Tomorrow Festa will be enjoyed by thousands of people in Little Italy. One of the annual festival’s biggest attraction is the amazing chalk art, which is also known as Gesso Italiano. Today the chalk artists began creating their masterpieces. Their unusual canvas is two blocks of asphalt along Beech Street.
I walked this afternoon from Cortez Hill down to Little Italy, to see how far the artwork has progressed. Most of the artists had already made a good start.
I looked with wonder at many colorful chalk art faces that have gradually come to life. The artists, when drawing a human form, often begin with the face. So many beautiful faces were gazing up from the asphalt.
Festa begins tomorrow, Sunday, at 10 o’clock. Thousands will enjoy the finished chalk masterpieces. I will definitely be there!
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Truly amazing portraits. I’m curious about the preservation. I guess one has to hope it doesn’t rain!
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No rain in the immediate forecast! Once Festa is over tomorrow night, however, they get washed away! They might distract drivers!
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Such a transitory delight.
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I am reminded again of how temporary art… graffiti, chalk painting, sand sculptures, art to be burned at events such as Burning Man, etc., have become part of our modern life. What do you think it reflects about our world, Richard? –Curt
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I don’t know if I can draw a definite conclusion. Chalk art and sand sculptures have always been temporary–it’s their nature. Graffiti and Burning Man seem like something else, something new in our modern world– Perhaps many people in an increasingly hectic, materialistic, secular society don’t readily accept the idea of selfless permanent truth or beauty. Graffiti in many instances is marking out territory, imposing the self upon others. It is often subversive, in your face. It often rejects established ideals. Burning art seems almost like an act of despair. Everything is temporary. Everything turns to dust. I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just being reactionary. People are complex. The world is complex. Two contradictory sayings both seem to be true. There is nothing new under the sun . . . and the only permanent thing is change.
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Thanks for the thoughtful response, Richard. I have often thought about the question, particularly since I have been to Burning Man many times and have seen much beautiful art go up in flames. (Much of the art from there doesn’t burn and now graces communities around the world.) It seems to me to reflect an Eastern perspective, impermanence, as you have suggested. Let go… –Curt
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