art Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Memos and Mirth

The Graffiti Under The Bridge

April 4, 2016

Going Hiking in Dallas

We ran into some interesting graffiti while hiking through the Trinity River Park.

The Trinity River wraps around downtown Dallas and is more like a glorified creek that covers a massive flood plain anytime it rains.

There are also plans to develop the flood plain into one of the world’s largest parks, but right now most parts are just unsafe urban wild land.

The portion of the park closest to downtown is safer because it is not wooded, but rather a massive open field with the river/creek running through it. That is where we walked the dogs recently and came across some pretty interesting street art.

Here are the pics!

Street art of air balloons under the Trinity River bridge

Graffiti under the Trinity River Bridge

Graffiti that borrows characters from Super Mario

art / Dallas Design District

Playboy Dallas

April 3, 2016

There’s a Playboy Sign in the Design District

We recently explored the Dallas Design District and ran across a massive Playboy Bunny sign.

This Richard Phillips creation was funded by the magazine and originally installed in Marfa, Texas. The town and Departmenrt of Transportation viewed it as an advertisement and ordered it hauled away.

The 40-foot statue reappeared in 2014 on Riverfront Boulevard in the Design District. Apparently Dallas is less opposed to advertisements than our artsy West Texas counterparts.

art / Dallas / Life / Oak Lawn

Exploring Dallas

August 18, 2015

Mom in the lobby of my building – iLume in Oak Lawn, Dallas. The chairs are oversized.

Mom was in town this weekend, so we explored.

Dallas is hard to compare to other cities – it’s huge, but not walkable or historic like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Dallas is also not as touristy as Miami, and scale of everything prevents it from being quaint like Minnesota.

Perhaps Dallas is just special.

We spent the weekend touring various neighborhoods, including Uptown, Oak Lawn, Highland Park, and downtown.

Food trucks by Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas, Texas. The Hunt Oil Building is in the background.

Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, with the Museum Tower luxury highrise building in the background.

Exploring the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown. I love this painting.

2014 Winter / art / Lowertown

Getting Cultured

January 22, 2015

Lowertown is an interesting, but weird place to live.

Actually, Lowertown is not that interesting – just trendy. There’s a lot of art, spontaneous street performances, and a few good independent restaurants.

Although Lowertown is well into the third stage of gentrification, artist lofts and co-ops keep many of the creative types around. They radiate an air of coolness that allows developers to sell luxury apartments and condos.
The art scene and diversity are only theoretical selling points for the neighborhood.
Very few of the young professionals in my neighborhood actually go to art exhibitions and related events – these are tourist attractions for people outside of Lowertown.
My building actually stopped hosting art crawl events due to the number of resident complaints.

One day I decided to stop ignoring Lowertown’s art amenities and actually do something cultured.

And so…

Ralph Gilbert Union Depot Murals at the MMAA Project Space.

Mitchell and I went to the Minnesota Museum of American Art Project Space.

It’s a free art gallery in the Pioneer-Endicott building. The exhibition we stumbled across featured the prep pieces from Ralph Gilbert’s Union Depot Murals.

It took about 15 minutes to view the entire exhibition and it felt like using a long-neglected gym membership.

art / Minneapolis-St. Paul / Take Three / the details

Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel

September 21, 2014

I pass the Holy Mackerel tattoo parlor on most of my dog walks, and I love the mural on the side of the building.
The mural reminds me a lot of the Wynwood District of Miami, and I wish more businesses in town did this.

Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel

2014 Summer / Architecture / art / Minneapolis-St. Paul / pictures / the details

The Cathedral of St. Paul

September 17, 2014

The Cathedral of Saint Paul is one of my favorite buildings in town.

I spent summers in Germany growing up, and I love having this building so close because it reminds me a lot of Trier.

I haven’t seen many other comparable cathedrals in the U.S. and the building commands my attention anytime that I venture to that side of downtown St. Paul.

An exterior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota.

A long-stance view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota.

An exterior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota.

Interior Shots

The interior of the church is on par with anything that I’ve seen in Germany. My mother recently visited and said that it was impressive as the Kölner Dom.

: An interior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul.

: An interior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul.

: An interior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul.

An exterior view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota.

Exterior Shots

The outside of the cathedral almost looks like a European church, minus the lack of dirt and acid rain stains.

: An exterior detail view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907 and the first liturgy was held on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. The exterior is made out of granite from Saint Cloud.

: An exterior detail view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907 and the first liturgy was held on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. The exterior is made out of granite from Saint Cloud.

: An exterior detail view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907 and the first liturgy was held on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. The exterior is made out of granite from Saint Cloud.

