Photos from the DVD Vault

Martin Luther King Blvd. and Second Avenue

While browsing through the digital art library at Detroit Video Daily headquarters, I came across a set of photos taken in the summer of 2012!

I'm not sure why they never made it onto this blog, but now is the time to correct that. So without further adieu, here's some cool graffiti art located at, you guessed it MLK Blvd. and 2nd Avenue in Detroit. 

At the corner

Walking

Bright and colorful

Interesting lines

At the end of the building

The mural from across the street

Reminder: click on the images to enlarge.

Driving in Detroit: Graffiti and a Mural

Graffiti in the Hood

Interesting signage

Traveling through southwest Detroit, I came upon a couple of blocks with some interesting graffiti and a mural by the Alley Project. More information about the cool Alley Project can be found at their Facebook page here.

Closed

The party store at the end of the video and pictured in the photo above is no longer in business, but they definitely had some of the funkiest signage for their store!

Losing Street Art

Art with a Positive Message

I had know way of knowing that my statement about the mural Think Happy Thoughts, from my previous post here, would take place. Think Happy Thoughts has met the same demise as silhouette boy. This is what the front of the building at Iron St. and East Jefferson looked like back in May.

A positive message

Now - What Message?

Today here's the same building. It went from interesting to dull. I'm not sure if this got painted over at the same time as the Enjoy Detroit Mural, and I just didn't notice, but whenever it happened, the "cool" factor of Detroit went down a notch.

Just another boring building

Iron Street Mural

Let's hope they don't get carried away, and turn the corner and ruin the mural on Iron Street.

Image from a video shot in October 2011

Detroit Video Daily Street Art Roll

Street Art
Art with a simple message, you just can't beat it. Sometimes it helps to have the artist just tell it like it is. No need to look for deep, hidden meanings; just gaze upon the art and enjoy. So first up on the Detroit Video Daily street art roll is this piece by Flaco, sighted on East Jefferson Ave. Let's just hope that no one feels the need to paint over this piece of street art like the unfortunate demise of silhouette boy.

Can't go wrong with this advice!

More Iron Street Art
And just around the corner from Think Happy Thoughts is another Flaco creation, this time a superb face mural painted on a garage door on Iron Street. Long time readers of this blog may recognize the graffiti face on the left from a previous post.

Iron Street Art Gang by Flaco

Graffiti Cartoon face on the left

Free Your Mind
The mural below is also found on Iron Street, the location of this video and post.

Mural with a message

Graffiti Art Face
And it wouldn't be right to not include this face also found on Iron Street. Life is a Mix! -- Indeed.

A yo, another philosophical graffiti art message

Higher Res
High resolution uploads of all the photos in this post (and other Detroit photos) can be found on the Detroit Video Daily Flickr page, check it out by clicking here. And remember it's all Creative Commons license so download, share, pin to Pinterest and enjoy!

Graffiti Faces an Urban Ruin Prezi

Urban Beauty or Ruin Porn?
A lot of photographers have documented the decline of Detroit by taking pictures of abandoned buildings that have fallen into disrepair. Some people find the photos fascinating and artistic, while others consider it a cheap way to draw attention to the city's problems. The detractors use the term, "ruin porn" when referring to this type of photography.

Not Much Here
I don't really have too much ruin photography here on Detroit Video Daily. I'm not opposed to the photography, I just don't do much of it. I try to look for other subjects to photograph. For example, this new building that caught my eye. There is so much beauty in the city that tends to get overlooked. And to be honest ruin photos tend to be depressing after awhile. However, the graffiti faces I came across recently are on an urban ruin, so in this case subject matter trumped context.

Prezi
So for the fast becoming regular feature (graffiti faces) here at Detroit Video Daily, I decided to create a Prezi to display a few photos. Prezi is an online service to make presentations, that some people call "zooming presentations". If you've never seen one before you'll understand the zooming effect very quickly. Click on the "play" triangle to view the short Prezi. You can also choose the full screen option if you click on the word "more" in the lower right corner. 

What is your opinion about ruin photography? Leave a comment and let me know!

Please note Prezi is a flash based presentation and will not work on an Apple mobile device.

Even More Graffiti Faces in Detroit on Prezi

More Graffiti Faces...

Return of Cartoon Face

For some reason they never seem to be happy. That is the graffiti faces. There's no shortage of graffiti art in the city, and I've been spotting quite a few faces spray painted about town. Recently, I happened to notice this graffiti face that no doubt is from the same artist as here. There are two faces on the same wall, and these really stand out because of the yellow paint. From what I've noticed you don't see too much yellow in graffiti around town. Maybe it's not cool to use yellow?

Looking Around the Corner

Yellow Graffiti Face Number Two

Angry Dude
Next is a face not too far from the Globe Trading Company building that I saw when I was out shooting photos of the Globe. There's an angry look to this character, and according to his hat he needs help.

Nice Hat

Cartoon Style
And if you find yourself checking out the awesome mural on Iron Street, then you will no doubt meet up with yet another graffiti face seen below.

Frantic Look

Uh, Oh
Then there's this graffiti face that fills in for the letter "o" in the word dork.  I have no idea why "dork" is spray painted on the side of a building, but with most graffiti I just take it as it is. I will say though, this graffiti face is not looking too happy. But then again, why would he, being the "o" in dork and all.

Graffiti Photo - Cartoon Face

More Graffiti
Detroit Video Daily seems to be drawn to faces in graffiti or other art lately. Not sure why. So I thought I would keep the recent trend in posts going and share a photo of this graffiti face.

Cartoon Face

Perspective
I like the way the face is kind of peeking in the doors. I actually drove past it, and backed up the buggy to snap the photo. (The location is near the Virgin Mary painting that I wrote about earlier.) Not sure what's behind the doors and since the building appears to be abandoned, I'm really not all that interested. :)

Name?
Over at the Detroit Video Daily Flickr page I'm calling it the "graffiti cartoon face" for lack of a better name. However, looking at it now maybe a better name would be something like "big eyed face"?

Graffiti Art the Face and Its Message

Graffiti Art
Detroit Video Daily has a love hate relationship with graffiti art.  I will admit for the most part I am often impressed with the graffiti art I see painted on abandoned buildings. However, a large part of me has the NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude. For example, there is a building that I pass on my way to work that is vacant but in excellent condition, and someone recently tagged the building with some really ugly spray paint letters. It's frustrating because it looks horrible, and makes the building that much harder for the real estate agent to rent. So there is some graffiti art that IMHO (in my humble opinion) is really nothing more than gang messaging that doesn't inspire anyone, except perhaps the gang members themselves. Every once in a while though I see some graffiti that is impressive, and this photo is an example of just that. I realize that as I write this it ultimately involves questions of taste. And what one person finds artistic and beautiful, another may think it's nothing but trash. As my Dad is prone to say, "about taste do not dispute."

Osho
What I do find interesting about this painting is the face and in particular the eyes. Of course the quote painted next to it caused me to google Osho, and Wikipedia has a lengthy page.  After browsing through the article on Wikipedia I was left SMH (shaking my head).
  
Makes Me Wonder
I have to admit a graffiti portrait of Osho is something you don't see every day. And the portrait framed in its full context, makes one wonder about Osho referring to himself as "the rich man's guru" and the 93 Rolls Royces that he owned.