumably because one of the gals is embracing the other.
Belgian artist ROA started receiving similar questions from
viewers when his mural of a pile of snoozing bears began to take shape on the
wall facing the lot of World Wide News at 100 St. Paul
St. Many people have suggested or insisted that
the bears are engaged in a sexual act because they are lying on top of one
another, facing opposite directions. But the faces aren’t positioned correctly
for the insinuation to be true. Close, but no cigar. It’s provided an
interesting look at Americans’ knee-jerk tendencies to finish a picture (and
also exposes some peoples’ cases of sex on the brains), but ROA told me he’s observed it as Western Culture thing, not just American.
Here’s some context:ROA’s body of work is rife with fuzzy animals lying
in piles together, or silhouettes of beasts with bone or vascular structures
revealed. As “Wall\Therapy” is a project of Synthesis Collaborative, which
deals in x-ray imaging, ROA considered making one of his
bones-revealed works for Rochester, but when he met the neighborhood, he said,
he wanted to make something that was “a little sweeter,” and decided upon the
cuddling bears.
Back to Case: his mural is finished and includes what he
has told us is an untranslatable German phrase that
means several things, but the gist seems to be that “success hangs on courage.”
The meaning of the gorgeous imagery is altered for me by this phrase. The
swimmer clinging to the mermaid is perhaps embracing the courageous side of herself, embodied by someone who dwells comfortably in the
uncharted depths.
It has been such a gift to witness people from different parts of this city
looking at art together, discussing it together. There is sometimes a palpable
hesitation on both sides of each interaction. The addition of this artwork to
city neighborhoods won’t magically solve any problems, but it’s starting
something necessary, moments at a time.
Many of the artists will work through the weekend, weather permitting, and
depart Sunday or Monday. Follow us on Twitter at @roccitynews
for more updates and photographs of the progress.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2012.
