Public Art - Table
of Contents
"Tribute
to Spain Rodriguez"
233 Allen St., Buffalo, NY
Artist: Ian De Beer
Painted: 2013
| Buffalo historian, social
advocate and businessman Mark Goldman is
planning to create a series of murals in Allentown, while dedicating
the effort to his late brother and public art visionary Tony Goldman.
In an email sent out to local press, Mark made clear that the
initiative would be guided by a professional acumen that would greatly
enhance the spectrum of art in the city. From Mark: "... by creating the Allen Street Street Artists Collective, will attempt to do for the streets of Allentown what Tony’s work did for New York and Miami. It is as a tribute to him and to the people of Buffalo that I have undertaken this most challenging and important project. As Tony himself said: “The work that we do us not for the faint of heart." |
| Late
on Sunday evening, a small team of Buffalo street artists gathered in
the parking lot of Holly Farms, a convenience store near Allen and
College streets, to begin work on the first of a major new series of
public murals. The mural-in-progress, created by a group of graffiti artists under the direction of Ian DeBeer and with the help of digital projection artist Keith Harrington, is a tribute to the late Buffalo-born comics artist Spain Rodriguez. It will soon be joined by several other murals on some 20,000 square feet of wall space on buildings near the intersection of Allen and College streets. It’s all part of the newly formed Allen Street Street Artists Collective, a project quickly organized over the past several weeks by Buffalo arts supporter, author and developer Mark Goldman to help transform the neighborhood and provide more opportunities for street artists to work legally. The project will have its first major unveiling on Sept. 7, [2013] by which point the walls of many buildings will have been transformed by artists from Buffalo and across the United States. Some of the participating artists include David Chino and Patrick Gallo of New York City, Los Angeles street artist Septerhead, and locals Johnny Chow, Max Collins and Meg Corcoran. Ian De Beer DeBeer is an experienced Buffalo artist who has served jail time for his graffiti in New York and Pennsylvania and whose long art career has played out almost entirely underground. He is using the opportunity to pay tribute to one of his favorite artists and to establish a toehold in the legitimate art world. But the conditions of DeBeer’s parole, he said, have made his central involvement in Goldman’s project somewhat complicated. "I'm not allowed to own or possess art-making materials still, so I didn't touch a can, I didn't touch any paint throughout the whole process so far. I've been overseeing the whole thing and I had to have assistants actually painting it for me. That was a little difficult for me," he said. The scene DeBeer chose for the side of Holly Farms is tied up with the Allentown neighborhood. It was inspired by a Spain Rodriguez comic about a fight he got into at a bar called the Jamestown, now Nietzsche’s, across the street from the mural. "What Mark's trying to do is he’s trying to bring this attention to Allen. And it's like, why look any further than what's already there?" DeBeer said. Work on the remaining murals will go on until the Sept. 7 unveiling, with the bulk of the artwork appearing on about 100 feet of wall space along Goldman's Allen Street Hardware bar and restaurant and two adjoining buildings. - Colin Dabkowski, Buffalo
street artists paint first of several planned Allentown murals.
The Buffalo News,
August 26, 2013 (online May 2014)
|
 Holly Farms Outdoor Mural   "The scene DeBeer chose for the side of Holly Farms is tied up with the Allentown neighborhood. It was inspired by a Spain Rodriguez comic about a fight he got into at a bar called the Jamestown, now Nietzsche’s, across the street from the mural." Details (from left to right) below:  Route 62 and Route 16 can both be found in Buffalo, Rodriguez's birthplace. Upper left: Street lamp is balanced by a street lamp at other end of mural. Upper half: Smoke from commercial chimney corresponds to the sign at the bottom. Lower far left: Winding road leads to a telephone pole and lines. Middle right: Chain link fence. Lower right: Top of man's head  Lower left: Top of man's head and hand. Right side: Two motorcycles. In Buffalo, Spain Rodriguez belonged to a motorcycle gang.  Motorcycles: See Spain Rodriguez comic below. Woman's legs, one on a rat: See Spain Rodriguez comic below. Spain
Rodriguez:
"Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez was born in Buffalo, New York on March 2,
1940. He grew up on Buffalo’s East Side, a gang member of outlaw
cyclists the Road Vultures. Listening to legendary rock ‘n’ roll DJ
George “Hound Dog” Lorenz and enjoying epic bar brawls and street
rumbles that he would later illustrate in full-page panels and two-page
spreads while employing his signature (and influential) comic-book
aesthetic, the work holds its own with iconic graphics of battle." - Burchfield
Penney Art Center (online August 2014)
 "bcuz" was the signature of a well-known tagger. See: Jane Kwiatkowski Radlich, Buffalo 'BCUZ' tagger starts court sentence removing graffiti July 22, 2013 (online August 2014) Center: Car headlight and beam; car grill  "She":
See Spain Rodriguez comic below.
|
Images from the Internet 1940-1972  Spain Rodriguez comic ... Rodriguez was a member of the Road Vulture Motorcycle gang ... Compare to Ian De Beer's tribute mural above  Spain Rodriguez comic ... Compare to Ian De Beer's tribute mural above  Spain Rodriguez comic ... Compare to Ian De Beer's tribute mural above |
