We’re beginning to see an ever growing mural/wheat-paste/stencil circuit, a clan-like constellation of firing synapses across the globe, the informally formal collecting together of Street Artists in one town or area to smash some walls and exchange tips, learn new skills, make connections. Sometimes there’s a budget, sometimes there’s just beer.
But it’s cool to see this generation of Street Artists reaching out to each other and hosting in their town, even cultivating an exchange that is personal and cultural. Having just returned back to the Navajo reservation from his trip out east to Baltimore to participate in the Open Walls project, Street Artist Jetsonorama is readying his own version with his buddy, a Street Artist you know well from these pages named Yote.
They’re calling it “The Painted Desert Project”.
Jetsonorama. Step in Cedar Ridge. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Together they imagined inviting some of their favorite Street Artists to the Navajo nation to paint. Jetsonorama gives Yote the credit for thinking up the archtypical roadside stand as a recurring mural location. “He first voiced the idea,” says Jetsonorama, “but as soon as he said it, I was already drawing up my dream list because I’d been entertaining this idea too.”
So there you have it. A project can happen if you dare speak the words, and these two guys are bringing some of their dream list, plus a couple of surprises, back to their stomping grounds to make art. The list includes Gaia, Doodles, Chris Stain, OverUnder, Labrona, and local talents like Thomas “Breeze” Marcus from the Tohono O’odham and Salt River Native communities. To set the stage, here are a number of pieces by Jetsonorama to whet your desert appetite.
Jetsonorama. Step in JR’s House. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. Cavalene’s Right Eye. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. Cavalene. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. King Fowler on Shed. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. King Fowler in Front of The Store. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. Ben. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. Ben on Hugo’s Stand. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Jetsonorama. John Begishie. (photo © Jetsonorama)
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