Unflappable Artistry
Posted on February 9, 2016 by Blake Leath
In preparation for this weekend's snarky #Deadpool, @madam_sloth is workin' her magic:
She's an unsung hero (if you ask me), and in a Kardashian/Trump/self-promoting America, I just think it's cool how she stands to the side and allows her bold art to speak for itself.
In that vein, I offer these observations from watching her work recently:
At the absolute ZENITH of her inspired, creative, then fastidiously methodical real-time sketching, chalking, and painting the latest one-of-a-kind knockout mural upon the busy corridor wall of @LOOKCinemasLLC (as in-plain-sight as Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel), (1) One obnoxious passerby touches his popcorny finger to a fresh chalk-line while making an awkward attempt at impress-his-girl date-humor by suggesting a change. Unflappable Gura smiles warmly, thanks the man sincerely for his [unsolicited] feedback and remains unfazed but is surely left to wonder, "What would I do without you?" (2) Another passerby will inevitably inquire, "Did you draw that?" (3) A third (in what now resembles a Boston St. Paddy's Day Parade of Interrupters—myself included—so I really must go!) will predictably stop and ask, "So, are you an artist?"
She kindly indulges everyone, and eventually me, too, with a request for a parting photo (perhaps commemorating the last time I will mess with her mojo).
She remains, then as always, cool as a beatnik yet warm toward all who pause and marvel and photograph her and her work (and she knows all too well that what makes these creations so dang cool is their materializing under her spell and right before our very eyes, only to vanish a few weeks later like butterflies).
It gives me pause: were I as artistically talented—and obligated by the very nature of the task at hand to perform it in public (where customers, critics, jokesters, hecklers, interrupters, peers, admirers, zealots, and outright fawners may as well be one and the same)—would my capacity to suffer fools be so elastic? My outputs so reliably quick, yet great? Would I be able to retrieve and refocus my linear concentration in the face of such distraction, whatever its source or intent? I doubt it. Seriously doubt it. I would probably beg for a key and permission to paint at 3AM, or take a friend to behave as my "assistant" (aka bouncer) during peak hours, or wear a passive-aggressive t-shirt with the words MAN AT WORK: WET PAINT HERE printed loudly across my back in an attempt to broaden the psychological and physical barriers.
Alas, Unflappable Gura remains steady, replies as if all questions are novel, logical, and fair—equivalent to those asked earnestly by youths considering art for their career—then mashes her buzzing earbuds back in, grabs a napping paint pen from the pile at foot, rattles it awake, and merges effortlessly back into her zone, having never missed a beat.
#jlhart #muralist #thrivingartist #trapezeartist #lookmanonet #performanceart #lookcinemas #captainobvious #womanatwork #inspiringtomorrowsgeneration #noquestionisastupidquestionunless