It's bittersweet of course. Like ice and butter sculpture, plywood murals are among the saddest of all art forms. They're built to be temporary. Here's one section at its inception:
I would like to formally thank PLG Arts for its noble service to the neighborhood. Just think how ugly these stretches of road would have been without this glorious collection of colorful pieces by neighborhood artistes?
Some of them might end up being used by the community garden on Maple 3. Regardless, they've become part of the local flavor and will be missed. And some folks who will move in to the new apartments will never know the moustachioed four-armed one-legged fruit juggler that once proudly held court there.
3 comments:
Tim put us in touch with the construction manager for the site, who has been very helpful (THANK YOU Tim). Many of the panels will probably go to the new community garden on Maple 3. They will not be able to take the panels coming down tomorrow on the Flatbush Ave, side, in part because there wasn't enough lead time to marshall resources and, in part, because those panels are so badly deteriorated (with most of the paint flaked off) that they aren't really savable. I have high hopes for the Lincoln Road panels though, assuming they survive the trip to Maple 3 (the backs of these particle board panels are not in good shape; I think the primer we used in front has helped keep them together).
The mural panels have lasted MUCH longer than PLG Arts anticipated when we planned this project. We're grateful to the present owners for their promised help in salvaging what's possible. Fortunately, I have high res images of each panel, in it's original unweathered glory:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25605294@N00/sets/72157622265859141/
Also PLG Arts' Fenimore Street Mural, on masonry walls, should last much longer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25605294@N00/sets/72157626436939146/
AND PLG Arts is doing lots more:
http://plgarts.org
AND
https://www.facebook.com/plgarts
The Flatbush Avenue mural panels are gone, but I met Mark, the construction manager, this morning. He promised to take down the Lincoln Road panels carefully, without sledge hammers. They do not yet have a permit for a new construction fence on Lincoln. When they get it, he'll notify me right away which, if things go right, should give the garden people enough time to retrieve the remaining panels for Maple3.
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