The first image above is by Picasso. The second is a mural in my neighborhood. They make a kind of pair, yes? When walking by this mural, I have often thought of Picasso’s iconic and controversial painting, Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon. Both depict sexualized women looking out at the viewer, and both elicit similar reactions — discomfort either at the objectification of the women or at the blatant, unadorned way in which they are on display. Could it be that one piece, held up as a work of art and housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is thematically echoed by an object of the every day, painted on the wall of a mini-mart? I think so.

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“I’m going to jet over there after work.”

“You gotta fly at ground level to get over there.”

This is part of a conversation I heard on a bus in Los Angeles recently between the driver and a college-guy passenger. I’m not sure if the passenger intended to extend the driver’s airplane metaphor when he responded, but the symmetry struck me as poetical. I liked the turn of phrase, too, never having heard “fly at ground level” to mean hurry or go fast. Might add that to my lexicon.

The picture is a bit of graffiti I came across in Venice, Italy. The backpacking stick-couple was cute, and appropriate for the tourist-lined streets of the famous city. It made me laugh to see these purposeful trekkers on the wall, because the streets of Venice are so winding and narrow that you really have no choice but to wander. My friend and I certainly didn’t jet around Venice, but we loved going nowhere in particular and admiring the city’s beauty and art, whether it was ornate architecture or a simple red stencil.

Image credit:
• © Lisa Andrews, 2007

Past entries in this blog have revealed my affinity for simple, graphics-based artwork. While I’m blown away by the old masters; by rich oils and chiaroscuro, there is much to be said for artwork that may appear unskilled by comparison. To me, work such as that of Saul Bass and Alphonse Mucha, while certainly influenced by the commercial world, is striking in its economical approach to communication. Lines and colors, when used well, can tell us just as much as more detailed realism. It’s undeniable that this is artwork that speaks, even if with a smaller vocabulary. Continue reading →