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GUEST BLOG III: The Adventures of Andy Bowness - Art for Art’s Sake

Despite spending many hours looking at art every day (usually in t-shirt form, admittedly), I basically know nothing about art, there are a few artists that I like and follow, but beyond them I’m basically clueless, if I look at something and like it, good, if not, it doesn’t really bother me. Despite this almost stunning level of ignorance, I am all for getting art out into public spaces and making it accessible for as many people as possible.

I think that Philly is a great city for seeing random things that make me smile. The very first day I got here I was aimlessly wandering around the city trying to find somewhere to eat, when I saw a 45-foot tall clothespin. What rational explanation could there possibly be for having that commissioned? Actually, don’t tell me. Then there’s the many murals, they turn the whole city into a canvas, and graffiti artists seem to show their city-appointed peers some respect by leaving the murals untagged, which is unusual considering they seem to love putting a squiggle or two on any flat surface.

One of the striking things about South Street, and considering where I live in England there are three houses there are a lot of things to strike me on South Street, is all the mosaics by Isaiah Zagar, and the one you can see in the pictures, the Magic Garden, is the most interesting/bizarre of them all. Obviously the Magic Garden is more than ‘just’ a mosaic, but I don’t quite know what to call it.

As I was having my picture taken by a couple of strangers who had also been peering in through the locked gates of the garden, two people walking down the sidewalk did mutter something along the lines of “why would you have your picture taken in front of that junk?” though with slightly less G-rated language, and whilst I can understand their sentiment, as most of the material probably was collected from dumpsters and junkyards, people are allowed to like what they want, and I like the Magic Garden, even if I have no idea why.

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The Adventures of Andy Bowness is an Art In The Age Blog Mini-Series, featuring guest blogger, Andy Bowness, the man behind Hide Your Arms (the top-rated t-shirt blog in the world…oh, snap!) Andy, a Northern (Lake District) UK native, is a recent Philadelphia transplant and a totally swell fellow!

We decided to conduct an experiment with Andy. Armed with 1 disposable camera and 1 Art In The Age tee, we set Andy free to roam Philadelphia! Over the past several weeks, Andy has documented his adventures, and now presents his findings on our blog! Stay tuned for more…

Written by admin on 05/09/2009 in AITA Original | Blog | Photography