Shadowy figures

September 3, 2017 9:58 PM

If you take a stroll around Redwood City, California, you might get the sense that something isn't quite right. Pay particular attention to the shadows. Notice how they seem to misbehave? Flowers sprout from the shadows of bike racks, mailboxes turn into shadow monsters, and shady monkeys hang around atop parking meters. What's going on?

Damon Belanger: Art — Design — Instagram
posted by Johnny Wallflower (14 comments total)

This reminds me of San Jose in the early 2000s,when the city spent a bunch of money shipping in buskers in an effort to revitalize its downtown (Come blow your horn /San Jose pins hopes on street performers to breathe life into dull downtown.) With no slight intended to the artist, whose work is fun and whimsical, I didn't see much more discussion than that "He was commissioned to install 20 fake shadows in the downtown area of Redwood City in order to bring more creativity to the area."

San Jose did it because no one was spending any time at all downtown. Is there a backstory to what's going on in Redwood City?
posted by Graygorey at 10:14 PM on September 3, 2017

I really enjoyed these. I don't understand the hostility towards the idea of publicly funded art, music, or temporary installations. My town funded a bunch of small artworks/murals on utility boxes around town a few years ago and I like seeing them as I go by. I would be delighted to come across something like this while out walking.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:24 PM on September 3, 2017 [12 favorites]

Love the mailbox shadow monster.
posted by arnicae at 11:26 PM on September 3, 2017

Graygorey, can I walk that back a bit? I think you make a good point and I would be interested in seeing about costs/public input/street reactions/zoning related issues/etc.
That being said, I still love stuff like this. It shows an interaction between the city (and the people who work to make it work) and the people who live there.

tldr: I can think of worse ways to support local arts
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:12 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Man this is the most exciting thing to hit Redwood City since it was designated "climate best by government test"!


also, has a term been invented yet for hypergentrification of already gentrified places?
posted by cosmologinaut at 12:35 AM on September 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

I really enjoyed these. I don't understand the hostility towards the idea of publicly funded art, music, or temporary installations. My town funded a bunch of small artworks/murals on utility boxes around town a few years ago and I like seeing them as I go by. I would be delighted to come across something like this while out walking.

I have zero problems with funding public art. except when it is as shady as this.
posted by Samizdata at 12:56 AM on September 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is definitely better than nothing, and I'm in favor of just about anything that interrupts a moribund streetscape, but it's to art what picture books are to literature. Then again, public art that makes it through the gauntlet of non-arts professional jurying tends to be as milquetoast and un-nuanced as possible.
posted by tapir-whorf at 5:08 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Tough crowd.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:03 AM on September 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

Please don't get me wrong; I'm totally in support of publicly-funded art, temporary installations, and the like. However, it strikes me that in places like Redwood City, the only way that street art is going to be allowed to happen *is* by the city paying for it, and that anyone else who tries is more likely to get community service than community support.
posted by Graygorey at 9:58 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is definitely better than nothing

I disagree. Greg Brown managed to get a similar gig in nearby Palo Alto (Google image search). I don't like his stuff, either -- it's too contrived, although I'm sure he also has supporters who appreciate his whimsy.
posted by Rash at 1:59 PM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Tough crowd.

Agreed.
posted by Samizdata at 2:00 PM on September 4, 2017

That's the LAST time I try throwing shade at a project like this.
posted by Samizdata at 6:30 PM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

ಠ_ಠ
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:42 PM on September 4, 2017

I went and visited them after dinner. Cute, but j probably would have walked right past if I hadn't known to look for them.
posted by susiswimmer at 8:52 PM on September 4, 2017