Tag: AotW

Ou La La!

Photo by Roman.

This is another panel from the 2022 Artists of the Wall. This one, I believe, was completed after the event as I do not at all remember seeing it when I took photos there a week after. There are usually a few panels that get completed in the weeks after, but then, befuddled by fumes of THC as I often am, how can I say for sure if this is one of them?

“Ou la la” could be an appropriate title. “La la,” I have read, is something one might say over spilt milk:

It is a dark and stormy night. The rain comes gushing down: A multitude of splats becomes a roar, the air a thousand concussions. A cold wind descends from heaven. Outside flickers with a sick florescent sky. Inside humidity makes the jar slick when returned to the fridge. It slips. It falls. It breaks in pieces: a half pound of coffee.

Oh! la la…

Thus back in the imaginary days of the Moulin Rouge, “ou la la” accompanied the choreographed display of chorus-girls’ underwear as an expression of mass mock dismay over a collective wardrobe malfunction.

Of course, that may all be so much horse feathers as “la la” is not exclusively dismay…

Artists of the Wall 2022

For some reason long since obscured by time, the southern end of the beach in Loyola Park is bordered by a broad promenade and, for some 600 feet, a concrete retaining wall and bench. Just the place to gather graffiti like flies on a cow pie. Back in 1993, somebody decided to pre-empt the scrawls with artwork from the Rogers Park community that would be laid on the wall in June during a two day festival with music and vittles.

This year’s event was held over the Fathers’ Day weekend. The theme was The World of Tomorrow, I understand. I did not attend but several days later I came by to view the results and to photograph what I liked. The images below are the images that I preferred, not necessarily the “best” wall panels in the show no matter who is the judge.

Also, the wall is never finished in just two days. A few of the artists will be tinkering with their work for a while yet.

2022 wasn’t a bad year but I think there’ve been better. See for yourself.

(Recommended: Click any image below to enlarge it.)

Photo by Roman.
Panel detail. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
A warm future… Photo by Roman.
Detail from a somewhat dystopian panel. Photo by Roman.
Not actually a painting, true, but part of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Detail from panel, hanging in there… Photo by Roman.
Winnie the Pooh, of course. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Panel detail. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Detail from panel. Photo by Roman.
Detail from panel. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Detail from panel. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
Detail from panel. Photo by Roman.
Interesting details. Photo by Roman.
Interesting mix of pop tropes… “Further” was the destination board on Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters bus. Photo by Roman.
Photo by Roman.
You were expecting Elon Musk? Panel detail. Photo by Roman.
Panel detail. Photo by Roman.

I should add that while the photography is not bad mostly, this was not a best effort. The photos were taken in the late morning, not far from Noon, and the wall generally faces east with little shade. My camera is smarter about such things than I am, but even it had problems. It wasn’t made easier by the new paint that had something of a gloss to it, the reflected light complicating matters even more. It was a situation that inspires gratitude for digital over film… Lots of discards… Late afternoon or maybe a bright overcast day might be better for someone like me. Or if you have a better camera that allows for more manual control, maybe the time of day is not so important… Just sayin’…

Rubble In Memoriam

Photos by Roman.

I don’t know the story behind this shrine but it’s not usually good news. One assumes the worst: a death. And yet, what could be a more appropriate portrayal of the ruin left behind from a death than a symbolically delirious pile of fragments?

It’s a shambles, not the dead but those left alive.

I’ve almost certainly spent too much of my time since retirement from activism and working watching episodes of Time Team and that has seriously warped the way I see things like this. Time Team, in case you missed it, is / was a U.K. TV program that combined reality TV with science documentary with (ultimately) a sort of popular archeology movement, all anchored by several academics with vivid, if not to say eccentric, personalities who, since they were all mostly specialists, fit the TV trope of coming on each episode to occupy each their niche in the drama.

No, I haven’t seen the new series yet.

Seeing this shrine, I now wonder how ancient is that practice of adding stones to an altar, grave or cenotaph — not to mention broken items as offerings? Wasn’t it pebbles of quartz that people would bring to place at an altar during the first millennium? And our bronze age relations, they were no fools in bringing broken items as offerings. It wasn’t simply a matter of economy, I suspect, but rather in a spiritual sense, it was a retirement of the item offered, a giving back.

And why do I have this image of a small dog held suspended above water but its legs, all four, helplessly in full furious paddle?

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Photo by Roman.

Cats & Dogs

Here are two strays from the 2021 Artists of the Wall. I’m pretty sure these are panels I missed photographing back in 2021 or perhaps I simply did not like the resulting photos. Though… I have seen panels replaced or elaborated over the year that they’re on the wall.

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2021 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
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2021 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.

Artists of the Wall, Year 2003

This is another series of images captured from the annual “Artists of the Wall” event in Chicago’s Loyola Park. These are from the year 2003 and they are the images that I liked the best. Like the earlier “Artists of the Wall” posts this year, these were taken with a largely automated Pentax film camera. The prints were scanned a few years ago. A regular visitor to this blog might have been wondering if I had skipped 2003. So was I, but I found the files eventually.

2003 was the 10th Artists of the Wall event. Each year the organizers suggest two topics or themes for the artwork. Generally, people end up doing whatever they please, including sometimes addressing one or the other theme. My impression of 2003 is that people may have paid closer attention to the suggested themes than in most previous years but maybe not by much. But people here in the States do have a fascination with the odometer’s rolling zero.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.
Artists of the Wall, 2003. Photo by Roman.

Artists of the Wall, Year 2006

Every June (with a COVID break) since the early 1990s, folks from the Rogers Park neighborhood decorate a 600 foot concrete retaining wall / park bench. What I do, not every year but frequently, is wander along the wall some weeks later and photograph whatever I happen to like. Or in the case of actual film photography, whatever I could afford.

These 2006 photos were done using film and a largely automatic Pentax camera. The prints were scanned several years ago. The photos below are the images I like. It was a pretty good year, but judge for yourself.

For more artwork from the Artists of the Wall program, click on the AotW tag.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
I love the diver’s expression. 2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall, detail. Photo by Roman.
2006 Artists of the Wall. Photo by Roman.