AFS Cinema
Mural Misuse?
RECEIVED Mon., Sept. 26, 2005
Dear Editor,
I just wanted to start out saying we have some awesome murals in this town. This is a bitch session about one that is at best a poor compromise.
(Please excuse some of the sarcasm here.) As I was walking back from Anonymous Burrito Shop, I noticed that the owners of the Exxon gas station/car wash across the street had removed their cover from the mural that they had been working on for a couple of weeks. And lo and behold, the mural depicted some South Austin landmarks like the SRV statue, the Congress Street bridge complete with bats flying from underneath, and that infamous UT tower with a national championship "L" emblazoned in the windows. But guess what else was there? That's right, a picture of the gas station itself, complete with a neon "OPEN" sign and generic ATM in the window. It was nestled right there snugly in between the map of the Colorado River and its crossings and the SRV himself. I'm sorry, I didn't know that the Exxon station on the corner of Riverside and Congress had a "cultural draw." Perhaps I'm wrong though; I'm sure there are many people that move to and enjoy this community because of that particular petrol station just as they do the "weirdness" of the urban bat collection, the Texcellent University, or the Austintacious live music.
If you ask me, this situation just goes to show you the bastardization of muralizing art with the corporate "powers that be." Say what you want about that dirty communist Diego Rivera, at least he had his guthers and stood up to "the Man" and kept his artistic credibility intact, while still taking their money. Freaking oil companies, man, they’ll getcha every time.
I just wanted to start out saying we have some awesome murals in this town. This is a bitch session about one that is at best a poor compromise.
(Please excuse some of the sarcasm here.) As I was walking back from Anonymous Burrito Shop, I noticed that the owners of the Exxon gas station/car wash across the street had removed their cover from the mural that they had been working on for a couple of weeks. And lo and behold, the mural depicted some South Austin landmarks like the SRV statue, the Congress Street bridge complete with bats flying from underneath, and that infamous UT tower with a national championship "L" emblazoned in the windows. But guess what else was there? That's right, a picture of the gas station itself, complete with a neon "OPEN" sign and generic ATM in the window. It was nestled right there snugly in between the map of the Colorado River and its crossings and the SRV himself. I'm sorry, I didn't know that the Exxon station on the corner of Riverside and Congress had a "cultural draw." Perhaps I'm wrong though; I'm sure there are many people that move to and enjoy this community because of that particular petrol station just as they do the "weirdness" of the urban bat collection, the Texcellent University, or the Austintacious live music.
If you ask me, this situation just goes to show you the bastardization of muralizing art with the corporate "powers that be." Say what you want about that dirty communist Diego Rivera, at least he had his guthers and stood up to "the Man" and kept his artistic credibility intact, while still taking their money. Freaking oil companies, man, they’ll getcha every time.
Kyle Rogers