It’s Halloween! Look at all these great Halloween costumes! I saw them today during a short walk near downtown San Diego.
Yes, almost all of these photographs were taken in Balboa Park. I spent several hours there, just meandering about, enjoying an orchid show, meeting friends, stepping into a museum, listening to street musicians and an amazing organ concert. In other words, simply enjoying the sights and sounds of San Diego’s most wonderful park.
The last photo with the two guys in costume was taken as I walked through Bankers Hill. If you recognize the street, you win a pretend candy corn. (Sorry, I already ate all the good stuff.)
Trick or treat!
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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!
Mexican artist Gabriel Rico has assembled objects related to a coastal desert estuary setting.
Walking around the floor of the museum gallery is like walking through a strange dreamscape of scattered symbols. Animals living and dead, stones, bones, faces, apparitions from the past, trash, a variety of abstract figures and forms stand or lie on sand by the unseen water.
Human artifacts, contemporary issues and disturbing images seem more prominent than nature’s beauty. The estuary imagined appears to be one in an urban setting.
Neon symbols dangling from the ceiling include vowels, numbers, the five senses and essential geometric shapes. They are common to every mind, but each experience of life is unique.
According to the exhibition’s description, the collected “objects are not meant to be considered individually rather experienced as a unified whole.” The art is provocative and raises questions differently in the mind of every viewer. Who are we? Where do we live and how do we live?
Does this gallery seem oddly familiar to your eyes? The Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego is a recent fusion of two organizations: the LUX Art Institute and the San Diego Art Institute. The latter used to occupy this same space inside Balboa Park’s House of Charm.
If you like to think about the world you live in, and perhaps in unexpected ways, Unity in Variety will give you pause. Like a stirring dream that lingers.
The exhibition runs through February 27, 2022.
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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!
I found more great Gerardo Meza street art in San Ysidro!
I was waiting for the Blue Line trolley at the Beyer Boulevard trolley station recently when I spied these two electrical boxes. Both are located at the intersection of Beyer Boulevard and Caminito de los Ninos, close to the San Ysidro Health building.
Gerardo Meza has a distinctive cartoonish style that usually conveys humor or political satire. It seems his brush just creates and creates and creates like a perpetual motion machine.
Every time I walk through San Ysidro, I see his art everywhere!
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!
During my visit to La Mesa for Oktoberfest, I photographed two colorful murals that I hadn’t seen or recorded during prior walks.
The first three photos were taken at Public Square Coffee House. I believe this amazing mural overlooking La Mesa Boulevard is by prolific San Diego graffiti artist Sake (@sakeonedesign).
The seahorse mural in the rear of Sheldon’s Service Station was painted back in 2017 by Beth Emmerich (@bethemmerich).
Enjoy!
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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!
Fearless people (and art lovers) have the rare opportunity to view Death and Monsters in Escondido!
Muerte y Monstruos (Death and Monsters) is an exhibition currently on view in the museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. The collection of traditional Mexican artwork, created by the Linares family of Mexico City, includes many papier-mâché sculptures depicting skeletons and skulls, or calaveras, engaged in living and death.
And there are fantastic monsters, or alebrijes, too! Pedro Linares is credited with inventing that form of very colorful folk art.
It’s fortunate many of the fragile pieces on display have survived. Their purpose was to be burned or broken during holiday festivals in Mexico. The sculptures in Death and Monsters were preserved by San Diego art collector Larry Kent.
Much of this art was inspired by legendary Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. His iconic work is being concurrently displayed in the main gallery of the museum!
Would you enjoy a unique experience during the upcoming season of Día de los Muertos? The exhibition continues through November 21, 2021.
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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!
Four large, very colorful murals are presently being painted on the rear of Hotel Z in downtown San Diego. The art comes from the hands of Ladies Who Paint (@ladieswhopaint)!
I was walking down Seventh Avenue this morning when I spied the new artwork. I then met artist Sarah Tate. You can see her smiling on a lift in an upcoming photograph.
Over the years, the Ladies Who Paint have produced numerous amazing murals all over San Diego, particularly in East Village. You can see some of their past work here and here and here and here!
