Exploring Philadelphia’s Vibrant Mural Arts

In 2009, I spent two days In Philadelphia taking a look at some of the murals  there. There are actually over 3000 (yes, three thousand) murals in the city. Jane Golden instigated this movement. She started an anti-graffiti campaign in Philadelphia. Graffiti artists were redirected to Mural painting.   That was in 1984 and the program has grown  a lot since.

They have pioneered the use of photo-shop to paint photo-real murals. They also use parachute cloth, a tyvek type material that you can paint on in a studio. You can then adhere it to the outdoor wall like wallpaper. Meg Saligman is a talented practitioner with this wonderful flag near Philly’s riverfront. in the gallery below you can see more of her stuff,  figures in a photo-real style.

I had a great time in Philly. One  moment of weirdness was on the Sunday afternoon I visited about 30 murals.Many of them were in rougher neighborhoods . The quality and  concepts are quite high. The most amazing thing I saw was these insane car chases. Police chased these daredevil gang-bangers on ATVs. They buzzed through traffic at breathtaking speeds. It was like an old Mel Gibson movie.

The noise and the people disappear as you leave the rougher neighborhoods. The activity on the street vanishes when you enter the gentrified areas. Suddenly no one is on the street, like a neutron bomb hit. Was everybody out of town? Inside watching TV?

Otherwise it’s a great place. They have designated mural routes and bused tours as well, but you would need several weeks to see them all. Check out  http://www.muralarts.org/ for more info.

And here’s a gallery of some of my favorite murals from Philadelphia.