Friday, December 02, 2005

Paint and public art as progressive ideals -- why not in New Albany?

In the interest of reconciliation and progress, it is understood that we can’t have what we want most of all: Fully staged show trials in which previous generations of New Albany civic “leadership” would be compelled to listen to the recitation of their aesthetic crimes against the municipality and be sentenced to penance.

We’re speaking primarily of the era of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, when classic components of New Albany’s architectural legacy, i.e., the post office and the courthouse, were blithely sacrificed for barren parking lots, formulaic banks festooned with Formica, and sterile socialist-inspired structures that continue to blight the cityscape long after the perpetrators have retired to Florida to escape the eyesores of their making.

However, all is not lost. In other parts of the outside world, creative thinkers rush in where fear-mongering troglodytes fear to tread.

We believe that when it comes to correcting the deficiencies of modern architecture, simple solutions like paint and art are capable of transforming this smudgy river town into a brighter, warmer place.

Consider the monumental task faced by those European countries breaking with Communism, where most cities are ringed with gray blocks of flats erected cheaply and rapidly in the post-war era, many similar in appearance (but varying in size) to this one in Greifswald, located on the Baltic coast in the former GDR:

At the risk of oversimplifying the complexities involved with the process of privatizing state-owned apartment blocks, improving the amenities within, and revitalizing neighborhoods outside, it would seem that the most common solution to the simple problem of gray murk has been a coat of paint:

Consider the looming bulk of our Riverview Tower retirement home, a building that would not be out of place in Bucharest or Tirana:

And try to visualize the impact of color, as in this hastily sketched revision:

Local residents Dave and Bonnie Thrasher have been leading proponents of public art as a valued pillar of revitalization, and we’ll leave the details to them and so many others who’ve studied the utility of art in this context.

At the same time, while walking to the library yesterday morning, it struck NA Confidential quite forcefully that wall murals and similarly styled artistic renderings are a marvelous way to humanize the windowless walls of public buildings, as in this view from Mexico:

A prominent example of a contemporary structure with a wasted, blank gray wall is the City-County Building:

Here’s how it might appear if used as the canvas for a mural:

Granted, the scene above is a North Korean anti-imperialist propaganda poster, but you get the drift. I’m seeing an historical scene from New Albany’s past, one that might be realized by a local artist and financed by private fund-raising efforts.

Consider public art a viable plank in the progressive platform … and there’s absolutely no reason why a five-year plan to achieve such a goal cannot be commenced right now.

Addendum: Read about Jeffersonville's flood wall art in an Evening News article by John Gilkey.

5 comments:

Iamhoosier said...

I believe Mike Pattison, who used to own the cable company, painted a mural of the statue of Liberty dowtown several years ago.

The New Albanian said...

Good call. There's also one going up on the Elm Street side of the building housing the Token Club (by the new post office).

In both cases, these are older buildings, with exposed and windowless walls that were never intended to be seen, i.e., adjacent structures were removed.

While certainly not undeserving, my specific area of concern isn't the older stock of buildings (which demand treatment of a slightly different sort) but the exposed concrete and sometimes brick of the featurless newer buildings.

I hope that isn't splitting hairs?

The New Albanian said...

Sorry, didn't see ceece's posting before I wrote about the Token Club.

Very odd, but for some reason ceece's are the only postings that don't come into my mailbox. I wonder how she does that?

na girl said...

I think that one of the ideas that Dave Thrasher has talked about is projecting images onto the sides of buildings. Evidently, it can be done quite cheapley.

Seems like the end of the city county building would make a perfect screen.

Highwayman said...

I'm not an artist but I do like good artwork and I think this is a great idea! Traveling around the country I have seen examples of this concept that have been very well done.

One of the best is on the support wall at the end of the runway at the Lexington, Ky airport.
Coming from Lexington toward Versailles on US60 there is a panoramic view of horse pastures and blue sky that gives such a vivid illusion of seeing thru the wall that one has to stop and look twice to determine that it is just a picture.

By the way, the Korean poster was a nice touch although I'm sure there was no sublime message intended. Or was there?