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Sparking Conversations: 1708 Gallery’s Billboards Spotlight Social Issues, Civic Participation

David Tran | November 5, 2020

Topics: 1708 Gallery, billboards, Chilalay, Confederate monuments, Earl Mack, Election 2020, Nikko Dennis, police brutality, public art, Wilmer Wilson IV

Two new exhibitions from 1708 Gallery invite guests outside with billboard installations around the city. Artists Wilmer Wilson IV, Earl Mack, and Nikko Dennis hope to spread positivity and start important conversations.

Under the auspices of 1708 Gallery, public art installations by Wilmer Wilson IV and Chilalay founders Nikko Dennis and Earl Mack are currently on display around Richmond, hoping to invoke conversation on themes such as racial injustice, activism, policing, politics, and civil participation.

’til bronze flows through the streets, a billboard series by Richmond-born artist Wilmer Wilson IV, intends to disrupt billboards’ typical role of advertising by using the platforms to display texts and imagery that will initiate discussion about the anti-police brutality protests and other local activism happening around Richmond over the past few months.  

“I hope people will spend time re-imagining our shared institutions from the ground up,” Wilson said via email, “and catching glimpses of the beauty that awaits there, amidst all of the hard work that it will take to truly change how we relate to one another.”

Richmond has been and still is one of the pivotal sites of movements against systemic racism and police brutality. The removal of Confederate monuments, just a few of the many buildings and architectural structures around the city that are rooted in Richmond’s past, has been a discussion over the past summer.

To Wilson, the removal of such monuments falls short of establishing meaningful structural change, and allows systemic racism to silently continue. He wants his billboards to be a starting point for more conversations about this idea.

“Virginia history is one of terror in so many different ways. It’s visible in the very infrastructure of the city of Richmond,” he said. “Intervening onto the infrastructure and the landscape, however small or temporary, felt meaningful, hopefully not just to me but to all whom this place subjugated, and continues to subjugate, to constitute itself.”

The locations of Wilson’s three billboards are no accident either. Wilson said that two of the billboards, which are displayed together on the 200 block of West Grace St and are entirely text, are located across from the Richmond Police Department as an “annotation to or interjection into its existence there.”

The third billboard, located at 21st St and East Broad in Church Hill, is image-based, which Wilson said allows a “more grounded entry point” for conversations surrounding activism and political activity in that residential area, which he notes has recently undergone “fraught social changes.”

Wilmer Wilson IV, ’til bronze flows through the streets, 2020. Billboard, dimensions variable. Photograph by David Hale, courtesy of the Artist and 1708 Gallery.

Bronze and brass are at the core of Wilson’s pieces, two metals that, he said, are historically known for their durability, corrosion resistance, and spark-striking resistance. These copper alloys are used for cultural and utilitarian purposes, and Wilson suggested that in the same way, existing public structures that call to mind, and thereby reinforce, institutional racism can be “melted down” for a better use — perhaps rebuilding our institutions.

The second billboard project 1708 Gallery is currently presenting in Richmond is called SMILE… It was created by Nikko Dennis and Earl Mack, founders of the local design and apparel brand Chilalay.

Driving down Chamberlayne Parkway, drivers and passengers are greeted by a yellow-pink gradient billboard with a reminder to smile. The billboard suggests that a brighter future can be achieved through collective positivity and civil participation, such as voting. Part of the billboard stresses Richmonders to vote for “justice” and “peace” on Nov. 3.

Since the billboard is located in Jackson Ward, it was important for the gallery to make sure the space was occupied by voices within that area, explained 1708 Gallery’s curator, Park Myers. 

“Beyond the incredible importance of the neighborhood, it was important in working with and inviting Chilalay, because of that,” said Myers. “Their entire creative endeavor, their business, where they cultivate their ideas, happens in Jackson Ward.”

Dubbed “Black Wall Street” and “the Harlem of the South,” Jackson Ward has been a historic center for Black entertainment and businesses since the nineteenth century. To this day, the neighborhood remains a cultural hub for Richmond’s Black community.

Both Dennis and Mack are Virginia Commonwealth University alumni. Having launched their Black-owned small business in 2012, their presence in the Jackson Ward neighborhood has been well-established. 

When drivers or pedestrians pass by the billboard, Mack said he wants it to serve a reminder that some things are beyond our control, no matter how hard we try to fix them. “No matter what you’re going through, a smile will last forever,” Mack said.

