Arte Agora Cincinnati
Public studios, a big slap scene, and complex wheatpastes
In places of density all over the world, art is everywhere. Once you see it— and catch the spots, forms, and methods artists use to make, place, and sell their work— your eye will forever see.
In every city we visit, there are things to see and learn about art, everywhere. Earlier this year we took a trip to visit family in Cincinnati. We mainly spent time in Over-the-Rhine
More than murals
The phrase “street art” has become a synonym for large-scale painted murals on the sides of buildings. There are many important and well-known murals in Cincinnati, but since murals can’t be removed, they have nothing to do with Arte Agora.
A narrow definition of street art misses a vast amount of accessible and dynamic art at the human scale, on the street, within reach.
Public studios are for sharing
It also excludes the people who live and work in public studios, engaging with passersby. This is why we needed a new term— one that embraces and describes the actual work we all see. We cover Public Studio in our recent book, Spots, Forms & Methods in Arte Agora:
While we were in Cincinnati, We saw an example of a public studio across the street from Saint Francis Seraph Catholic Church, as Mass was letting out. The artist set up their work— cardboard displays arrayed on a portable table featuring printed phrases, handwritten text, and images— at Liberty & Vine.
He was not offering the work for sale— the cardboard pieces were used to illustrate and as talking points in his explanation of his religious beliefs, which has aspects of numerology, African royalty, and sun worship.
Wheatpaste, slaps, and infrastructure
We collected images of dozens of examples of wheatpaste, slaps, and flyers here in this album:
Here’s a series of large-scale figurative wheatpastes from @technique2012
Civic infrastructure like signs, poles, and electric boxes are often used as surfaces for art, given their prominent locations and smooth surfaces.
I’m a fan of 8-bit illustrations and culture jamming, so these two caught my eye:
There’s always more to learn, if you look.
