Would they ever work with the city again on a project? They’d never completely count out the idea, the artists said.
But, Hernandez added, “the experience was pretty horrible.”
These fine young artists aren’t the first and certainly won’t be the last to suffer the consequences of ‘horrible’ city policies and leadership and blatant CENSORSHIP.
There is also another concern. Do we have RACIST elites in this community influencing city hall policy?
Speaking of suffering, the city has asked the courts to dismiss the Federal housing discrimination lawsuit. Just your typical dragging out the clock games they play. Of course, we know that is likely NOT going to happen.They have an incredibly solid case.
I really enjoyed this article about the new arts coordinator for the city. She really does have a ton of experience and is a good fit for the job. But it was this remark that made me smirk;
In her conversations locally, “there’s been a need for transparency, an understanding of how arts decisions are made at a city level, who makes them and why they’re made,” Engel said.
“I think there’s a real desire to have an understanding of how those processes happen, and that’s fair, and I have a lot of understanding of that. The last thing I want is for the arts community to not have clarity around how creative decisions are made or if there are opportunities for them.”
Maybe you need to have this conversation with your boss first before you have it with the community? Because I don’t trust anybody who censors art.
I find the irony and hypocrisy, as Greg Belfrage says 1000x every morning, unbelievable.
Kind of looks like his staff want him to appear ‘arty’. But as far as I am concerned anyone who censors art loses their art cred. You are a FRAUD and a HYPOCRITE.
So after the mayor rejects a mural that gets accepted by the Smithsonian he decides to mentor this kid. While I found the 2nd chance to be great, it’s the person delivering the chance, MAYOR TENHAKEN, one of the must corrupt and culturally mute persons in this city.
I had a heartfelt moment the other night as I was conversing and watching Mr. Portz work on a mural that is about 260 ft long and 75 ft high. I love to watch mural painters because it is fascinating to watch people work on a canvas so large. So I have been visiting Walter Portz at night watching the progress, and it has been my highlight of the day riding by at night, and Walter said to me, “You are my only visitor that has come back multiple times.” I’m an art nerd like that, but it got me wondering why others are not watching this historic art piece take shape.
The picture above was from tonight, and Walter was putting on the finishing pieces so I wanted the first photo of the (almost) completed piece. I’m little disappointed he edited out the naked lady (I will update soon about her) but for the most part, the piece, which Walter edited several times in the process, is chocked full of fun imagery and context, and it looks a Hell of lot better then what the politicians left there.
This is a sticker design I came up with last night with elements of the mural (H/T to Shepard Fairey, yeah, I stole it 🙂
But it got me thinking about all the controversy and barbs thrown at Mr. Portz. For the record, Walter and I are NOT close, I only know him thru the skatepark association and several mutual friends and our love of art. That’s it. We are NOT in cahoots and I had NO idea he was working on this before it was announced. I want to make this clear because some people have made accusations that are simply not true, and laughable if they were. MOST of our conversations have been about the piece and what he might tweak. I know, weird that two artists would just sit and talk about art . . .
First off, Portz didn’t know the rejected mural artists, and did NOT do this to spite them. That is ludicrous. And while local artists will always dig on each other about style and form, it’s not cool to rip on someone who is doing something to beautify this town. We are all in this together. And while you might be jealous that someone got this sweet gig, that only means you should strive for it and look to it as inspiration. When I walk out of a fine art museum, all I want to do is paint! Be inspired by what he did in just a matter of weeks instead of angry about your missed opportunity!
The way the original proposed artists were treated was total bullcrap, and trust me, I worked my sources to get a picture of that mural, no luck, but you must separate this work from that one. One is about transparent government, that other is about taking a different approach. And all of this could actually come to a head if they would just SHOW us what they proposed. It’s hard to say you were treated unfairly if you don’t let us make an actual determination. We can’t do that if you don’t show us. So until that step is taken, I’m not buying the crocodile tears.
As for using AI, I had a good laugh with Walter about this the other night. I have been a visual artist most of my life and a graphic designer for 30 years, everything good I did as an artist or designer was stolen. Artists have done this for thousands of years. Greek architecture is used to this day! Considered the world’s greatest modern artist, Pablo Picasso, became famous by duplicating an ancient primitive form of African tribal and folk art. The most famous artist in the world was a Klepto! I know, SHOCKER!
AI, Photoshop, Illustrator Live Trace, blah, blah, blah, are all tools in an artist’s toolbox just like a paintbrush or easel. Nothing more. Nothing less.
While I like to bitch about a lot things, this is NOT one of them. A guy decided to cover up that awful wall with colorful paint and devised a plan to do it, did it, and now it is done.
Once in awhile you just have to look up at the canvas and say ‘Thank You’ because we got a million other concerns in this town besides what we will do Lenin’s Tomb at the Zoo. Dead for 99 years and looks like he died yesterday! Don’t tell anyone, but I think I saw an Arsenic tear roll down his face. Though it might just be cheeseburger grease. I heard the West Sioux folks are also angling to move his tomb to Sioux Falls. Watch out Arc of Dreams there’s a new shiny object in town! Well, kind of shiny.
Maybe if the zoo mounts were part of a food truck they would continue to cover it?
After this last week’s presser on the zoo mounts in which Paul chided the media about all the coverage, the media has been strangely quiet since.
I know, I know, there wasn’t a donation from Sanford or rejected mural designs this week, so it has been slow, but why not some followup stories;
• Speak with National and International Natural History Experts
• Talk with legislators about changing state law
• Interview ALL city councilors about their feelings on it
• When is it appropriate to have Executive Sessions? And what can be discussed?
• Elected leaders control of the media (this would be the best story).
• If not being disposed of in the landfill, where? (I think they will be cremated, which is really no different then throwing them in the dump).
It amazes me, that ONE elected official (out of 9) can just smack the media around for a couple of seconds at a press conference and the story runs cold. You could do HUNDREDS of stories about taxidermy, natural history, city history, open government, and the list goes on.
CITY OF SIOUX FALLS & DOWNTOWN SIOUX FALLS MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY WITH BUNKER RAMP MURAL
Every time I hear anything about the Bunker Ramp and Mural, I just shake my head because of a missed opportunity. I have been stating for a couple of years that you could put a BUILDING WRAP on the ramp that would advertise all the DTSF businesses. The best part is you could pay for the wrap with ad revenue and when the building is leased or sold, you simply roll it up and dispose of it.
NO RUINED ART! NO DRAMA!
While I haven’t priced one of these in a long time, my guess is it would be cheaper then the $30K it is taking to put up a mural (original art that will be destroyed). You could also incorporate images of DTSF intertwined into the piece.
With all the people working at city hall from media and marketing you would think at least one of them would have raised their hands and said, “Why not a building wrap?”
Oh that’s right, the ONE in ONE Sioux Falls stands for the only person making decisions in this city. No wonder he is stressed!
l3wis 