While planned since before the pandemic began, the billboard installations are part of 1708’s continuous effort during the coronavirus pandemic to hold socially-distanced onsite and offsite exhibitions.

“We’re thinking about how our ambitions to support emerging artists continues in a time when we might not be able to be viewing exhibitions within the gallery space,” Myers said.

‘til bronze flows through the streets is now on view through Dec. 4 on 211 W. Grace St. and at the intersection of North 21st St. and East Broad St. SMILE… can be viewed until Nov. 29 at the intersection of West Jackson St and Chamberlayne Avenue.

Photos by David Tran unless otherwise noted

Lies About Murals Can Be Fun

Kaitlin Edwardson | January 31, 2020

Topics: George Tisdale, public art, Richmond murals, richmond va, RVA, street art, things to do in richmond va, Would I Lie To You? Mural Walk

Would I Lie To You? Mural Walk creator George Tisdale unreliably narrates tours of Richmond’s murals. It’s more entertaining than you’d think.

The Would I Lie To You? Mural Walk showcases some of the most beautiful, and most hidden, murals in and around Richmond, but with a twist. The stories told at each mural could be complete lies, and it is up to you to decide if you trust your guide or not.

George Tisdale, the owner, and guide of Would I Lie to You? Mural Walks, starts off the tour by saying, “From here on, I am not a reliable narrator.” After each explanation, the group must decide if they trust his story or not. Each story sounds completely believable but always contains a subtle hint at the answer, so you have to listen carefully.

Natalia Rak Mural

Tisdale started the company in May 2019, after fabricating a story about a mural that he found while on a hike through downtown Richmond. The people on the hike believed him at first, then laughed when they found out he wasn’t telling the truth. From then on, Would I Lie to You? Mural Walks was born. It soon grew to the four different walking tours offered now. The mural that started it all is still part of the Downtown walk, but Tisdale’s story about it is still a lie, so pay close attention.

Each of the four walks explores separate parts of Richmond.

The Carytown walk is offered on Saturdays at 4 p.m. It is around 3 miles long, and the tour takes about an hour and a half. The tour starts in the heart of Carytown and takes you on a loop where you will see murals of skeletons, explorers, human forms, animals, and more, according to the website.

Ekundayo Mural

If you wish to explore the Fan District and VCU, there is a 3-mile, hour and half walk that analyzes around 20 murals. Available on Saturdays at 1 p.m., this tour begins just past VCU and features murals of people, abstract collages, and cartoon shapes.

The Monroe Ward mural walk is the longest walk, reaching 3.6 miles and taking about an hour and 45 minutes to complete. Cultural murals, celebrations of Jackson Ward and African American history, are showcased in this journey between VCU’s campus and downtown Richmond, the website says. This mural walk is on Sunday’s at 2 p.m.

The final walk weaves through the Canal Walk and Shockoe Slip on Fridays at 7 p.m., lasting an hour and a half and equating about 2 miles. From murals in hidden alleys to paintings that take up several buildings, there is a variety of artists and styles for everybody to appreciate.

D*Face Mural

The tours are not always the same, because Tisdale continues to find new murals and learn more about the origins and artists, he said. While on the tours, he frequently makes stops at newly discovered murals that have yet to be added to the tour but are interesting to discuss. By asking the owners of local businesses and people who have lived by the murals for years, Tisdale is able to gain information about the origin and artists behind the works. However, it is up to him whether or not to tell the group the true story, or to test their trust and create a completely different scenario.

Tickets are $14 for adults, $10 for children ages 6-13, and free for children under the age of 5. You can purchase tickets and find additional information about the Would I Lie To You? Mural Walk at wouldilietoyoumuralwalks.com.

Mural Photos via RVA Mag archives. For more information about the Richmond Mural Project and artists behind each mural, visit their site here and find your favorite.

Driver Defaces Rainbow Intersection In Scott’s Addition With Skid Marks

Marilyn Drew Necci | August 20, 2019

Topics: drifting, public art, rainbow intersection, Richmond Triangle Players, Robert B. Moss Theatre, scotts addition, vandalism

The driver of a Lexus with drift-enabling modifications did donuts across the rainbow intersection outside Richmond Triangle Players’ Robert B. Moss Theatre.

