Why Philadelphia? For those of you who recall the grit and sublimity of NYC before it become a billionaire’s playground, all of that is now alive and thriving in the City of Brotherly Love. In a conversation with J.J. El-Far she discussed how this is a city where an artist can afford have a life and still create. You can walk down the most beautiful, cultured and manicured residential streets and find yourself standing outside the former home of Lady Day, Harriet Tubman or Napoleon’s brother. It’s a city of streets that are often intoxicating and sometimes feel a little dangerous. You can find yourself sitting in a quiet park and realize you’re 50 feet from the building where the American project began. Philadelphia is all potential.
Mural Arts has spent decades laying the foundation for a visually alive urban landscape across Philadelphia. Walk around the corner, and there sitting inconspicuously behind parked cars just off 11th Street we find hidden gems like this Shepard Fairy flanked by two lively compadres. Can you name the artist’s and exact location?Speaking of Mural Arts…you can find this dazzling beauty by Philadelphia artist Roberto Lugo across the street from Crane Arts, which has become the soul-anchor for the rapidly developing North American Street corridor. After touring Crane you can restore your caffeine edge at Reanimator Coffee.Another really strong and graphic mural, this time by Jason Andrew Turner, featured in our May #2 post. She’s looking out over Fishtown and with her southward glance taking in the rapid development of the Frankford Avenue corridor. We lived in Fishtown for five years…so we are familiar with how the scene is developing!Philadelphia has riches of public art tracing back across it’s storied history and rocketing into the present. Here are two of four sinuous dragons gracing the air in front of a parking lot in Philadelphia’s China Town. The dragon quartet were brought to us by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and artist Ward Elicker, in 1992 convey the element Yang and signal health, strength and good fortune.
The Current 
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