(no subject)

[olivermoss]

Went photowalking last night, and again got maybe one shot. All that I accomplished was some exercise and some cat petting.

I went by a few houses that had some yard decorations going on all pandemic, but they were gone. I wonder if a lot of people did yard art as a home project with anything going on and are now transitioning into normal mode with a neat lawn. I mean, Portland's always going to have yard art and street art and that is not all I am looking for ... I am just used to reliably finding something.

Part of the problem is that, again, I've walked the nearby streets and need to walk them again to get anywhere. It makes my walking less efficient. Still, just need to keep at it. Only way to get anywhere with photography is on ongoing, massive time investment. My second Covid shot is on Friday, and 2 weeks after that using the bus to get up to St Johns or way south is going to be very different.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

At least petting cats is a pretty good consolation prize.

I'm a little sad at the thought that a lot of the large-scale artistic things people have been doing will be phased out with a return to "normalcy."
It felt like one of the few bright bits of the enforced isolation was the opportunity for people to focus on artistic stuff that they often lacked the time to do. (With the usual caveats about privilege and that for some people it really killed their artistic drive, so that wasn't a universal experience by any stretch.)

[olivermoss]

Portland has always had weird, quirky art. It just might take more to find. Also, our most prominent street artist is doing brand deals now and is mass producing his yard sign designs. At some point I'll have to start ruling his stuff out as street art. Stuff, it keeps changing.

I've also noticed that submissions to the local group for quirky Portland stuff has slowed to a drizzle.

[mistressofmuses]

I'm sure there will always be a cool art scene there, but it's a shame that "normal" translates to "not artistic now" for so many.

I'm certainly not against artists making money from what they do, but mass-production and brand deals do pretty much disqualify the stuff from being street art anymore.

The only constant is change.

[olivermoss]

Also the brand deal is with Rogue brewery which is famous for commodifying Portland for the tourists. They are locally disliked and barely sold in stores here. It's everywhere else that gets their Portland's Voodoo Donuts Maple Bacon Ale. Locals do not drink their stuff. They also took over one of the better beer bars here literally for the purposes of destroying it and treat employees badly.

I mean, I can't be mad at someone finding a way to make money off of art especially in this economy, but yeah, it dings his cred a lot.

[mistressofmuses]

Oh yuck, that definitely makes it worse. That seems like even more of a soulless sellout move. (And yuck in general to that company for being so shitty.)

Again, I support artists making money, but... eesh.