Little girl, why do you have grenade in your hand?

I thought this was a powerful one and coincidentally, so did someone else as I was taking the shot. I ended up having a good conversation with this man about the meaning of the one. We talked of innocence, puppeteer-ing, war and greed in a good 10 minute conversation. I've been trying to get a shot of this one for a while and finally got it. Rain had been getting in the way.

[Taken near Georgia Ave and Quincy streets NW, on 4/19/09]

Google Street View

View Larger Map

This is another fantastic mural I found on my walk along Georgia Ave. The scale, use of color and juxaposition of figures I thought were done well. I particulary like the way the figure in the middle with that hat on was painted.

[Taken near Georgia Ave and Lamont streets NW, on 4/19/09]

Google Street View

View Larger Map

Captain Arturo Hits Dupont

A cool little tag. Supposedly he has been hitting up all along between Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle. Not much to say here, figurine with a mask contain a large letter "A" and wings similar to Captain America. Maybe brothers?

Urban canvas

I've had this interest in areas of space on a wall or even ground that allow for or "ask for" open posting and expression. In urban areas, a lot of the color and jazz comes from these dynamically changing pieces, whether is a continuous layered posting of advertisements, movie openings, lost pets or to the current extreme, Times Square, Tokyo and etc where technology replaces the physical tagging or stapling. I tend to prefer the physical rather that the big screens (call me ol'skool, though sometimes it's cool but can be overwhelming and poorly done). In the posting, you have the repetitious pattern created from arraying the posters along the area.
So I call it an urban canvas. I would hope to experiment in design a space that creatively allows for just an open canvas, beyond just a blank wall and locating it in the right place.

"If You Lived Here You'd Be Home Now. But you still could not vote."

Right in the mist of Adams Morgan. Tuck in one of the alleys where there's a pretty cool building with what I can remember as a connector bridge articulated like a warehouse with huge windows.
The quote " If You Lived Here You'd Be Home Now" has several references, one being an album by "The Nields" focusing on the topic of searching for "home." Funny enough, later on that day randomly ran into a buddy and after talking about some soccer, touched on the topic of DC and being such a transient city. Very rare you find someone who is a "local." Hell, I may be considered a "local" to some for being around for about 4 years...ha, kinda crazy to realize it has been that long.

[Taken near Belmont and 18th streets NW, on 3/08/09]

View Larger Map

It's Time

Ok...this one I cheated on. The "plan" was (if you don't know already, I create plans only not follow them anyway) to take a set of images and post once a week. This one I actually took with the previous "Dunbar" post. I was walking around and basically thought I was taking a "shortcut" and ending getting lost through an alley. As I reorient myself, I find myself next to Logan's Hardware store which is where I ran into this poster. I was going to take this one eventually but the circumstances made me jump the gun.
I found this one to be very powerful. The use of strong graphics, intense color and depiction of a seemly strong message made me really like this one alot. Also the location, it's quite interesting as it's in a popular spot near Whole Foods and a few bars like Stoney's.
The image of the boy with weapon over the shoulder and towards the other end, a man in a gas mask, leads me to think this is some sort of war propaganda. I'm hoping to follow up on this one some more. There may be further meaning that I haven't been exposed to yet.

[Taken between 13th and 14th & P streets NW, on 2/11/09]

View Larger Map

Dunbar?

This one is pretty cool. The great use of color and emphasis on facial features with references to area, buildings and people made me like this one. Now Dunbar, I don't know the significance yet. I know there's a Dunbar sign that exists today at T and 7th Streets (I see it a lot on my walks home). The only thing I'm thinking it could be is a bank, and possibly the construction of this bank created a symbol for growth, hope and prosperity. Looking at this again, I wonder if the building on the mural is the Dunbar building I mentioned earlier. This is located on the side of the Cartie Mae? Bapist Church.
[Taken near Q and 9th streets NW, on 2/11/09]