Concrete Canvas

Art's a tricky thing to write about, or even to make "art" about. It's hard to make art about art. By it's nature it's subjective and interpretive. The short video here presents a nice series of samples of artists working in chalk, doing work meant to appeal to popular tastes. The artists on camera talk about their challenges, both artistic and with the people they encounter. The whole project exists on a pleasant, polite plane, at least to me. The artwork is competent and, at times, more than what you might expect from this kind of exhibit. Perhaps the weakest chalk piece artistically was the strongest one politically. The agitprop piece on Darfur, although rendered with less than a masterful hand, was the most interesting emotionally.

The music, though out of sync in the first on-camera cut-away, was nice. The close-ups worked nicely, as did the ending. The ending might have benefitted from a more complete shot of the drawing being washed away.

I expect to see this one in the top ten.

Except I don't think it can be because it was uploaded to the competition section.

That was so sad seeing all of the chalk washed away, I sort of expected them to just erode away from people walking on them.

So....we ended up deciding that if you submit to a competition, you cannot be eligible for the Top 10. In a sense you're submitting to a different competition with a chance to get on TV, and it's just too confusing to restore people to our Top 10 based on when a competition ends and finalists are chosen. Sorry for the confusion about this. As I always say, we're a work in progress here.

I love the concept of temperary chalk art, but I wish there were more abstract pieces in the video or maybe some graffiti style art.

Awesome! i did not know about this, i've got to take a trip out to see this. A complimentary voice over would help this out alot.

Very well done. It was a little sad seeing all the work washed away, but I guess thats why we have cameras. Great job. - Rich T