A Wall, A Canvas

The urban landscape is littered with walls. Walls of brick, concrete, wood, and glass. Each of these walls serving their own purpose. To protect the residents within from the element, to retain soil or water from escaping, to provide an aesthetic finish to the building, or to provide a view out into the city. Within the contents of each wall lies a story worthy of its own book, but one thing not all walls do themselves is tell a story. A wall is an open page for a story that reaches from end to end written in every crack or dent, each story as rich and unique as the wall down the street tells.

I am a fan of the visual arts, as expressed in other posts I am an avid fan of mural art in particular. Mural art or street art has unique flavor to it. Murals give life to lifeless walls, they share stories of the community in which it calls home, street art says the passersby “This is the story I must share, and you’re going to look at it no matter what!”

The walls of Austin, Texas share their own stories. Stories of love, stories of loss, stories of the past, and stories of hope. From simple messages like “I love you so much” or “Hi, how are you?” to an illustration of Pac Man being chased by his eternal ghost nemeses with the caption “Never give up!” To trippy murals of the Eye Doctor, or the quirky parrots of Dribs. Austin is home to some of Texas most talented street artists, each with their own unique style and their own stories to tell.

From commissioned art, to illegal tags, the Austin street art scene is bustling with creative minds looking for a canvas to create on. And with a wall, there’s a canvas of unlimited possibilities.