Art & Fear... Oh and Banksy....

I went downtown the other day and wandered for several hours around the community... my mind was full of interesting thoughts, correlations, ideas and inspirations on how I could creativity interact with my environment. I have always, since I was a little girl, been obsessed with locations rich in history, I love old buildings and the stories and memories they hold. Living in Arizona most of my life, you don't really run into a lot of that, most of the buildings you find there (unless you see some indian ruins) were built in the 70's or resemble more of a wild west movie prop at this point in their lives. So walking around downtown and in and amongst these old brick buildings that have been around for so much of America's history is just simply amazing to me. Because of this there is a strong part of my being that wants to interact creatively with these structures and become part of that history.

This is where the problem comes in.

I am, and always have been, terrified of getting in trouble. I think this may go back to the fact that growing up my father was a cop and a reservist in the military... I don't know. Or maybe it's just a moral sense of not wanting to alter something that doesn't belong to me, and what right to I have to do anything to something that isn't mine. Whatever the reason I just don't know that I have the temperament to make street art. Which saddens me, because I LOVE IT! It's so inspiring to me.

This past week I watched a really interesting documentary called "Exit Through The Gift Shop". Which was interesting/crazy on a few different levels but really introduced me to the real world life of street artists, especially Banksy. I love how directly he addresses cultural issues and really uses his art to bring awareness to areas that concern him.










This one just makes me smile: