Is Cincinnati's Public Art Only Temporary?

With the LA Times story of Rodia's Watts Towers, I've been thinking about the state of permanence of urban art. With the popularity of street art, particularly graffiti and temporary murals, and "impromptu" performances, where is the investment in permanent art in urban spaces? Millions of dollars have been dropped on private or commercial real estate in the past decade. Are many these buildings and homes, which stand empty or unfinished, our new public art investment or just junk?

Watts Towers is a monument to the arts of found objects or "junk art." As such, it is the focus of a conversation on preservation through reused items. As an architectural sculpture of found object in an urban space, Watts Towers straddles many worlds and genres. Ironically, lending itself to various conversations on art and preservation Watts Towers risked flattening out and finally destruction. When a work art resists categorization, it risks being ignored. Fortunately Watts Towers was designated a National Landmark in 1990 so is itself protected.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Cincinnati's MuralWorks program is a successful one that celebrates local communities and puts artists to work. It is a very popular program with mural unveilings occurring countless times in the year recognizing community and the arts. Unfortunately, the city has adopted it as a business plan to exploit. We are now in the middle of year two of street art programs. As Shepard Fairey's temporary murals and Paint the Street evolve into the city's most prominently choreographed eyesores, plans are being made for the next round of street art events. With the upcoming Keith Haring exhibit, I loathe to expect something with chalk to promote the streetcar. Whatever the plan, popularity rather than permanence is the likely focus.

Despite all of the city planning involving a streetcar and casinos requiring literal ground breaking resulting in permanent changes in the urban core, there is no hint of a commitment to the arts in these plans. As new buildings go up redefining the commercial landscape of the city, there seems to be no effort to make a sincere commitment to permanent outdoor sculpture in our city.

Of course an honest and successful public arts program in Cincinnati requires those currently in power cede their influence to those who can actually judge art. The current trend towards the temporary permit "safe" decisions requiring no knowledge of the arts. There are a number of local artists and art professionals who can be hired as part of a panel to commission public art for the city. A panel of art professionals rather than business professionals would insure the city's landscape with a sincere commitment to and knowledge of the arts and culture.

Rodia's Watts Towers is a powerful statement for street art made at a time when the arts was about preservation and permanence of culture. Not a temporary public display.

Where is ArtWorks?

With so much talk about the upcoming Shepard Fairey Supply and Demand at the CAC, there seems to be a growing recognition of street art or at least the commercialization of it. With the soon to be unveiled area murals painted by Fairey, local businesses (not yet revealed) are in the ready to be celebrated as partners in art.

Where are our local artists? In all of the local promotion of this exhibition, I have seen little recognition of our own street artists, specifically our MuralWorks artists.

CAC Director Raphaela Platow suggests, "the boundary between commercial art and contemporary art is artificial," and as we unveil the commercial murals, a perceived wall blocking recognition of Cincinnati's contemporary street artists seems to be erecting around town.

I don't necessarily blame this on the CAC. The UnMuseum on the 6th floor plans to include works by ArtWorks and Able Projects in conjunction with Supply and Demand. The weakness in promotion of our local artists seems to rest with ArtWorks. I've criticized Artworks in the past for their inability to represent and promote the local arts in any respectable way. The response was mixed, but mostly called on me to recognize this 8 year old non-profit organization as strapped for help and perhaps money. I don't buy it.

ArtWorks has a strong p.r. and development arm flexing itself during the spring and summer months. During these months we see a continuous call for artists to teach and work through the summer on projects that include many of our city's murals. And the Secret ArtWorks fundraiser is arguably one of the most successful annual art mixers as the place to be. Like the ease of properly labeling works, offering props to our local artists is nearly effortless with social networking. And now with Supply and Demand ready to open and ArtWorks working on collaborative programing with the CAC, permitting our local artists to be virtually invisible is inexcusable. Such failure to promote our artists results in merely commercializing or commodifying the local arts.

So perhaps Platow is correct: "the boundary between commercial art and contemporary art is artificial." Is this the goal?