Weekly Photo Challenge – COLOR

“Walls become alive.  What color is happiness?  I learn to see again.”

Ese’s Voice

COLOR ME HAPPY

COLOR ME HAPPY

Ese of Ese’s Voice and I decided to have some fun this week collaborating on the Weekly Photo Challenge “Color”.  That’s her lovely Haiku opening this post.  To see more of her work, click on this link.  For my part, I’ve chosen a number of colorful photos from a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  There, the streets are alive with wall art which, as far as I could tell, if not actually encouraged, is certainly not discouraged.  In fact, many of the underground passages were decorated by local artists – such as the tiles in the photo below.

ART FOR THE JOY OF IT

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

WOOF !

WOOF !

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the joy of living.  If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”

Tecumseh

TAKING FLIGHT

TAKING FLIGHT

Interestingly, most all of the art we saw seemed to express genuine joy, or some level of spirituality. 

ARTIST'S SUNSET

ARTISTIC SUNSET

“Painting is the grandchild of nature.  It is related to God”

Rembrandt

While we didn’t actually see any of the artists at work, we did see some of the tools of their trade, which were pretty striking too!

WAITING FOR WORK

WAITING FOR WORK

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

Henry Ward Beecher

Some call it graffiti, others call it art.  Here in the states you can incur a fairly significant vandalism fine if you’re caught.  On the other hand, in places like New York City there is a recognition of grafitti’s artistic value, and several well known galleries are now featuring some of the most creative street artists.   Remember when they said impressionists were radicals who violated the rules of painting? 

Personally, I say here’s to art, wherever and whatever, by whomever.  What do YOU think?

To see more colorful weekly challenge entries, go here.


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82 thoughts on “Weekly Photo Challenge – COLOR”

  2. I recall a new link being put in for buses near where I once lived. Someone did a beautiful work of art under the bridge. I really loved it and thought it added to the area. However,someone else decided to tag all over it and ruined the art work. To me the first person was an artist while the second person was a jealous vandal.

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  4. Great use of colour and fabulous photograph’s. Indeed great minds think a like! I was bursting with ideas for colour but graffiti just kept coming up first. I would love to go to Buenos Aries and find these.

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  9. Oh T… Perfect display to end a dreary cloudy rainy week ! Love the freedom of expression wherever and whenever! Thanks for the kickstart to a brighter week! Linda

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  11. Such stunning paintings and I do love the colours! Absolutely beautiful and I love the quotes. Here’s to Art! Great post! 🙂

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  14. Tina- I am facinated by the artistic graffiti I see as I peer out the train window when I travel to NYC. And from another era, am intrigued by hieroglyphics in the volcanic ruins of Hawaiian islands. And I recall a time I myself gleefully’graffitti’ed with those little colorful jars of gooey finger paints as a tot in places (walls) I was not ‘suppose to’.
    Art- Many originations.
    As for the Color subject — i just love it — makes me happy. Which is why I wonder why so many homes are so beige.
    Personal favs are the paintbox & wondering of the story of the owner. Also the sunset. Am a glutton for toasting & photographing beautiful sunsets and being thankful for another day. Thanks Tina for sharing your beautiful art of photography & the inspiring passages! Cheers! ds

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    • Thanks for your lovely comment Diane! I really liked the paintbox too and found myself wondering about the artist. I think people are just drawn to creative expression and know my lack of talent for painting makes me admire it all the more!

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  15. Nice pics
    I dont know if graffiti is art or not.
    Who can decide what art is or not ? Of course i havent this capacity.
    Maybe some grafittis are art and others are only a teenage prank.
    But I know that I like the graffittis you show for us.
    Thanks for share

    PS: sorry for the mistakes, english isnt my native language

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  17. Its an interesting conundrum, graffiti. On the one hand, it is tough to tell someone they aren’t artistic. I think there is that long-time debate about what is and is not art, and its definitely a gray area, probably one that will never be defined or black and white. Some grafiti can be art, and in other cases it is less art and more just plain and simple territorial markings, and usually vandalism.

    The difficulty with graffiti is the fact that it IS vandalism most of the time. Unless someone is painting the walls of their own property, graffiti is destructive to someone else’s property. It may be public property, and thus everyone’s, or it may be private property. Either way, it can be costly to clean up if the actual owner of that property prefers not to have someone elses artistic expressions intruding upon their own aesthetic desires.

    If art is also vandalism, I’m not sure I’d be simply willing to say “Here’s to art, wherever and whatever, by whomever.” I find it to be rather self-serving and entitlement-driven when someone demands the right to deface other peoples’ property. There is also no reason a city that is interested in graffiti as a form of art from building an area explicitly designed for it, where that form of art is encouraged. A gallery of concrete and brick walls in a park? I think there are many ways to accommodate artists who prefer the medium to be something other than paper, canvas, or computer screen. The artist should be finding a way to express their creativity and vision in a less destructive manner. That doesn’t mean their STYLE has to change…possibly just the medium. As for the style itself, “Here’s to art, whatever by whomever!”

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    • Jon, thanks so much for your thoughtful comment and a new perspective. Of course you are right, there surely is an issue if it is someone else’s property. The idea of a space specifically designated for such art is an excellent one and in fact in the back of my mind I think I’ve seen something like that. I also saw a sad article about some wonderful art that was torn down recently on the Berlin wall. It’s an interesting issue isn’t it?M

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      • Aye, very interesting issue. It’s definitely one of those “modern” issues, where so many people have so many different opinions about it.

        It would be interesting if there was some kind of space dedicated to graffiti art. In areas where graffiti IS primarily an expression of art, I think such spaces would be very valuable. I think every so often, those walls could be cleanly taken down, maybe put in galleries or museums, and new clean walls put up for new art. 😉

  20. brilliant artwork, no doubt, even if the chosen canvas may deem it vandalism. have occasionally had similar thoughts as the question you raise here, when viewing some of the creative graffiti found near train stations in Europe or along the many miles of tracks. this is a great collection. thanks for sharing.

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  24. Full of Passion and verve 😉 Who is to say what is Art or Not ….
    What a marvellous collaberation Tina and Ese !

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  36. I must admit I perceive the wall art as bursts of creativity and not vandalism. But then I also believe that we see what we want to see – not that it is a bad thing at all, of course. 🙂
    A wonderful post, Tina! And thank you for collaborating – I enjoyed that.

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  37. Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Color | Ese's Voice

  40. The use of public art is another way to extend our humanity into open space. It promotes dialogue, which is one of the points of art. Really good choices for the challenge.

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