St. Paul Fadeaway

Not much is going on in St Paul, Minnesota right now. The city is preparing to host the Republican National Convention, but right now they are still just preparing. The convention kicks officially Monday morning, but with Hurricane Gustav whirling in the gulf and the debacle of Hurricane Katrina hanging over the Republican party, the convention may not start for several more days.

My role has been very limited so far. There have not been many productions in the city, so my time has been my own. Today I'm off to the Minnesota State Fair, and later I will go to the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport to shoot McCain's arrival, and hopefully his visit to the Larry Craig Memorial Stall.

In the meantime I wanted to throw some of the pics up that I have so far.

The incredibly awesome Sponge Bob Square Pants roller coaster at the Mall of America. Lots of fun! And ridden for free thanks to the power of the press pass!




Another view of the Mall of America amusement park. I believe that is a Dora the Explora Ferris Wheel.





One of several large American flags that are painted into the hills along the highways that enter St. Paul. I'm not entirely sure if this is for the RNC or if it is a usual patriotic display.




The road into the Xcel Center looks like a DMZ. Those are some heavy duty 7' iron barricades. They surround the entire center, plus the peripheral areas. They form a 3 or 4 square block perimeter. Its a little creepy. That orange thing there reflected in my shot, is my pass though. As long as I have that the nice men with the automatic weapons just wave me by.


Lucy and Linus Van Pelt say hello. In honor of Peanuts creator and Minneapolis/St. Paul native Charles Schulz, the Twin Cities had a series of these guys made up and painted by local artists. Here we have snowboard Lucy, and Super Linus.

Simply Awesome.

Something To See Here

I've always liked graffiti. Not because it makes a statement about culture, or because it helps me know which gang turf I'm on. I like graffiti because it breaks the monotony of the everyday landscape. Graffiti offers something new and fresh. By the time you get used to graffiti it gets painted over and then along comes another artist to throw their tag up.

Since I live in a neighborhood that is so close to Maryland College Institute College of Art (MICA), I am privy to a fairly large and diverse number of taggers. Most of the tags are just that, signatures. The larger pieces are painted over quickly by the very efficient Department of Public Works(DPW).

The undisputed king of Mt Vernon right now is Cuff Link. They have tagged just about piece of municipal property in the area. The style of the tags has improved noticeably since they first appeared. Here are some of the more recent contributions.


Just "Cuff" and AD, ya know in case you forgot your standing in the Julian/Gregorian calendar. The side of a mail relay box.







The full tag on a mail box. This looks like it was done with an actual paint brush or paint stick of some kind.







A bigger piece on the baement window of a board up.








Another mailbox. The arrow across just to draw your eye back over. I like the light blue on dark blue, very nice color choice. (sorry about the angle the blog has rotated the image for no good reason and I can't seem to change it. Argh!)







While Cuff Link is the most prolific tagger in the neighborhood they are not the only artist around.
Heist, here on a parking meter in silver paint pen, has a good number of tags up. They have been in decline lately though. I believe that they have moved on to bigger and better art projects.






I haven't gotten this one deciphered just yet, but they are an up-and-comer. Sntaks (syntax) is my best guest, but clearly here they love you, and me, and everyone else too. With the swish of a Sharpie they now claim this traffic light control box.





In addition to traditional tags in Sharpie and pain, graffiti artists use the sticker to bomb. Its more expensive to produce, but the speed of placement makes getting caught a much lower risk. I don't know how the sticker slapper ranks in the graffiti world, but my guess is they "ain't as street", as their pen and paint brethren. Just the same they do make for some good finds.

There are two seperate stickers here. Arab is the lower one. I believe they are affiliated with a local rapper. Ride's sticker above it is actually a really nice piece. The sticker is actually reflective. I guess they wanted to make sure that the sticker was seen noon or night. The cost of making this sticker probably explains the scarcity of them. I believe I have only seen two in my area. These are both on the side of a mail relay box.



Here is that Ride sticker again without the flash. It looks pretty normal.








Cuff Link will not be confined to pen and paint, oh no, they will do stickers, too. A low slap to a light post. Probably done casually as they were walking past and no one was the wiser.






Another up-and-comer, this one in the sticker category, and my personal favorite for placement I present the incomparable Tophat!