Yesterday an obnoxious driver did donuts across the rainbow painting in the intersection of Marshall and Altamont streets in Scott’s Addition, seemingly with the intent to vandalize. The rainbow, an LGBTQ-affirming message of support from the city, is located in front of the Robert B. Moss Theatre, the home of LGBTQ theatrical troupe Richmond Triangle Players.

The act was witnessed by RTP Artistic Director Lucian Restivo, who caught a glimpse of the driver’s license plate, as did RTP Executive Director Phil Crosby. “Some jerk with the license plate “Is King” just purposely made three donuts on our Pride Plaza!” Crosby wrote on Facebook. “I wonder if defacing public art is a crime?”

“Doing donuts” is the act of throwing a car into a circular skid, generally with the intent to leave a rubber skid-mark on the road.

Restivo took a picture of the car as it fled the scene. The license plate Crosby identified is registered to a 2004 Lexus IS 300, which matches the vehicle in the photo. The car also has modifications of the sort used to facilitate drift racing, including a ground-effect body kit.

Photo by Lucian Restivo/Via Facebook

The incident was reported to Richmond Police.

Richmond City Council member Kim Gray, who represents the city’s 2nd District, released a statement strongly condemning the actions of the unknown driver.

“The Richmond Triangle Players have been an integral part of the Richmond community for more than a quarter century and have been leaders in promoting diversity,” Gray stated. “Their strong commitment to the City’s LGBTQ community is exemplified by the Rainbow Crosswalk painted last year in front of their theater in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood. One individual’s senseless act of vandalism will not deter our commitment to equality and diversity. I pledge to work with the Triangle Players and the City administration to take whatever immediate action is necessary to restore and repaint this crosswalk.”

If you have any information on this incident, please contact the Richmond Police Department.

Top Photo by John Reinhold

BustArt’s Pop-Graffiti Explosion in Richmond

Christina McBride | October 9, 2018

Topics: art, artist, Mural, nils westergard, public art, richmond, RVA, Switzerland, Wall Art

Swiss muralist BustArt has landed in Richmond, and his latest pop graffiti mural sits at the intersection of E Franklin St and N 18th St in Shockoe Bottom. Searching out a shady spot on the sidewalk during Richmond’s 85-degree heat, he sighed from relief on a break from working the wall.

“Too hot for a Swiss guy,” he said.

For the past few weeks, he’s been in Greensboro collaborating mural projects with Richmond’s Nils Westergard. Both have collaborated on multiple large-scale projects in the past — however, BustArt’s pop graffiti style contrasts with Westergard’s hyper-realistic black and white portraits to create a dualistic image. The two styles compliment each other as opposites, combining the playful and approachable with RVA’s famous dark and brooding pieces.

“I’m only here because I lost my passport in Greensboro,” said BustArt, as we chat about creating art in Richmond. Planning to paint his way up to D.C., he commented, “Nils made all these arrangements to get walls for me, so I can make my way up to D.C. to get my new passport.”

BustArt Paiting in Shockoe Bottom

Richmond may not have been the original plan, but BustArt said he is glad that he made it to the River City. The other sites he passed in the South have been underwhelming in comparison, and he admires Richmond for its murals.

“It’s always crazy, I like it,” he noted on painting in the U.S. versus Europe. “Way different, bigger.”

Street art in the U.S. is different for the European artist. It’s different, bigger, and even came with a delivery cyclist dropping off a little natural supplement while he painted.

“See, people make my life nice here,” BustArt said.

The delivery man responded, “Hospitality, man. Southern hospitality.”

BustArt noted that graffiti on the street often tells the life of the neighborhood. Seeing the youth out being active means something there is alive — there’s a little bit of revolution left in the people’s mind. Saying he saw a little revolution in Richmond, he added that there’s more happening in the U.S. right now than in Switzerland.

“Switzerland is not at all busy,” he said. “Here, I wouldn’t say it’s super busy, but everywhere something is constantly going on. It starts with the crazy cars, to the food places, to all the decoration, to those really old fucked up places, to the super crazy new stuff.”

Richmond, he said, is somewhere in between the old and new; the old buildings are appreciated because they’re more fun to paint. He prefers the older structures (largely due to their worn textures), but noted he likes the contrast of the newer buildings along the background in the cityscape.

