Sometimes I want to look at art that moves me to action and sometimes I want to gaze at a work of art that is just pure beauty. You know what I mean?
My chalk drawings at street painting festivals tend to make more of a direct visual statement than my more obscure soy paintings. One’s assigned square of pavement at a festival is literal real estate to use for the day. I find myself drawn (pun intended?) to chalking messages that celebrate nature, question human activity, and/or express hope for the future. In the past, I’ve drawn a compost pile with a TV and volunteer tomato and pea plants, tessellations of turtles stuck in single-use plastic bags, and someone writing a postcard while sunbathing on a styrofoam island in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Last month I participated in the Onset Street Painting Festival. I needed a simple image I could finish by 3PM because I had a pop up art show to get to that same day. I wrote “EMPATHY NOW” with a heart radiating from the A and a peace sign in the O. Then I colored in the letters with the American flag. It felt good to draw it, and it was well received by the public. You can see the image here in my IG post.
I’ll be doing another street painting in a couple weeks in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA for Oktoberfest. It’s the Cambridge Rotary Club’s fundraiser. They do good work. The image is almost done incubating in my mind, but the message will be to extract hate from our hearts. At the end of the day, I’ll add it to my collection of past drawings here, including the ones mentioned above.
Oktoberfest and the Honk festival are happening simultaneously on the afternoon of 10/12. Both are full of positive vibes and happy people dancing in the streets and enjoying autumn. If you can, I highly recommend making your way to Harvard Square. I’ll be there from about 10-3. Come by and say hi if you attend.
If you were given a 5’x5’ square to send a message out to the world, what would you draw or write?
Until next time,
joç
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