Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Thematic photographic - Industrial disease

Carmi at the blog Written, Inc. posts a weekly photo challenge. This week, the theme is "Industrial disease."
What is "industrial disease"? Get your take on it. And share it at Written, Inc.

Click to "embiggen"
Some call it art, others call it vandalism. Street art appears in industrialized areas, on the walls of buildings which are abandoned, or which might be occupied by industries that care little about appearances. This sense of neglect invites more grafitti, infecting the neighborhood with a kind of industrial disease.

Here, though, there's another story behind first impressions. On this stretch of Imperial Street, in the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood once called the Warehouse District, this mural is by the Belgian muralist known as ROA.  The artist explores the natural world, scavengers and urban vermin, and the circle of decay and natural death that is also the circle of life.

Far from being abandoned now, the nearby buildings house artist live/work lofts, trendy bars and clubs, microbreweries and high-end businesses like event planners.  Now called the Arts District, gentrification is spreading through this part of town like an epidemic.

It's your call. Is it art? Or industrial disease? Or....is it gentrification that's a disease?
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4 comments:

  1. ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©December 18, 2012 at 2:20 PM

    Looks like art to me!
    ~

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  2. AnonymousDecember 18, 2012 at 3:13 PM

    I love street art. There are some wonderful examples all over Culver City too. Some empoverished neighbourhoods in Brazil, India and many other countries were give the gift of art by some of these amazing street artists. Far from defacing, ordinary buildings can only be enhanced by such creativity.

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  3. AlexiaDecember 18, 2012 at 10:41 PM

    Such a clever painting. Definitely art, in my opinion!

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  4. AnonymousDecember 19, 2012 at 7:58 AM

    Art. I too like real street art, where the artist is doing something more than tagging buildings with gang symbols.
    The trains I see passing by at crossings are covered with street art. I'm always amazed at what can be done with spray paint.
    As for "industrial disease" my definition is boarded up store fronts in small towns across America. One after another local businesses close and the town begins to die of empty store syndrome.

    ALBUG

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