Category Archives: Street Art

Dancing Muses

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Dancing Muses by K. A. Letts. Source: a3arts.org.

In this piece, for the Power Art program, K. A. Letts features several black figured dancers who are supposed to be dancing muses. The idea of an inspirational muse is derived from Greek mythology. In mythology muses were figures of inspiration for the science, arts, and literatures. There were nine muses in total that embodied the knowledge in their subjects; Calliope (epic poetry and rhetoric), Cio (history), Erato (singing), Eutere (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polymnia (hymns to the gods and heroes), Terpsichore or Stesichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy) (ancient.eu).

In partnership with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (AADDA) and the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (AAPAC), the Arts Alliance manages, selects, and installs artwork by local artists on power boxes throughout downtown Ann Arbor. “Projects like PowerArt! exist across the country, and have led to a decrease in vandalism where installed” (a3arts.org). The vinyl material used to wrap the artwork is resistant to graffiti and can be replaced if damaged. In addition to decreasing vandalism as well being graffiti resistant, these works also serve to beautify the city by transforming industrial looking electrical boxes, which are on many streets corners, into art exhibits for the public to enjoy.

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Olga Alexopoulou

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Alexopoulou’s black and white mural on Thayer.

Olga Alexopoulou, born in Athens, Greece, is a internationally known artist that studied at Oxford and University’s John Ruskin School of Art. In 2005, she moved to Istanbul. Her black and white murals, against visually colorful cities, “express an important dimension of Greek life today: movement and flight” (ns.umich.edu). This is very relevant within the context of the multiple (economic, political, and social) crises going on in Greece. Alexopoulou’s works often depict mountain landscapes and ocean scenes and have been featured in galleries around the world.

Sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Modern Greek and History of Art Departments and Humanities Institute Alexopoulou, is a participant of the Global Graffiti project, which involves Cacao Rocks and Mehdi Ghadyanlo, two other international artists. The project hopes to “to engage the campus and greater community with international artists who offer a global perspective on the use of street art as powerful forms of expression and communication” (record.umich.edu). Alexopoulou completed her black and white mural on September 14th, 2016 which can be seen on S. Thayer street.

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Cacao Rocks

From Athens, Greece, Cacao Rocks’s home turf is filled with many of his vibrant and colorful works that are known worldwide. He started off as a teenager practicing simple tags with his friends because he thought it was cool and wanted to impress the ladies. He never dreamed that one day his work be featured internationally and in museums. In 2004, after his trip across Europe, where he visited major museums among other things, he began to produce art replicating what he had seen abroad and became revitalized in street art. Cacao draws his influence in large, from Greece’s state of multiple (economic, political, and social) crises. Beginning in 2008, Cacao experienced first hand the start of the crisis and many of his works reflect its issues that have not been resolved yet. He is also influenced by Greek architecture, of all time periods, and the street artist Banksy from Britain, who he sees as a role model for all street art and graffiti artists. Today, he is internationally known with his pieces having been exhibited in the U.S., U.K., Italy, many street art and graffiti festivals as well as at the Benaki Museum in Athens and the Onassis Art Foundation in New York.

Sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Modern Greek and History of Art Departments and Humanities Institute Cacao, is a participant of the Global Graffiti project, which involves Olga Alexopoulou and Mehdi Ghadyanlo, two other international artists. The project hopes to “to engage the campus and greater community with international artists who offer a global perspective on the use of street art as powerful forms of expression and communication” (record.umich.edu). Cacao completed “Paros to Delos” on October 26th, 2016 which can be seen on the corner of N. University and S. Thayer.

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Show Horse 1

Originally produced as a painting, Show Horse 1 made by K. A. Letts, is now in Ann Arbor in the form of vinyl wrap. Local artist K. A. Letts, selected by PowerArt!, draws inspiration from myth, aboriginal art, outsider and street art and. Her wrap depicts a horse walking down a paved street that seems to flow and bend all around the power box. Although different from the original, the work still shows Greek influence from Minoan pottery. The elongated and narrow stylized horses elicit Minoan characteristics even though more commonly abstract, floral, or marine subjects were painted on vases. The artist also may have drawn from archaic funerary vases where horses, similarly depicted, were often part of the funerary procession for elite Greeks.

In partnership with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (AADDA) and the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (AAPAC), the Arts Alliance manages, selects, and installs artwork by local artists on power boxes throughout downtown Ann Arbor. “Projects like PowerArt! exist across the country, and have led to a decrease in vandalism where installed” (a3arts.org). The vinyl material used to wrap the artwork is resistant to graffiti and can be replaced if damaged. In addition to decreasing vandalism as well being graffiti resistant, these works also serve to beautify the city by transforming industrial looking electrical boxes, which are on many streets corners, into art exhibits for the public to enjoy.

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