"Matthew Ritchie named to do newest Dewey Square mural" by Geoff Edgers | Globe Staff, August 03, 2013
Boston, say goodbye to the giant boy in mismatched pajamas who has inspired praise and controversy as he hovers over Dewey Square. His time is up.
After deeming the brightly colored mural facing South Station a success because of the amount of talk it generated, the Institute of Contemporary Art has commissioned British-born Matthew Ritchie , known for using scientific principles to inspire his work, to take over the enormous outdoor canvas....
Proving their is no such thing as bad publicity.
The collaboration, to be announced Monday at a Boston Arts Commission meeting, is part of a residency for Ritchie that will include a multimedia performance with members of the rock bands The Breeders and The National, concerts at the museum and elsewhere, and a video project to be produced with the ICA’s teen program. But the biggest splash for the public will come on the exterior of the Big Dig ventilation building in Dewey Square.
The current installation by the Brazilian twins Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, known as Os Gemeos, was the first to feature art on the wall. The experience was worth repeating, according to officials from the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the ICA, and the city. They say it created buzz throughout Boston and brought art to the public without requiring people to pay admission fees or even visit a museum. It also beautified a public space along Atlantic Avenue that thousands of people pass through during the day.
“Public spaces like that cry out for artistic intervention,” said ICA director Jill Medvedow.
But not protests.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy agrees and will fund the $17,000 production costs of the new installation.
See: Herald Shows Globe the Greenway
“It’s been very energizing,” said Charlie McCabe, director of public programs for the conservancy. “It’s been cool for us to be part of the conversation about public art, about how you can do it in kind of an outdoor forum.”
The Pandolfo brothers drew a crowd of fans and curious onlookers when they installed their mural in July 2012. They made national news when the local Fox television affiliate posted an image of it to a Facebook page, inspiring comments accusing the brothers of creating an image that resembled a terrorist because of the way the face was partially shrouded in clothing. Medvedow dismissed the notion, calling the controversy a “fabricated dust-up.”
Related:
"There is something unsettling about placing art work dominated by a
massive masked subject near the entrance to South Station, the city’s
major railway station. Bostonians may lack knowledge of the vernacular
of Brazilian street art. But the artists from Brazil may be a little
fuzzy on Boston sensibilities, too. This is still the city of origin of
the passenger jets used by Al Qaeda hijackers to attack the World Trade
Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Yeah, except it turns out Muslims didn't do 9/11; Israel and her helpers in various western governments and intelligence agencies did -- if what we even saw was true.
Brazilian artists may not care. Their government doesn’t seem to. It
hasn’t bothered even to enact anti-terrorism legislation. As a result,
the FARC, Hamas, and other terrorist groups comfortably conduct their
financial transactions in Brazil. It’s not a big topic of conversation
in the art world. But it is a subject of considerable concern among
international security experts who contemplate the 2016 Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro."
Well, I guess you can see for yourself who was getting everyone all dusted up, huh?
More than two dozen people wrote or called the Boston Arts Commission to raise concerns, far more than they normally hear from the public over a major exhibit.
Ritchie’s project is unlikely to inspire a similar battle.
But....
The terror narrative was subtly reinforced.
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Keep the kid
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Offensive Oz
Also see: Globe Gets Dewey-Eyed Over Occupy Anniversary
Those look like crocodile tears to me.
