the wall in cambridge

time to start stealing
Originally uploaded by florajasmine

here's a shot from my visit to the wall in cambridge, right off of mass ave. over the past few weeks a ton of local and non-local artists have come by and put up their work courtesy of an art guy (www.not-rocket-science.com/) and a restaurant guy (www.enormous.tv). awesome move to take street art and make it accessible, legal, and collaborative.

i only found that this event was even occurring due to my random contacts on flickr. other street artist and street art fans all collecting and sharing their work over there. i saw a flyer for it listed on someone else's page. coincidence that i was even in boston this weekend. after a weekend of eagles, celtics and sox games, i finally got my butt in gear and made it over to the location. i could not convince any of my friends to go with me. so sad. why are none of my friends into graffiti? i need to find a few street art friendly friends.

so yeah. it was kinda chilly but the sun was shining brightly. i got to spend a while taking it all in, cos it was definitely overwhelming at first. the work of over 20 artists all piled on top of each other. the alley where the art was is under a canopy of colored plates which added a different layer onto the already brightly decorated wall.

while i was there some of the artists were hanging out, adding some finishing touches and pasting up a few more layers. of course, because i'm a loser, i didn't talk to anyone. i just walked around taking pictures and soaking it up. it was fun to have the work of all these guys and girls that i spot around boston all showing up in a single place. the city does really need to have more installations like this. san antonio too. i think san antonio does a big show every couple years whereas boston is definitely lacking, but this was a good step forward. if i ever get my act together i'd definitely love to help organize something like this. of course, then i'd really have a reason to talk to the artists and say something more intelligent than, 'awesome piece, dude!'

because the alley is a main walkway in central square, lots of people encountered the work on there way to somewhere else. retired couples, families, businessmen and street kids all walked through the alley while i was there. and at least half of them stopped to take a closer look or snap a picture with their cellphone. beyond satisfying street art junkies like me, this is why i love exhibitions- it helps other people encounter and appreciate street art that they might otherwise not stop to pay attention to. i saw a little boy staring with his mouth wide open and then tracing his finger along one stencil. an older woman walking with her husband stopped to rub her hand over a pasteup, getting a real 'feel' for the art as it was hung. it all made me happy.

many thanks to the organizers and artists who participated in this exhibition. it was totally awesome and definitely a highlight to my weekend. even though time wise, much of my weekend was spent hanging out with great friends watching sporting events, the 30 minutes or less i spent alone in an alley staring at paint dry - that was probably my favorite. i'm just weird that way.

UPDATE: ok. so the boston red sox winning the world series around midnight. also a favorite part of my weekend. for sure. yay sox!!! my fan-dom has definitely increased since the last one back in my college days. phenomenal.