UPDATE!
I swung by a couple days later to see how the murals are progressing…
Painted by @lindsaysocharMural in progress by Thao French (@thaofrenchart)Live in the sunshine Swim in the sea Drink in the wild air — @heysarahtate
UPDATE!
And several days later, the murals appear to be finished!
Mural painted behind Hotel Z by @enchi.art.
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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!
You can see this bold new artwork on University Avenue, just east of Interstate 15, in an outdoor space where a variety of community events are held. It’s a fierce new mural on a shipping container painted by artist GMONIK!
If you’ve driven through City Heights, it’s likely you’ve seen other colorful art by GMONIK. Check out past photographs here and here.
I spied this brand new mural during a visit to the Car and Bike Show held at this location today. I’ll be sharing pics of that cool event shortly!
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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!
A beautiful mural painted on a long wooden fence can be found in a “hidden” spot in San Ysidro. It’s off the beaten track, near the intersection of Cypress Drive and Hall Avenue. I’ve documented several other murals along alley-like Cypress Drive, near Casa Familiar, during past walks. But this artwork appears to be relatively new.
The spray painted mural contains much colorful imagery, from an octopus and ocean waves to a hummingbird and prickly pear and the moon and brilliant jewels and a human figure among clouds and a rainbow. I looked for an artist’s signature but didn’t see one.
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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!
A very creative sculpture rises between government buildings at the County of San Diego Operations Center in Kearny Mesa. It’s titled Perhaps.
Perhaps you’d enjoy some fun photos of Perhaps!
The sculpture was created by award-winning London-based artist Zadok Ben-David in 2012. The giant human form, made of hand plasma cut Corten steel, is composed of tiny joined figures in countless different poses.
So many potential activities in life. The complex story of every life is written by moment to moment choices.
Hmm. Perhaps…
If you’re wondering about the white fenced area near the metal legs of Perhaps, according to a sign it will be a small County of San Diego demonstration garden.
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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!
Enjoy the following cool photographs! They were taken today during a long, meandering walk around downtown Oceanside.
All of these murals and other bits of art were new to my camera. For whatever reason, I didn’t see this artwork during previous walks. Some of the murals appear to have been painted more recently.
If you’d like to revisit several old blog posts featuring a lot more street art around Oceanside, you can click here or here or here or here or here!
Okay. Here we go! Read the photo captions for any more information that I observed…
Underwater scene at Cynthia’s Artistic Expressions Art Gallery and Sip and Paint Studio. Colorful images include tropical fish, shark and mermaid. By W.B. @caegallery.SpringHill Suites mural shows jellyfish holding a surfboard!Mural by Paul Knebels, 2021, decorates Fugu Ice Cream & Taiyaki.Mural by Skye Walker Art at Harbor Liquor-Beer and Fine Wines.Old, faded mural at Venetos Cucina Italiana depicts Oceanside Pier and beach scene. By Mark McBee, 1998.Mural at EVE Oceanside, which appears to have been created by Anlicuado, 2019.Window graphic shows military aircraft and American eagle by the Oceanside Pier. “Dedicated to the men and women who serve with bravery and distinction their Constitution and Country. Painted by Hernandez, 9-11-2015.Cool shell and tile mosaic decorates one unique Oceanside building.Superhero guards entrance to Panels Comic Book Coffee Bar.Murals add color to alley by Purrfect Auto Service.Eye-catching mural on wall at Rebel Rebel Hair Salon, by @hirotton.Lush artwork adds life to front of Plantology Cafe, by artist Aja Saint Claire Seabron (@_honeyspyder_).Beautiful artwork above front door of Don Myers Stained Glass.Fun turtle table outside Firestone Auto Care.Mural on south wall of GrowGeneration.Trippy spray paint graffiti art on north side of GrowGeneration.A kinetic metal sculpture rises from the sidewalk on South Coast Highway.Artistic drop of water hangs in front of Sonora Refillery.A very unique and artistic garden in front of Seaside Flowers and Gifts.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 