If you were walking by Clarion Alley at Valencia Saturday afternoon a very friendly guy with a can of spray paint in one hand and a Flip camera in the other may have excitedly encouraged you to paint your name on the wall. Chor Boogie was getting tourists and locals alike, most skeptical at first, to grab a can of paint and throw-up.
Chor has been collaborating with the San Francisco Arts Commission for the Free Wall Program, giving people a legal space to paint on to discourage them from painting . . . anywhere else. Little kids can get started early by painting with cops. He hosted a free wall at the last Sunday Streets in the Western Addition, and will host another for the October 24th Sunday Streets at Civic Center.
It’s definitely fun to have a bunch of random strangers collaborate on a large piece, but I’m not sure how you make a product that can be enjoyed once the process is finished. The Clarion wall as it ended up (directly above) is cool in a chaotic way, but is ultimately a mess. You could say it reflects the overlapping thoughts and voices that is life in a neighborhood as dense as The Mission. Or something like that. But it’s still too much for me to really want to look at.
That’s not really the point here, I know. People were enjoying being able to paint without rules or structure. (though etiquette was still enforced, Chor reminded a man not to spray upwind of another artist) So the process is engaging and inspiring and freeing, but once it’s done what are we supposed to do with what’s left? I wonder if they’d be able to impose a loose structure that allows people to feel empowered to create what they want, but gives them enough framework to produce something cohesive. Exquisite Corpse? Paint by numbers? Maybe everyone gets assigned a piece of a known painting that gets recreated as you go.
In any case I like the idea and the $150,000 program also pays for commissioned murals and arts in schools, which is rad.
Be sure to check back on this piece. I was under the impression that Chor will be working over the next few days to bring it all together, in his usual colorful style.
here’s a review I recently wrote of the graffiti/art found in at Clarion Alley. send work if you are interested!
http://theblobbyblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/clarion-alley-review/