The E Franklin St wall is part of an older building. When it’s finished, Spongebob, Road Runner, and a 1940s Juliet Jones-inspired female figure will all be staring into the street. Every one of BustArt’s pieces include a pop culture character. For larger projects, he asks the surrounding residents who their favorite cartoon characters are: In Greensboro, a neighbor’s request gave him the subject for his Marvin the Martian wall.

His process: There isn’t one. BustArt chooses his characters and rolls from there.

“Most of the time, I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “I plan basics like the characters, but the rest is just totally free style. On the spot.”

The method works, and for the most part, the results are the same.

“I always mix it up really colorful, really poppy, really mixed,” BustArt said. Since he’s been in the U.S., he can’t remember how many murals he has painted. He completes one a day, minus his massive collab piece with Westergard in Greensboro — but even that only took two days.

Keep an eye out for your favorite cartoon characters next time you’re traveling between D.C. and North Carolina. If you can’t find them anywhere, check out BustArt’s Instagram and website. Odds are, they’re nearby somewhere.

*Photos by Christina McBride. Cover photo by Landon Shroder

The RVA Street Art Festival: An Expression of Creative Liberation

Angie Huckstep | September 24, 2017

Topics: flying squirrels, public art, richmond, RVA, Street Art Festival, The Diamond

“Street art liberates creative expression from the traditional art world” – Angela Huckstep

Richmond’s classic sports landmark, The Diamond, which has hosted thousands of baseball fans since 1954, has received a complementary face-lift courtesy of the fourth annual RVA Street Art Festival. The festivities were in full swing yesterday, with patrons, artists, musicians, and community leaders coming together to celebrate the venue’s transformation into a living work of art.

The location for this year’s festival was special, however, appealing to sports and art lovers alike – with hopes of melding the city’s burgeoning arts community with the city’s great American pastime.

Throughout the day Richmonders and visitors populated the stadium grounds; interacting with artists and their projects, trying their hand at painting mobile walls, and checking out local vendors and their wares, all of which were set against a range of activities that highlighted the spirit of camaraderie the city is known for.

The event, which enjoyed a steady but scattered crowd throughout the weekend, was spread between the inside of the stadium and adjoining parking lots. This year’s event included 35 artists, made up of a handful of local favorites like Chris Milk, Nils Westergard, Mickael Broth, Ed Trask, and Hamilton Glass, along with a few out-of-staters and one international artist.

Ed Trask

Given the sports-themed location, some of the artists chose to include related imagery—such as Parker Galore’s fractal-frenzied Nutzy, or Earl Mack’s homage to the former Braves’ mascot, Connecticut (a sculpture by Paul DiPasquale which now adorns the old Lucky Strike building in east Richmond)—but most of the artists chose their own original compositions to bring to life.

Event organizer and former city councilman Jon Baliles, who spoke with RVA Mag, mentioned that he did hear sentiments like, “I thought there was going to be more baseball stuff,” to which he replied, “You know, we let the guys and girls do what they do, we don’t tell them what to do.”

Regardless of what people’s perceptions might have been, the majority of artists started painting on Friday with a couple even starting earlier in the week. Yet most of the pieces really started coming together by midday on Saturday in front of curious onlookers and art enthusiasts. Unlike the two previous locations of the Street Art Festival, the Bus Depot on Cary Street and the Southern Silos in Richmond’s Manchester District, the Diamond offered a somewhat unlikely place to host Richmond’s Street Art Festival.

Nils Westergard told RVA Mag that the location poses a paradox of sorts since holding a “street art” festival away from direct and free public access can be somewhat counter-intuitive.

“For me it’s not so much whether people will see it, it’s that you have to pay to see it. I mean we are literally behind a gate here. I like to do this stuff for the public.” However, he did go on to say, “But don’t get me wrong, seeing all of the artists come together to create over this period of time is always so remarkable, and I truly acknowledge that they do their best with the location that they choose. I’m very happy to be here.”

Nils Westergard

Artist Esteban de Valle, who comes from Chicago but is now based in Brooklyn, had his own interesting take on the space. “It’s very unique. I like when my art is introduced to unexpected spaces,” he said. “This is a space that is designed for a certain function, where every decision is more or less a practical decision within that function… but then you introduce art.” Valle finished by saying, “So it’s really cool to see it in this space. It’s kind of bizarre.”

