ArtsWatch

Museums are the place of last resort for art, Inquirer critic Ed Sozanski has written. So true. Which is what make the South Street bridge such an alive experience for looking at art. Without planning, with no encouragement from a foundation or arts group, this bridge between Center City and West Philadelphia (please, no bland "University City" here) has been for years a place for guerilla acts of creativity.
Now, as the city prepares to replace it with something...well, with something else...this large canvas speaks so trenchantly with anti-war art that it's hard to imagine the same experience ever being replicated in a museum, even if someone wanted to export the art, bit by bit, to one of those boring four-walled places people like to go to see art these days. Art is very much about context, and the act of not expecting art and finding it, and of that experience altering your thoughts for the span of the Schuylkill or a day, is powerful.
There is the pink-soldier project that had my seven-year-old and I hunting this weekend for the little figures glued onto the ironwork. They are meant as little tiny signs of war protest. You can find them every 40 feet or so along the south walkway.
A lot of the art is graphically gripping and takes some time if you want to get the full message. A very small portion of it is obscene.
I can't think of another place in Philadelphia that has developed such a strong and organic art experience. Maybe the fact that it'll soon fall to the wrecking ball makes it all the more valuable. I am glad my boy will be able to say that he saw it, and that it made us talk about war. Many of the photos below are by him.