Street Art Thrives in Downtown San Diego
By: Mila Pantovich
Photos by Mila Pantovich
If you’ve been to downtown San Diego within the past two months, you’ve probably noticed the more recent insurgence of inspired street art to hit our urban landscape. If you have yet to make a trip to the downtown area, take a day off and make the short drive as quickly as possible. On July 18, 2010, the “Museum of Contemporary Art” opened its most recent art exhibition, “Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape” within the Jacobs Building on Kettner Boulevard. Curated by Pedro Alonzo and MCASD Associate Curator Lucía Sanromán, the exhibit features twenty of the most well known street artists from ten different countries (including the likes of Shepard Fairey, Banksy, VHILS, and Barry McGee). The exhibit succeeds in opening dialogue to the nature of street art and its place in society by removing the art from its urban context and placing it within the white walls of a museum. The risk was well taken and incredibly successful due to the sheer weight and overwhelming beauty of the pieces shown. With thought-provoking installations, the exhibit succeeds in integrating the chaos of urban artwork with the pristine, and often outdated, setting of an art museum. One of the largest pieces in the exhibit is by Swoon, the only female artist featured in the exhibit. The enormous installation utilizes recycled materials, such as wood slabs and glass bottles, to assemble a tower of forgotten waste that gives attention to industrialization and the humanity that is lost in the process. Also featured in the exhibit is a stunning use of crumbling urban walls as art by VHILS, Stephan Doitschinoff’s thought-provoking religious alter, and reactionary prints by the infamous Banksy (the largest collection of his prints to be shown at once). Open until Jan. 2, 2011, the exhibit bravely embraces the unique and risky nature of the ever-changing street art scene, allowing the movement the respect it deserves from the community of art museums.
Unique and entirely fitting of the exhibit’s theme, “Viva la Revolución” doesn’t limit itself to an indoor setting and includes public commissions throughout downtown San Diego, as well as un-commissioned works on locations secured by the museum. Included in the public displays is a photomural by JR and large-scale murals by OS Gemeos, Stephan Doitschinoff, Shepard Fairey, Invader, and Barry McGee. One can either hit the exhibit first, picking up a street map there (also available at http://www.mcasandiego.org) to engage in their art treasure hunt, or take two days to explore the two very different art viewing experiences. Many works are within walking distance of the exhibit, two are on the same block, but there are many gorgeous pieces that one would need a car to see, especially Shepard Fairey’s beautiful piece in South Park and Stephen Doitschinoff’s comparison of Jesus to the inhuman negligence of livestock that appears off of 16th Street in downtown. What the scavenger hunt manages to do, within our clean streets, is create an awareness of all the surrounding art that one may never notice. Instead of traveling through San Diego streets blindly, the public displays cause people to engage with the constant presence of art. While some may go completely unrealized, like Invader’s small-scale work with tiles that don’t appear on the map, each one causes people to appreciate areas that they may never have noticed before, giving them new landmarks to know their city by and opening a surging dialogue regarding the nature, power, and necessity to the growing of culture that urban art brings.
Date: July 18, 2010 to Jan. 2, 2011
Regular Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Third Thursday of the Month
Closed Wednesday
General Admission: $10
Military/Seniors: $5
Students 26 and over (with ID): $5
Students 25 and under (with ID): Free
Free admission from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month
Location: MCASD Downtown, Jacobs Building
1100 & 1001 Kettner Boulevard
(between Broadway and B Street)
San Diego, CA 92101