During my walk through Old Town I spotted this electrical transformer in a patch of cacti. It was artfully painted to fit right in!
I love how a little imagination can change a dull, boring object into an inspired piece that fits into greater beauty. Very cool!
Street art flourishes on the sidewalks of San Diego. Many electrical transformers and utility boxes have been creatively painted to represent colorful scenes both real and imagined. Most have a primitive or folk art vibe. I’ll snap lots of photos for this blog!
Here’s a box downtown at Sixth Avenue and Elm Street that features an airplane and space shuttle zooming above clouds between planet Earth, the Sun and the Moon. At least, that’s what it looks like to me!
I took this fun photograph near Anthony’s Fishette. A spray paint artist had placed these colorful pieces of artwork out for passersby to admire and hopefully purchase. These appear to be smaller renditions of the more elaborate “space art” productions that I’ve seen in the past. In addition to a few cosmic planets, I see several outlines of the Coronado Bay Bridge, a Buddha, a Mario, a skull and crossbones, and a variety of cool faces.
I really like how these images, weighed down on the sidewalk with small rocks, combine in a fantastic mosaic. The colors are intense and the effect is bold!
UPDATE!
I spotted the same artist displaying his work on some grass near the convention center during 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. I learned his name is William J. Dorsett. Cool guy! Check out his Mind Magick Creations website!
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Take a look at the deliciously, crazily, wonderfully picturesque Studio 13 in Balboa Park’s always surprising and colorful Spanish Village! This quaint little studio is both funky and folksy, a wild mixture of creative artistry!
You know, I wouldn’t mind living in such a happy place. Perhaps in the middle of a green meadow with unicorns grazing nearby…
Here’s another photo of the fantastic mural shown in my previous post. It provides a wider view. This outstanding example of super cool street art can be found on the outside wall of Pokez, an artsy vegetarian Mexican restaurant in downtown San Diego.
The mural’s design is jam-packed with brilliant color, urban style and symbolism, and feels both organic and futuristic. It reminds me somewhat of the spray-painted “space art” you see occasionally being created by street performers in Seaport Village, the Gaslamp, or Balboa Park.
And here’s yet another pic:
This might be the most awesome street art in downtown San Diego…at least, that I’ve seen. This fantastic, super vibrant mural adorns the east wall of Pokez, a popular vegetarian Mexican restaurant on E Street at 10th Avenue. The riot of neon bright colors is so crisp and exciting one just stands transfixed on the sidewalk, immersed in the rampant creativity.
As I photographed the spray-painted mural, a young lady walked by and commented that she really liked it, too!
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Here’s the right side of a tile bench painted by San Diego school kids. Check out my previous post for the left side and a brief explanation.
I love to sit on these fun tile benches near the Maritime Museum of San Diego and gaze out at the water. I have a weakness for this sort of inexcusable, lazy inactivity. Oh, well. Loafing wide-eyed on a sunshiny day is my personal definition of exciting urban living!
Here are more photos of the colorful benches along this stretch of the Embarcadero…
Along the Embarcadero near the Maritime Museum of San Diego you’ll discover a great walkway at the edge of the bay.
One can look straight down at gentle water lapping wood pilings, see small fish darting below like silver points of light, watch least terns wheeling in the sky and diving, see black cormorants hunting underwater like feathered submarines…and gracefully soaring pelicans, and sailboats racing, and a blue sky, and huge ships coming in carrying cars from Asia, and airplanes landing at Lindbergh Field, and a glittering downtown skyline nearby, and the distant lighthouse on Point Loma…
You get the idea. It’s an extremely interesting stroll at any time of the year!
Along the walkway, twelve colorfully tiled benches await those who’d like to sit. The tiles were painted by many local K-6 student artists in 2004, Celebrating the Big Bay, in partnership with the Port of San Diego and the San Diego Children’s Museum.
The benches contain pictures of the ocean, fish, fantastic sea creatures, gulls, whales, ships, mermaids, palm trees, and happy, smiling stick figure people, as envisioned by artistic children with a paint brush.
The above photograph shows the left end of one bench.
Below, someone fishes nearby…
Cool San Diego Sights! 