The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Killer Street Art: Unintended Collaboration

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(Pic #1) Detail of graffiti art outside Comme Des Garcons store on 22nd St. and 10th Avenue in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.

They may be total strangers, but graffiti artists, band promoters, and illegal “poster pasters” often meet on the same gritty, decrepit, forgotten walls that make up our urban landscape.  Over a period of years, they unknowingly create partnerships in art making, and change the face of our neighborhoods – for better or for worse.

Together, layer after layer, they build a sensual, textured, visual story I can’t help but explore and dissect.  If you take the time to discover these hidden-yet-public treasures, you might be surprised by their simple beauty. The experience is free, and if you’re armed with a camera, you might celexa take home  some very sweet original art.

(Pic #2) Earliest known street art: Pompeii

This week I catted around streets in the artsy section of Chelsea in New York. Galleries everywhere, but my art could only be found plastered and sprayed on bricks and mortar. Below, I divided up sections of work from the whole (a large building housing the edgy fashion house, “Commes Des Garcons.”)

Graffiti is nothing new. Archeologists say hundreds of public expressions,  in the form of political opinion and social commentary can be found on the walls of Pompeii — dating back to 79 AD. (Pic #2)

“Papered and sprayed:” Inconspicuous entrance to “Commes Des Garcons” in Chelsea.

Missing Fireflies and Childhood Summer Nights

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Running through Central Park tonight I hit the wall of a different kind. The one that smacks you in the head with a childhood memory that had been lost for 30-plus years. You see, catching lightning bugs was a traditional part of our summer evenings on Long Island in the 1960s. We loved the way they seemed to dart around knowing we were after them  — not to hurt them —  but rather to cherish their magical powers up close — just for a few minutes in a jar while they lit up our nights.

I moved to Southern California in 1985. I never thought about those bugs once I left home. But now I realize how many summers I’ve missed the opportunity to dance with and chase these elusive sparks. My run through the park stopped short tonight when a virtual  battalion of these little treasures lit up the lush green path. Flooding my head with really lovely accutane memories of those carefree days I got a bit choked up, a little misty, and then I wept.

I had  to find out why these special creatures don’t live – and light – on the West Coast. Well scientists say they love warm, humid climates, an in the U.S., almost no species of fireflies is found west of Kansas. I also learned:

a) they are nocturnal, the reason they light up is to attract a mate, and they are part of the beetle family

b) the females have brighter and bigger lights (Too obvious, don’t go there.)

c) their enzyme luciferin — that allows them to glow — generates light, but not heat.

From my favorite poet:

Fireflies in the Garden

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.

Robert Frost

Today’s Pic: Inosculation — The Art of Branching Out

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Sycamore trees find each other – and join for life –  San Fernando Valley, California.

I’m not sure what the divorce rate is among sycamore trees these days, but it’s got to be better than ours. A recent visit to the home of my friends Scooter and Marilyn gave me proof. Two neighboring tree trunks in their Sherman Oaks front yard had merged in a rock-solid bridge between the pair. It was lovely. Even romantic. A union for life.

The grafting process is called inosculation — a natural phenomenon where the branches or trunks first grow separately near each other until they touch. Then, as the trees move in the wind, the bark on the brushing surfaces gets scraped away, and the two become one. Sometimes the coupling even happens outside species.