Monday, February 25, 2008

Deep Ellum



So I decided to go to Deep Ellum where they supposedly have great examples of urban art. Far from the truth... most of it was actually painted over. I thought it was pretty sad to tell you the truth. I thought this example was the most interesting because of mural behind the type. It was bright and colorful, the urban art itself was more subdued--which compliments the mural. Not really sure what exactly the the urban art says... it actually looks incomplete. I think the way the letters are darker underneath gives nice depth to the walls. The type bounced off the wall as I approached it. In case you guys don't know the specifics of Deep Ellum.. here are some facts from the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau: Deep Ellum is an entertainment and arts district on Elm Street east of downtown Dallas in Dallas County. The area was settled as a "freedmens' town" by former slaves after the Civil War; its location on Elm Street, just east of the Houston and Texas Central tracks near the depot, was too far from downtown Dallas to be desirable. The area was called Deep Elm or, as early residents pronounced it, "Deep Ellum". Because of the proximity of the railroad, it was also called Central Track. But anyways.. this place was known at one time to have an enormous amount of urban art... it was the people's way of expressing themselves when they didn't have a lot of money.

5 comments:

pollypocket said...

This is really a neat example. I like seeing the graffiti behind the larger paintings of people. It's almost like history put on a wall, and you can look through the layers to see what came before the larger paintings. I enjoy how this wall did not only have a lot of type, but it also had the illustrations of people. It shows two completely different styles of artists.

Bethany said...

This one is interesting because even though the pictures that are painted on the wall are cropped out they are what stand out to me. Mainly because of the brilliant colors. So then the graffiti becomes this background for the art instead of what stands out. This is cool because it's usually the graffiti on a wall that stands out, but here all the the graffiti text creates this great urban background for the artwork.

Ebee said...

This is neat... i agree, i really appreciate the different layer aspect. It is very different and has a cool affect.

little cody. said...

as a person who lives in plano and has been to deep ellum several times, i can tell you that all it really consists of is creepers and more creepers. its not a very safe places, especially compared to downtown fort worth. as i can see from this example, they are trying to cover up the graffiti to try to better deep ellum, give it back the artsy look that it was based on and try to clean up their act. because trust me, they need to.

Sarah Reed said...

Wow, this shows such a wide variety of graffiti! The funny thing is that I never really realized that pictures like these can be considered graffiti! What I find most the most interesting are the layers of graffiti; like Polly said, it's almost like the history of that area is painted on that wall. I like the contrast between detailed, clean and colorful pictures and the simple, messy black outlines of letters.