(no subject)

[nathanjw]

I was in Davis for the first time in a few months yesterday, and when I pulled into a parking spot next to Brooks, I noticed that the mural there had been painted over. Does anyone know when this happened, and if there are any plans to repaint or replace it?

Comments

[jadelennox]

It has? I like that mural, despite the silly caption.

And dude, you were in town?

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

I was so upset about it I called Rebekah Gewirtz.

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

It was looking a bit tatty but I liked it. Watch for the graffiti wars on that virgin paint. Maybe they could use the security camera on the corner to monitor the wall and arrest the culprits.

[ah42.livejournal.com]

They were painting it Friday when I walked by. I have a photo "in progress"

Been meaning to post about it, actually.

[ah42.livejournal.com]

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Oh nuts. I was planning on taking a photo of it myself someday, particularly of the woman writing the parking ticket next to the meter on the far left. That was the best part (the only good part)? It was sad that it was falling apart.

Well, maybe the new mural will be cool.

[agoddess.livejournal.com]

"The only good part" is correct.

[sissychrissy1.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm glad they're repainting something. I can't imagine that wall bare.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Murals seem to be gone for good once they are painted over around here. I remember when the old aquarium mural got painted when Orleans bought the space, and then only put up their rose when people complained. The rose is nice but it's got nothing on the old mural.

[ron_newman]

Oh no!! Has anyone told Be Sargent? It's her mural.

[ron_newman]

On the other hand, a lot of people wanted to quickly forget anything having to do with the Aquarium restaurant. That placed caused lots of problems for its neighbors.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

I would assume that they let the artist know. The thing was looking terrible after all those years of neglect. Perhaps they've commissioned her to do another one so it'll look nicer?

[ron_newman]

I've e-mailed her and pointed her at this thread. If I don't hear from her in a few days, I'll phone her.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

It was looking pretty grubby, with major parts flaking off. I liked the policewoman giving the parking ticket, but otherwise the whole mural gave me a vague feeling of annoyance every time I walked past it. I didn't shed a tear when I noticed it being painted over.

Can you imagine the outcry if it had been something like "A Celebration of Men" instead of "A Wall of Respect for Women"? Hopefully, if they repaint it, the new art will be less exclusionary. Maybe something like "Hooray For Diversity" or "We Like Flowers".

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. The policewoman with the ticket was the only good part of it; it showed a real sense of humor and whimsy.

[elements.livejournal.com]

I understood why Orleans needed to re-brand the mural space to differentiate themselves from Aquarium. And the rose is nice enough. But it would have been nice to see Orleans plan a mural that would really have compared to the mural they had to displace.

[jadelennox]

I didn't like the caption, but I actually really did like the mural. It was happy.

[ron_newman]

What did Rebekah say?

[tracy-rolling.livejournal.com]

It was a bit ugly, sure, but better than a blank wall. I really hope they'll make a new one. Wy should cambridge have all the nice murals?

Speaking of ugly murals, has anyone noticed the one behind the Store 24? It is one of the weirder murals I've seen. It's something like tango dancers silhouetted against a red sunset... I think.

I think I have a picture somewhere....

[reed-davis.livejournal.com]

Great picture.
Thanks for posting it.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Hehe, that occurred to me about the women/men thing. :-) Personally, I celebrate men, so a mural of it wouldn't bother me!

New or None

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

What makes anyone think that there will be a new mural that will be better or any new mural at all? Has Brooks or anyone else committed to a new mural? I'd be willing to bet we will be looking at a plain white wall (soon covered with graffiti) for a long time until I hear any official word that tells me different.

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Hands down the weirdest/ugliest one is on ... McGrath? The one about animals... "We Speak For Those Who Cannot" and Elvira (maybe Vampyra) is in there? That thing is so bizarre.

I love it.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

It's Elvira. Cassandra Peterson is a vegetarian (maybe vegan) and an animal rights advocate.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's a good point. The mural itself wasn't bad. It was just the title that set the wrong tone for me.

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

Rebekah just called me back. She checked out the damage yesterday.

There's a limit as to what she can do since it's private property.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Do you feel like men don't get enough respect at this point?

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

men get celebrated every freaking day. did you not see a whole bunch of them being celebrated during the world cup yesterday?

the reason a wall of "celebration for men" or the like would provoke outcry is that men, on the whole, as a gender, have never NOT been celebrated or respected in our culture. on the contrary, women have.

when the wage gap is ended and women not longer have to be concerned about the government making laws on their bodies, and there are more than 14 female US senators, and less than 1 in 4 american women will be raped in her lifetime, THEN perhaps you might have a somewhat valid point.


(and how is the idea of respecting women "exclusionary"? who does it exclude? people who don't respect women?)

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

and how is the idea of respecting men "exclusionary"? who does it exclude?

Women.

and how is the idea of respecting women "exclusionary"? who does it exclude?

Men.

