“Articulate: Baltimore” Hits the Streets

The City of Baltimore just got hit with its second large scale mural project in one calendar year as Articulate: Baltimore joined Open Walls Baltimore during a five week period this autumn.

Chris Stain . Billy Mode. Articulate, Baltimore 2012 (photo © Martha Cooper)

A mixture of local artists and some Street Artists who are known internationally, the project is sponsored by a collection of public, private, and tourism development concerns as a way of activating a small selection of the city’s huge inventory of vacant spaces to “increase the visibility (of) the new westside district and encourage more visitors to frequent its venues”. With this sort of laser-sharp urban renewal employed in a very confined area, we may be witnessing the splintering of so-called Street Art festivals into more focused venues, employed in a more selective way to achieve specific ends.

Baltimore natives and well known Street Artists Chris Stain and Billy Mode get to do something at home for a change. Articulate, Baltimore 2012 (photo © Martha Cooper)

The list of artists in Articulate: Baltimore includes artists Ways & J. Digital, Jessie Unterhalter & Katey Truhn, Indigo, HKS 181, Chris Stain & Billy Mode, Pixel Pancho, and 2501. Co-curated by Maryland-based artists Stefan Hauswald and Jesse James, the full collection covers roughly a two-block area that is very near the center of downtown. The whole initiative appears to be one conceived with rejuvenation in mind, as public art often does for previously moribund areas. According to the website for Articulate, all of the artists realize that their work isn’t meant as a permanent installation and may be replaced at any time. “The artists expect their impact to be powerful but limited in duration— they expect that their work will be replaced over time, perhaps a matter of months or years.”

Many thanks to photographer Martha Cooper, who was there to capture official images of the installations, and she shares them here, including some that are exclusive to BSA.