Stuart Eagon's photostream  

one of the many principal photographs that were taken as part of a two month long project my brother Alec and I worked on around the city of Portland.

many of the principal photographs have already been posted on Flickr--I will continue to post some more of the shots that I took in Milwaukie, Aloha and Hillsboro over the coming weeks.

this particular shot was taken of the Oak Grove Theater on SE McLoughlin Blvd in Milwaukie. As I was in the process of setting this shot up the CINEMAS sign just happened to come on, around 4:15 or so. A nice stroke of luck.

as is the case with most of my photographs, no editing was done to this image.

this picture was taken with a Canon FTB camera, using a 50mm 1:1.4 lens on 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 film.

this shot was taken a few hours after the Jules Muck art was taken down by the city of Portland.

this shot is from three days earlier:
www.flickr.com/photos/67825801@N06/6496882599/in/photostream

the market is at the Texaco Station off the corner of SE Cesar Chavez (39th) and Gladstone.

this picture was taken with a Canon FTB camera, using a 50mm 1:1.4 lens on 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 film.

one of the many lovely sights of SE 82nd Avenue in Portland.

on the corner of 82nd and Raymond.

this picture was taken with a Canon FTB camera, using a 50mm 1:1.4 lens on 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 film.

continued from here:
www.flickr.com/photos/67825801@N06/6496756073/in/photostream

when I was first taking the B&W shot of the side of the Wise Buy Market a guy came sprinting across Gladstone street yelling "hey! hey! if you want to a clean shot of Jules' art you should ask them to take the beer ads down...I just think its really disrespectful to the community and to the children who want to see the art...I don't think there should be adds plastered over Jules' art..."). Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about--although I quickly realized that for whatever reason that a HEINEKEN add had been placed over the smaller piece of Jules' art on the side of the building.

(you can see the ad plastered over the smaller mural here www.flickr.com/photos/67825801@N06/6496882599/in/photostream)

The store recently had new ownership and when I went back later in the week I had a chance to talk to the owners who informed me that they were at the very least neutral, or probably even more in favor of keeping the art up, despite the fact that they were under pressure by the city to cover up the art.

So, why does this art have to be censored or removed completely?

as a result of this incident I came back to get another shot in color--unfortunately some of my angles were blocked by a large car in front of the ads and mural on this day...

I went across the street on Gladstone to the SAMO LIVES gallery (who worked with Jules Muck to have her paint the murals at this location) and talked at length to the owners and operators of the gallery regarding why the art was being removed.

there is a very specifc article regarding this location (which I can't find right now) but here is some more information on the debate that is taking place in Portland right now.

Art or Delinquency?
psuvanguard.com/opinion/art-ordelinquency/

on EndlessCanvas blog (scroll down about 3/4 down page)
endlesscanvas.com/?cat=1597

"Apparently, the graffiti abatement notices run on citizen complaints, and someone had complained that the murals were “graffiti”. However, the residents in both buildings claim each neighborhood was expressive of their appreciation for the new art. In Portland, not only are authorized graffiti murals under attack by a city funded program, but even “graffiti art”, in the form of paintings inside art galleries...."

After talking at length with the store owners and gallery operators at SAMO LIVES, I found out that this mural was taken down about an hour after I was there (taken on the same day, you can see here:
www.flickr.com/photos/67825801@N06/6655624579/in/photostream
that the murals on the side of the Market had already been removed in the morning).

Interesting debate. I'll be the first to say that there is a myriad of bad graffiti that is counterproductive or in poor taste, and probably should be removed. In this case, however, I find it tragic that there are people who are hellbent on destroying and or removing perfectly good community art, without a truly valid reason.

It is a shame that this mural is no longer outside, as it made for a very interesting contemporary juxtaposition against the cigarette ads. Recently I was happy to see, at the very least, that the art is now hanging on a wall inside the Market.

this picture was taken with a Canon FTB camera, using a 50mm 1:1.4 lens on 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 film.

SE 82nd and Raymond.

this picture was taken with a Canon FTB camera, using a 50mm 1:1.4 lens on 35mm Kodak Ultra Max 400 film.