Tag: art

The creativity of new graffiti in Flash Alley!

There’s a special alley in Normal Heights that’s an outdoor gallery for many of San Diego’s most creative and known graffiti artists. It’s called Flash Alley. The alley is a few steps north of El Cajon Boulevard and City Heights, just east of 34th Street.

In my last blog post I shared photos of a very cool Junior Seau mural. It was painted a couple months ago at the south end of the alley.

After taking those photos, I walked north along Flash Alley and aimed my camera at lots of amazing, super colorful spray paint art. It all was painted in the last year or so.

I last visited Flash Alley in May 2020, and as you can see by comparing those old images here, all the current artwork is new. I recognized several artist signatures, including Sake, Persue and the Tortilla Crew.

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The amazing Junior Seau mural on El Cajon Boulevard!

If you’ve driven down El Cajon Boulevard between 34th and 35th Street in the past couple months, you might have seen this incredible huge mural celebrating San Diego Chargers superstar linebacker Junior Seau!

The mural was painted in early May by the artists of Ground Floor Murals. (Two days ago I posted photos of their new Manny Machado mural in Chula Vista here.)

Junior Seau is one of San Diego’s most beloved sports heroes, an NFL football legend whose life ended tragically nine years ago. It’s hard for me to believe that almost a decade has passed already.

Ground Floor Murals is composed of Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona, a couple who began painting murals in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic. They now have many cool murals all around the city! Read their story at their website here.

Their awesome tribute to Junior Seau is located at the border of Normal Heights and City Heights.

If you’re wondering about the graffiti directly beneath the Junior Seau mural, that’s part of extensive new art that was spray painted in the past year or two along Flash Alley. Yesterday I also photographed the fantastic urban artwork along the long alley and I’ll be posting those pics shortly!

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Manny Machado “Sky’s the Limit” mural in Chula Vista!

Another super cool San Diego Padres mural debuted recently! This one, created last month in Chula Vista, depicts MLB baseball superstar Manny Machado with the bold words: SKY’S THE LIMIT.

I’ve already photographed a couple other Padres murals painted by Ground Floor Murals, which you can see here and here.

This awesome Manny Machado mural reflects the third baseman’s intensity and team leadership, and both his offensive and defensive prowess. The artwork was illuminated early in the morning when I walked past it.

The mural is located in Chula Vista on Third Avenue, a short distance south of E Street, on the side of the historic Vogue movie theater building.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

La Vida es un Sueño (Life is a Dream) in Barrio Logan!

Life is a dream.

That is the message of a very cool mural I spotted in Barrio Logan at the corner of Logan Avenue and Sampson Street last weekend. The mural appears to be titled La Vida es un Sueño.

I’m not sure who created this rather unusual, dreamy street art. There’s a bit of stylish script near the bottom of the artwork, but whether it’s graffiti or a signature, I can’t tell. The mural seems a bit faded so it might be a few years old.

If you know who the artist is, please leave a comment!

UPDATE!

I later learned the lead artist was none other than Mario Torero.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Art purchased by the city from artists during COVID-19.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, local artists were supported through a special initiative undertaken by the City of San Diego. The city purchased almost 100 works of art for the Civic Art Collection. The initiative was funded by a generous art lover and philanthropist.

An exhibition of this acquired artwork, titled SD PRACTICE, can now be viewed at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park, and at Bread & Salt in Logan Heights.

I visited the San Diego Art Institute on Sunday to view their pieces. I noticed some of the artists are widely known, including Hugo Crosthwaite and Mario Torero.

Contemporary art is often provocative: subversive, angry, skeptical, iconoclastic. But many of the pieces I saw conveyed mostly a feeling of loneliness. Which I suppose isn’t surprising. They were created during a pandemic–a time of forced social isolation.

One canvas shows an elderly woman alone at a table set with dinner and cold smartphones. Other works–often with political messages–show people trapped alone behind borders or squares or lattices of drawn lines, or wearing masks, or concealed beneath sheets, or in shadow.

One artist’s tintypes were created with random people on the street. The artist and strangers pose together as if they are family. But the tintypes are very dim like faded dreams. And the momentary “families” weren’t real.

In one piece, an isolating smartphone has been dropped to one side, and two people lean into each other for simple human warmth.

As I walked through the gallery, one plastic chair made to appear gleaming and precious seemed inviting. But it was only one chair.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Inspiration at Timken Museum’s Creation Station!

A small but wonderful Creation Station can be enjoyed in front of the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park this summer!