: An exterior detail view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907 and the first liturgy was held on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. The exterior is made out of granite from Saint Cloud.

: An exterior detail view of the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Minnesota. The cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1907 and the first liturgy was held on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. The exterior is made out of granite from Saint Cloud.

I’ve never been to the church for a service, but I enjoy It as a free museum (and dog walk restroom.)

2012 Summer / art / Minneapolis-St. Paul / Nordeast Minneapolis / pictures / Take Three

Pioneers Statue at Boom Island Park

June 8, 2012

I’m intrigued by the pioneers statue at Boom Island Park.

The statue is a reminder that there are many people have greater problems and challenges than I do. It also reminds me that I have opportunities which others don’t have and that there is no excuse not be great. I think it’s time to get an inspirational poster and an Oprah bob. Hallaleu.

2011 Winter / art / Life / pictures / Tader / the details

More shots of the Wynwood Art District

January 3, 2012

The rest of the shots from the Wynwood Arts District.

2011 Winter / art / Miami / pictures / the details

Wynwood Sticker Graffiti

December 31, 2011

More sticker art pictures from the Wynwood Arts District.

2011 Winter / art / Miami / pictures / the details

The Wynwood Walls

December 29, 2011

As far as I can tell, Wynwood Walls seems to be at the epicenter of the Wynwood neighborhood revitalization. It’s an event space that has murals and a chichi restaurant-bar.

The streets immediately surrounding the Wynwood Walls are covered in street art and most of the empty warehouses are now studio spaces and businesses. The developed area is massive, and probably the most interesting area in Miami today. I took a ton of pictures, which I will finish editing in the coming days.

2011 Winter / art / Miami / pictures / the details

Wynwood sticker art

December 27, 2011

Pictures of sticker art in Miami's Wynwood Arts District

So we know how much I love sticker street art. The Wynwood Arts District had plenty of it.

2011 Winter / art / Miami / pictures / the details

Wynwood Arts District

December 26, 2011

Sure, I may have gone to a few underground hipster parties in college, but the Wynwood Arts District was nothing like this.

2011 Winter / art / Miami / pictures / Tader / Take Three

Art Center | South Florida

December 24, 2011

We went to the artist colony on Lincoln Road in South Beach.

2011 Fall / art / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Life / Minneapolis-St. Paul / pictures

Off the highway

November 13, 2011

Sometimes it’s more fun taking the side roads:

art / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Minneapolis-St. Paul / Nordeast Minneapolis / pictures

Harley and Frankenstein

November 10, 2011

This one is on the Hennepin Bridge somewhere near the bird.

It’s fun, but not as exciting as the Uptown sticker art.

art / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Minneapolis-St. Paul

The bird

October 30, 2011

There’s some fun graffiti in Nordeast, I saw this today:

This bird is sprayed on the Hennepin Avenue bridge. It’s one of those easily missed pieces of street art that remind me of uptown.

art / Life / Minneapolis-St. Paul / pictures / Tader

The Minnesota State Fair

September 8, 2011

Pictures of the great Minnesota get together.

The last time I visited the Minnesota State Fair it was right before the start of a school year. This year’s fair visit was missing the subtext of school and employment related angst so I could concentrate on overeating everything on a stick.

I stayed away from classic fair fare such as cheese curds because greasy food makes me deathly ill. I did have lamb on a stick and bratwurst though. Pictures after the jump.

art / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Minneapolis-St. Paul / Whittier / Uptown Minneapolis

Hot Tea Minneapolis

September 3, 2011

Hot Tea is a string graffiti artist in Minneapolis.

I wrote about my distain of most spray painted “name-tag” graffiti and my love of Uptown sticker art, but here’s a new idea:

Yarn bombing. The word(s?) HOTTEA are written all over Minneapolis in string. There are posts about HOTTEA at Mplsart and Colossal. Unurth also has posts about HOTTEA here and here.

Yarn bombing is probably still illegal although it causes no damage to public property besides the occasional moldy piece of old string. I think we should get a fence around our new apartment just so I can write something fun in string.

art / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Life / Minneapolis-St. Paul / pictures / Whittier / Uptown Minneapolis

Uptown Sticker Graffiti

August 13, 2011

I’m moving away from Uptown this week. It may sound silly, but what I will miss the most about this neighbor is the stickers.

Sticker graffiti is fascinating. I think I enjoy the sticker art so much because it is higher quality than sprayed graffiti and the stickers are also hidden throughout the neighborhood, so I may be the only person on the street who notices them. It’s like finding a prize.

art / dogs / HTC EVO 4G pictures / Minneapolis-St. Paul

Goober

August 5, 2011

More sticker art monsters keep appearing in the neighborhood. This is my favroite. His name is Goober.