graffiti

Portland: A Tale Of One City – Through Two Lenses

January 31, 2025 by Lonnie Lardner

One of the qualities I appreciate in husband Josh is his ability to see things I don’t see. He’s never without a camera, so I get to view what has caught his eye every day. But oddly, when we travel — and shoot together — the differences between what he’s drawn to and what attracts me are striking.

On a recent trip to Portland, while Josh was documenting the dramatic waterfalls and unfathomable beauty of the forests and Japanese gardens, I dashed toward downtown, seeking the most raw, staggeringly decrepit walls and gritty textures I could find. It’s my favorite kind of adventure, and in fact, it’s a legit high.

Here, you’ll see Josh’s beautiful impressions of Portland’s unmatched patches of green and stark contrasts of burned out trees from recent fires. His eye is exquisite.

I guess my photos celebrate something different: the natural abstract art emerging from urban decay. I love finding it buried within the decomposing layers of brick and cement, and in tiny spaces between graffitied messages. Sometimes I think it’s asking to be discovered, shared, and framed.

The Unexpected Art in Urban Decay

April 30, 2023 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Brooklyn surprise. Weathered wall and signage — instant abstraction.

It’s a legal high I can’t fully explain. While I’ve had the opportunity to visit some of the most extraordinary museums all over the world, there’s nothing like discovering an exciting image on weathered urban walls, sidewalks, or curbs. There’s something I love about “unintended” art — the kind that appears with age or years of neglect.

(Pic #2) One of Jackson Pollock’s early 1950s “Black paintings.”

The above “painting” I suspect started out as a parking sign glued to the building in historic Red Hook, Brooklyn. The white curvy lines would be where the glue was placed. What makes this work for me is the contrasting background colors of dark blue and black. Also, that the unpainted top beige strip appears inside the painting as well. It’s almost as if the whole thing was planned.

The next place my brain visits is my mental catalogue of key images in art history. Truth is, I don’t need to liken one decrepit old wall with a legit artist — but it just happens in my head. It just might be a way to “justify” my find.

In this case, I took a deep dive back into the work of abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, who made a series of black-and-white paintings before he became known for his multi-colored “action” or “drip” works.

The lesson, each time I explore the streets of any urban landscape, is that art is in fact, everywhere.

When Tools Become Art

January 31, 2023 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) “Trapped Sole” spray can sculpture by Stinky Punk. Featured at Art Share L.A. in downtown Los Angeles.

A stunning Los Angeles exhibit celebrates a fresh way of looking at Spray

“Spray paint simplifies the creative process, acting as both a paintbrush and paint.” (Up Magazine)

It’s a tool that offers the sleek finishing touch we associate with graffiti. It’s super popular because it’s portable, versatile, and accessible. Since the 1960s — when modern graffiti emerged as a veritable art form on New York City subway trains — spray paint became an extension of a tagger’s imagination. Invented originally as an application for aluminum coating for radiators, it quickly became the mainstay of a new brand of inner-city art.

And now, a master of “the art of spray” — a graffiti artist who calls himself “Man One” — has transformed a ubiquitous “tool of the trade” into art itself. Man recently curated dozens of “can-formations” made by Los Angeles artists — into a collection that magically transforms utilitarian objects into fanciful works of beauty, surprise, and wit.