Do you understand that these are mirror images? If we celebrate members of one gender solely for the genetic happenstance of their having a vagina/penis, we exclude the other (roughly) half of the human race who has a penis/vagina instead.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

so women can't respect men, only men can respect men? and men can't respect women, only women can do that?

i disagree with that idea that celebrating somebody means excluding somebody else. everybody can celebrate women. everybody can celebrate men.

it seems that you think the presence of a mural celebrating women somehow takes away or distracts from one's ability to celebrate men. as i said above, this might be true in a vacuum. but in the context of our society, which is one in which men are already quite celebrated, it hardly even equals things out, let alone makes them unfair. if you're concerned that men are being excluded from societal celebration, i encourage you to open any newspaper, see any movie, watch any news report. you'll see that, quite to the contrary, they're being lauded for all sorts of things.

but by your logic, since we've been celebrating men for most of human history solely on the basis of their having penises, we've therefore been excluding women, the other (roughly) half of the human race who have vaginas instead, so really, women deserve at least a simple mural to compensate for this exclusion.

(and really, if a mural makes you feel excluded enough to cry about it here... wow, dude. you'd never make it as a woman. cause we have to deal with, you know, serious instances of exclusion in society.)

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Yes, but acknowledging the truth of what four_thorns said -- that women are in many ways excluded in this society -- is not exclusionary but a statement of fact. So recognizing women solely for being women is an attempt to counterbalance the fact that women are discriminated against solely for being women. I understand the point you're making -- both attitudes are exclusionary -- but it's still not a mirror image, because the two groups you're comparing are not in equal positions in society.

Yes, attempting to balance out inequality in this kind of way is problematic, a response but not itself a solution. I still think it's better than pretending that the problem doesn't exist. Acting as if men and women are treated in exactly equal ways won't magically change something endemic to the society, and calling attention to the problem is not a worthless endeavor.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing you're not too happy about Black History Month, either?

Re: New or None

[brianbeck.livejournal.com]

They've painted the whole building a nice shade of terracotta! It looks a LOT cleaner. I hope they manage to keep it that way.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Nope, that's not true. Why would you think that, other than it fitting a stereotype you expect?

"Black History Month" actually has a focus. It's not just a celebration of one subset of the population because they happen to be dark-skinned. It gives us a context to explore civil rights, history, and the accomplishments of the members of one particular minority group in America.

The now-departed mural did nothing of the sort. It did't recognize the entire community. (Counterexamples from Central Square: "Crossroads" (http://www.citysource.com/LocalCreations/crossroads.html), ,"Crosswinds" (http://www.citysource.com/LocalCreations/crosswinds.html), "The Potluck" (http://www.citysource.com/LocalCreations/index.html#allpotluck).) It didn't recognize global themes which include us all. ("Celebration of Imagination" (http://services.bostonglobe.com/globestore/category.cgi?item=147009&type=store&category=600)). And please don't tell me, "It's inclusive because everybody can respect women!" That's no more true than a gigantic crucifix (or pentagram) being called inclusive "because everybody can worship Christ (or The Goddess)".

It didn't recognize specific women because they had accomplished something in particular, other than the accident of having been born female. It was a depiction of roughly half the population, while excluding the other half.

As the others before you have noted, the mural itself seemes to be a attempt to counterbalance a perceived bias in society. But that doesn't mean I can't critize the mural for being deliberately biased in the opposite direction.

"ugly" mural

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

Johnny D's had it painted - so it does make more sense, being dancers, than if it was Store 24's.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Ms. Gewirtz may be mistaken. If you are truly concerned, have her look into the Federal VARA (Visual Artists Rights Act), which has been applied in several federal cases to mural art.

An artist's rights of integrity encompass the physical integrity of the piece of art, and include: (i) the right to prevent any intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification which would be prejudicial to the artist's honor or reputation; and (ii) the right to prevent any intentional or grossly negligent destruction of a work of recognized stature.

I'm not 100% certain about this, and in this specific case we do not know if the artist did, in fact, sign concent, but in either case Gewirtz could hit a little Lexis-Nexis research and come back with some information for you.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

If you're really concerned, have her look into the application of VARA to this. (See my previous comment about this (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/576955.html?thread=4250811#t4250811)).

Update on Mural at Brooks

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

There's a note on the door of Brooks saying that the mural was painted over because it was in bad shape, and they contacted the artist who originally did it, but she has moved out of the area so was unable to fix it.

Re: Update on Mural at Brooks

[ron_newman]

I e-mailed and phoned Be Sargent, the artist. She has moved to Gallup, New Mexico. She told me that her contract with Osco allowed them to remove the mural at any time -- but only after giving her 30 days notice. They did not give her any such notice.

In fact, she said that my phone call and e-mail to her were the only reasons she knew about this at all.

[ron_newman]

A reasonable assumption, but a wrong one. She found out only after I phoned and e-mailed her.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

Brooks has had a sign at its cash registers since it happened saying something to the effect of "it was in terrible disrepair. we contacted the artist to do another one, but she's moved cross country." I hope they're not just making that up to satisfy annoyed customers!

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I saw that sign, too - now I'm wondering if "we contacted the artist" means, "we called the number we had on file, and got a disconnected tone, and then found out by asking around that she moved."