Alright kids, let this be a lesson. Don’t vandalize. And adults, don’t leave paint lying around for us to literally paint the town red. According to the Enquirer the mysterious Washington Park vandal has been identified by red spots on his jacket.
Now if we can just catch the idiot that painted the southern gates all one solid color as if it makes it looks nicer. Its stone, you shouldn’t paint it. Maybe power-washing would have been a better choice, but the patina adds to the character.
Categories: OTR · public space
I don’t mean to pick on Lavomatic, or the other merchants in the Gateway Quarter. Honestly, I think that these places are great and are a crucial part of what is needed for OTR to be a healthy neighborhood. But, as some know, this blog started with a post about the Gateway Quarter as an example of place branding. I thought it would be fun to revisit some of these ideas four months later in the context of an article written about Lavomatic.
More interesting to me than the specifics of this instance are the perceptions and portrayals of transitioning urban neighborhoods in general. The article is primarily about the food and is written by a food critic, so the comments should be understood in that context. I am not trying to devalue the point of the article because it is well written and does exactly what it is supposed to. This is interesting to me because of its relationship to place branding. It is not an expert urbanist’s perception of the neighborhood, but has some implications for thinking about the Gateway Quarter as a place.
The article starts by commenting that “It’s a big scary world out there. So it’s good to find a place that creates its own cozy corner of it, a restaurant with a well-developed sense of where exactly it is.”
I’m not sure how this was intended, but in the context of what follows and the general perception of its location I read a big scary neighborhood. Also, I’m interested to know how this “well-developed sense of where exactly it is” relates to this big scary world.
The article then mentions that “Lavomatic is a cornerstone of the neighborhood that’s evolving as the Gateway Quarter on the blocks of Vine Street north of Central Parkway.” Cornerstone might be an overstatement, but it is important
What my initial post eventually alluded to, is that the development of the Gateway Quarter in being conflated with OTR. Effectively, psychologically isolating an area from the perceptions of its surroundings neighborhood and carving a safe space in the contested territory that is OTR. This has some value, but my opinion is that it can also be detrimental to building a tolerant community. My concern is still that this might be divisive and exclusive.
The introduction concludes by describing Lavomatic.
“In a former laundry (lavomatic, in French) it has a homey theme evoking freshly washed clothes and domesticity. Close to the Art Academy, Know Theatre and Ensemble Theatre, it also feels arty and urban-cool. It’s a neighborhood restaurant worth traveling to.”
“Evoking freshly washed clothes and domesticity” is awesome and I’ll let the “arty urban-cool” go because its exactly what my mother would say. But a “neighborhood restaurant worth traveling to” made me think for a minute. And I still feel a bit puzzled. Is it a neighborhood restaurant that those who live here can enjoy or a place that requires outsiders to travel?
Categories: OTR
Here is a great instance of the same design that I posted earlier. This time it is complete and it has a little (plump) friend too.
Categories: OTR · public art
I guess these have been there for a while, probably since this show in 2004, but I’d never taken photos until yesterday. For those that aren’t familiar with swoon you are missing out. Check out the audio tour of her work in the right hand column of this NY Times article.
Categories: DIY urbanism · Imaging · OTR · public art · public space
is your trash your home
On the soup bean side kid
street let me eat
NEE NEE was here 10-22-07 This is why I’m hot
My real killas
run this park
Who want it !!!
Who want it bitches!!
NEW BATTLE PLAN (you have to look harder to know the details)
DT ____ go to _____ _____ u do what ur sistor do and get out of my life u love _____ u play to much but ____ can go to _____. _____ this is my nigga foe life
LT ____ ____ Snay Boo Baby daddy for life 12th aww! Big things going A.K.A husband and wife come and get some I am ___.
Back on da block Snowflake & Phil Wall 5-1-08 & its the 1st
Life’s to short so don’t wast it
Categories: OTR · public art · public space
Categories: OTR · public art · public space
I don’t see a lot of street art around OTR, but recently I came across a few pasted pieces.
This one is of 12th Street between Vine and Race Streets
This one is tucked in an alley off 13th. The best part about that is that walking along 13th you see it and want to check it out, but have to go down the alley a little to get up close. Well worth it, IMO.
They are cool, kinda whimsical and not charged with the negative connotations that typically comes with tagging or political resistance.
I can’t really make out the bottom one. At first and still from a distance it looks like a profile of a guy in a top hat, but up close it is this weird combination of what looks like an old computer monitor with wings.
After looking at the photos they are kind of different, but when I first saw them I thought that they were from the same person. There was another one off Main Street that I didn’t get a picture of in time, but it also seemed similar.
Categories: OTR · public art · public space
Tagged: OTR, Street Art, Wheat Paste
A few more ghost signs around the neighborhood and downtown
The Belmont Cafe building and sign being demolished to make room for a parking lot
Rosco’s on-site sign appears to be repainted recently, but the storefront is closed
I am curious of the date of this huge Paramount Vodka sign
Need Money see WILL is vine covered
Rugs, Baking: Downtown off fourth
Hard to get a shot of this one along Vine
Detail of the above sign’s type
More layers than I can decipher
Categories: Cincinnati · Historic Preservation · OTR · ghost signs
A recent article in the NY TImes Travel section shows how street art is an attraction in the city. I am sure some think that this is crazy, but the whole street art world has exploded in recent years. Helped along by artist like Barry McGee and Shepard Fairey, street art has become a major force in contemporary arts. Many art galleries and museums have caught on, but as the article suggest the life of street art is in the streets, in the spontaneous encounters and seeking it out.
This may not come as a shocker to some, but street art is one of those qualities that people base their judgment of a city on, and its not always bad. In fact street art is an important contributor to the cool factor of a city. It is part of the character of a place that can’t be produced in a board room, it can’t be copied and pasted from another city, well almost. If someone is looking for a “cool, hip” city they aren’t simply looking for the martini/ sushi bar, they want the rough around the edges too. Street art signifies that there is art and creativity, but not the safe Sunday afternoon watercolors, but art that really pushes the limits of aesthetics and in many ways democracy. Street art is an expression of a new generation of artist that have a very different conception of what is beautiful and what is worthwhile and valuable. It questions the idea of art as artifact and pushes for the experiential aspects of art and urbanity. So, while it is not for everyone it certainly speaks to the tolerance, creativity and culture of a place.
So where is the street art in Cincinnati? We are certainly not without any, but it is different from many of the so-called desirable cities. Most of the street art in Cincinnati is a bit more primitive and incidental than that of NY, Boston, San Francisco or Portland.
I spend most of my time in OTR so this is where I have encountered the most and best examples of street art in Cincinnati. But I can’t help but wonder, and trust me I do, what would this place be like if street arts where more prevalent, more tolerated and of better quality? No one is saying that this should be legalized, that would do more harm than good. The illicit nature of street art and graffiti works as a filtering device and is part of the art. But in OTR there is so much apprehension about the ideas and ideal “quality of life,” and being “safe and clean,” that any uncommissioned object, anything does not have a proper place in the predetermined order is quickly on the radar and dealt with.
Here are a few shots of some sites that I have caught in the neighborhood. Unfortunately most have come and gone pretty quickly.
Seen between Main and Sycamore Streets, no longer there.
Along Race Street between 13th & 14th
In an alley off of Vine, near Clifton
This was more of a memorial for a murder victim, but has been removed
Along McMicken
Another temporary memorial, at 15th & Clay
Categories: Cincinnati · Elsewheres · Imaging · OTR · public art · public space
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