Esteban de Valle

One playful mural featuring an aerial view of the city with a UFO flying a ‘”River City” banner was a standout Richmond-themed piece. First year participant Brian Gonnella, an artist and writer from Pittsburgh who was responsible for the piece, remarked to RVA Mag that he’d never painted anything like this before. “It’s pretty cool, a unique experience,” said Gonnella. “I am kind of bummed out looking around at all this concrete and I just want to paint everywhere, but we are limited to a specific spot. But it’s pretty rad, I hope the building stays up for a while.”

Brian Gonnella

But that hope is currently up in the air.

Baliles made it seem as though the Diamond may be subject to the same fate as the Bus Depot, which eventually deconstructed its public art to make way for a condo development.

“It’s not a done deal yet, but it’s pretty apparent that VCU is going to be the owner of a new stadium, and they [the Squirrels] would be the tenant,” said Baliles. He explain further,  “I mean VCU will play there too, but here, the city owns the land and they basically have said, ‘This is yours, do what you want with it.’ So they lease to VCU, so it’ll just flip. VCU will own the stadium and the Squirrels would be the main tenant.”

When asked if he thought the new complex would incorporate any of the Diamond’s grounds, Baliles seemed to think that they’d just build a new one. “For the model of how baseball usually works today, it needs to be more flat and out. Most minor league stadiums these days have a family side, and a drink beer side.”

That being said, there seems to be an effort to update the sports complex space to serve the University’s needs, as well as accommodate the popular demand for minor league sports. Baliles continued, “They’ve done as much as they can here, but it seems like they’ll be needing to move.”

Despite the city’s development squabbles, the Street Art Festival at the Diamond produced another fantastic body of public art, and continues to deliver an action-packed weekend for the city.

Richmond artist Nico Cathcart, who is participating in her third Street Art Festival, said that the more condensed environment of the stadium this year was a boon to her experience. “The last location was very spread out. And that was fun, because it was in Manchester. But this one is really concentrated, and I love that because you get to interact with everyone around you.”

Cathcart’s observation is hard to miss. The setting made for a bustling atmosphere among the artists and patrons, allowing for more intimate encounters between both. This close-knit environment also provided artists with a colloquial forum to speak with onlookers about other projects or community-based activities they were currently working on.

Nico Cathcart

A participant since the first year of the festival, Hamilton Glass was able to share his upcoming partnership with the activist group Girls For A Change. “I am here with Virginia Credit Union, and we are doing a project on October 14 with Girls For a Change,” he said. “It will be on 24 E. Broad Street, and it will be a direct reflection of one of the Girls For a Change action groups that design the mural under the leadership of myself and a VCU student.”

The festival didn’t just provide a unique experience for the onlookers though, providing a level of novelty for the artist too. Creating art at the stadium was a first for artists Hasson Roberts and Rachel Owens. Even Galore, a community organizer of renown from Gallery 5 and the Party Liberation Front, had never been inside the stadium.

Parker Galore

“I’ve lived in Richmond since 1998, and this is the first time I’ve been in the baseball stadium,” he told RVA Mag. It’s great to see color come to somewhere that I’ve personally felt is drab, that I’m not attracted to. But as we know, art attracts lots of different kinds of people to a space that they may not have ever been before.”

Indubitably, the Street Art Festival at The Diamond will bring together crowds of sports fans and art lovers, bridging the gap between two important Richmond subcultures.

In it’s own way, this city space now exists as a grand-scale gallery space for patrons to peruse during baseball games. And inevitably this will foster a unique sense of engagement when people experience the stadium in the future. Street art liberates creative expression from the traditional art world or the way one would encounter art at a gallery, making for a more accessible and casual experience. Having these types of works in the stadium’s milieu fosters a newfound convergence of creative and recreational space for everyone in Richmond.

Some other photos from the RVA Street Art Festival can be found below.

Ian C. Hess

Michael Broth

Sellers

Silly Genius

Shaylen Amanda Broughton

Jacob Eveland

Rosetta and Michelle

Austin Fitch

Envys

Dennis McNett

Vandal Tribute

The Future

*Photos by Landon Shroder, Michael Broth photo by Caitlin Barberi

Cover image Hamilton Glass

 

Art Sponsored by Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art 

 

A look at Norfolk’s public arts program

Brad Kutner | February 16, 2015

Topics: alt daily, city art programs, Norfolk, public art

We live in a great area with many impressive art institutions. The Chrysler Museum is absolutely world class. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach is amazing.
[Read more…] about A look at Norfolk’s public arts program

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