Art Alley
N 44° 04.835 W 103° 13.680
13T E 641876 N 4882349
Art Alley - started as graffiti, now appreciated for the real artistic value
Waymark Code: WMGD4
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 07/04/2006
Views: 70
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.The originator of Rapid City’s Art Alley has heard everything about the paintings that appear weekly in the alleyway between Main and St. Joe from Sixth Street to Seventh Street.As it turns out, trying to pin down the story of Art Alley is a lot like the alley itself: always changing, with something new every place you look. Each person tells a different story of what has happened there and what’s happening now, and sometimes the stories don’t match.
The alley’s transformation started with Rigione, Looyenga and friends painting pictures over graffiti on power poles. “I just wanted to do something positive,” he said.
As others joined in, the artwork spread to the back walls of buildings along the alley. Some people took their paints to the alley. Others nailed up finished canvases late at night. Art students and tourists and families began walking the alley, viewing a collection that includes oil paintings and collages of magazine photos.
Not all local artists support the project. And there have been some citizen complaints about Art Alley and surrounding buildings. A retired educator objected to a large white fist painted high on the east side of the Buell Building, along with the words, “Never Surrender.” He viewed the fist as a sign of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist group.
And at this point, the project may be taking on a life of its own. Rigione recently painted over an alley door decorated with a pro-marijuana message. Hours later, he noticed a car parked with its headlights shining on that door. Several teenagers were busy stenciling a new piece on the fresh canvas, this one of a man on a bicycle.
Type of Surface: Building
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