While the world-class art museum undergoes its renovation, people walking along the construction fence in the Plaza de Panama can linger at the Creation Station and be inspired!

This afternoon I paused for a bit to watch Erick Toussaint (@sidewalk_chalk_dad) work on amazing chalk art that recreates a piece in the Timken’s collection. Then I looked at the fun chalk drawings by kids and families that passed by earlier this beautiful Sunday!

Erick will be recreating some of the fine art museum’s great masterpieces every other weekend through August. Check out the museum’s page concerning the Creation Station here. On the other weekends, family’s will help design a huge outdoor mural!

Today Erick was working on reproducing Nicolas de Largillière’s elegant Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, 1729. His work on the gold frame alone is stunning! As you can see, I took photos at various stages of progress during the afternoon.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

That kinetic sculpture on the Nimitz median.

Whenever I’ve driven down Nimitz Boulevard south of West Point Loma Boulevard I’ve wondered about a kinetic sculpture that rises from the street’s median.

Yesterday morning I headed to Point Loma for a better look.

The shining sculpture, titled Taiji, was created by Encinitas artist Jeffery Laudenslager. Like a silent living thing, the public art moves and changes its shape in even the slightest breeze.

Taiji was placed on the median by the Point Loma Association in 2017. Learn more about the association and their work to beautify Point Loma here.

According to the artist, Taiji is based on the Yin and Yang principle. You might say all of his kinetic pieces display a certain symmetry, considering how perfectly balanced they are.

You can see two more Jeffery Laudenslager pieces that I’ve photographed around San Diego here and here.

(It was early Saturday morning and traffic was extremely light. I was super careful that no cars were coming when I momentarily crossed the usually busy street to take a few photos!)

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Photos of Viva La Frida in Barrio Logan!

A lively, very colorful event is going on this weekend in Barrio Logan!

Along Logan Avenue, southeast of Chicano Park, the neighborhood and local businesses are celebrating the iconic, enormously popular Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The festive celebration is called Viva La Frida!

Early this afternoon, after enjoying the nearby Chicano Park Vive! lowrider event, I continued walking along Logan Avenue to check out Viva La Frida!

The sidewalks were full of people experiencing the colors, tastes, sounds and smells of the several blocks long festival. There was music, and lowriders, and families, and friendship, and plenty of tasty Mexican food, and lots of art on display, and vendors whose tables overflowed with Frida-themed wares. A traditional Día de los Muertos altar for Frida Kahlo honored the artist’s life.

I can only wonder what Frida would think if her spirit did indeed approach the altar and she was able to view this largely commercial event, and the endless variations of her self portraits everywhere people turn.

As I ambled along I noticed some new street murals on Logan Avenue that appear fairly new, and other street art that I’ve apparently missed during past walks. I’ll have to return in the near future, perhaps when the crowds enjoying the Viva La Frida celebration have departed and my camera has a better look.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

The mysterious Coastal Helix sculpture in Carlsbad!

Have you ever wondered about that mysterious shining sculpture in the traffic roundabout at the north end of Carlsbad? You know, where Carlsbad Boulevard meets State Street, just south of the Buena Vista Lagoon?

The fantastic sculpture is titled Coastal Helix. It was created by California artist Roger White Stoller in 2014. Learn more about him here.

As you drive past the silvery flame-like public artwork, watching for merging traffic, you can’t fully appreciate it.

During my walk up the Coast Highway last weekend in Carlsbad I approached Coastal Helix and took a variety of photos. You can see how small stories appear to be told in the metalwork. One sees birds, frogs, surfers, and many other lively elements all mixed together.

According to the artist’s description here: “A celebration of the Pacific Ocean and coastal lagoons, the stainless pattern incorporates abstracted imagery of local flora and fauna: a whale, pelican, heron, crab, bird-of-paradise, waves and many more elements can be discovered. Gateway to the city, it stands atop artisan boulders built by Boulderscape and designed to replicate the local sandstone cliffs…”

These coastal inhabitants all seem to have spiraled upward mysteriously from the rocks upon which the sculpture is perched.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Archaeopteryx at Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center!

A prehistoric, Late Jurassic period Archaeopteryx is often seen lurking near the entrance of the Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center!

The flightless, carnivorous, bird-like dinosaur apparently has arrived from 150 million years ago and found a home in Oceanside!

This particular specimen appears very shiny. That’s probably because it’s actually a cool metal sculpture, created in 2021 by local artist Dr. Paul Weber!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!