About a month ago I was fortunate enough to visit Nashville, Tennessee. I was walking near small part of town called the Gulch and I noticed a large group of people interacting and taking pictures with a massive mural. Through the crowd I was able to depict something that looked like an angels wings. I, along with my sister, decided to wait on the line and see for ourselves exactly what was so fascinating about this pair of wings. As we inched closer to the site, we could see the wings in their entirety. The wings were about 20 feet high by 15 feet wide. The wings were completely white, painted on black rectangular tiles. The fringes of the wings look like regular feathers, but as I took a deeper inspection I could tell it was much more intricate. Towards the middle of the wings, there were musical instruments, such as pianos and guitars. It was clear that these wings were meant to deliver a message regarding musicality and strength while having undertones of delicacy. After considering this piece of art, I believe it should be classified as public art. The wings are a major part of the town. People come specifically to view the wings, therefore making it an integral part of the community. It is clear that there is some musical influence behind this artwork. This may be due to the funding body, or it may be due to the culture of Nashville. The town is very centered on music and almost every venue has live music playing at all hours of the day. While it is possible that the mural is influenced by a funding body, I think the mural may simply be a depiction of Nashville’s culture and history.

 

A few days ago I was walking through Penn Station and I stumbled across a picture of fish. There were dozens of pictures and illustrations there, but this particular one really struck me. This may be because I really like fishing, but I actually think it is because of the precision used when creating this piece of art. Every detail is so accurately placed that I found it hard to resist staring at the piece. The picture illustrates about a dozen fish placed side by side. They are also layered to make it seem like there is depth to the piece. The attention to detail in this picture is amazing. Each scale is shown which gives the fish a natural look. Additionally, the illusion of shadow allows the viewer to see where the sun was striking the fish. The most amazing thing I noticed about this illustration is that although they are all the same fish, the way that the creator gave each fish a small nuance is surreal. For example, one of the fish has a slightly different shape of lips while another fish has a slightly larger eye and another one has a slightly different pattern on its skin. Each fish has something unique about it which helps add to the piece’s individuality. One other important thing to note is that the piece is in black and white. I believe that this piece of art is public art. While not as prevalent nowadays, New York used to be a major fishing port and this depiction may be the catch of a local fisherman. It illustrates the culture of New York and what it once was. However, it is not clear who the funding body is, so it is hard to understand what kind of message is meant to be portrayed through the piece.

 

While these two pieces of art share a major similarity in the fact that they are both public art, there are also many differences that set them apart. First of all, the angel wings are located in Nashville, while the picture of fish is in New York City. These two places each have such unique cultures and the meanings that the artworks portray are heavily influenced by communities around them. While Nashville’s musical culture is still very much present, New York’s history may be slowly dwindling away. People in Nashville constantly embrace music through innovation and recreation on a daily basis. Many New Yorkers, on the other hand, may not even know that their city was once home to thousands of fisherman. The picture reminds people of what was once there and it helps to keep the memories alive of what was around before us. That is why art is so important in everyone’s life, even if they don’t realize it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The people in the picture of the angel wings are my sister and I