Way Cool Paris Blog
It’s not a Catholic blog, nor is it a religious blog - rather it’s a photo blog from Paris with wonderful shots - it’s done by Eric and it is titled, “Paris Daily“. Take for instance this ‘graffiti’ mural. Now if only the taggers in our country were as creative - although I do like some of what I see locally, especially on train cars, as I’m waiting in traffic for a freight train to pass - but only when it’s done well. Perhaps the graffiti artists in our country could work in pastels or chalk, and then surfaces wouldn’t be permanently damaged.
I love Paris - therefore I entered this blog in my blogroll.
The art of graffiti suggests to me that people crave art in their lives, that the cold, iconoclastic architecture of the 20th and 21st century is overwhelmingly sterile. We think of graffiti artists as intruding upon our space, while it seems to me, the fascism of modern architecture has often been imposed upon us, creating a blank canvas upon which one desires to imprint one’s humanity. (Or, in the case of our churches, something of the Divine and transcendent.)
What if really good graffiti artists broke into one of our auditorium style “worship spaces” and created beautiful, devotional murals across the spare interior walls? (BUT - only if it was done as well as the above example.) I think the end result would be far more effective than the tons of yardage of colorful fabrics the liturgical designers - in charge of ”environment” - currently employ to enhance these so-called ”worship spaces” in contemporary Catholic churches.
(Forgive me that I’m not very good at posting pictures on this blog - I have to figure out how to do it without pushing my sidebar to the bottom of the page.)
February 4th, 2007 at 4:50 am
Pushing your sidebar to the bottom is caused by having images that are too wide for your text column.
After you have placed an image in your post, but before publishing, left click on the image from the top left corner and try to resize it.
A little box will show up that tells you the dimensions of the image in pixels.
Looking in “source view” at your page, I see that your Father Mychal Judge St Patrick’s Day Parade photo has a dimension of 200 pixels wide by 350 high:
February 4th, 2007 at 4:51 am
That should have been “left click on the image from the top RIGHT corner.”
February 4th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I usually post my text quite a few spaces below the photo. However, on different computers, the text sometimes still appears next to the photo if I haven’t placed it down far enough. Which sometimes causes the stuff on the side to go south…
February 4th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I generally put a “period” underneath photos to keep them away from the text. Only someone pretty neurotic would find fault with a little flyspeck on their monitor.
February 4th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Have you seen this graffitti artist’s work? He copied the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel on a ceiling of a restaurant (!) all done with spray cans.
http://www.paco-rosic.com/
Too bad it wasn’t done in one of the auditorium-type-churches.
And I agree, Paris IS wonderful. Have you seen the French-historian/novelist Elena Maria Vidal’s new blog, TeaAtTrianon.blogspot.com ?
February 4th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Georgette - that graffiti artist is a master! Thanks for the link.
In some of the ‘worship spaces’ I’ve been in, I often thought that stucco could be applied over the bricks with fresco or mosaic applied - even in an artificially deteriorated manner, as if it were peeling away from the wall and only remnants of the original were visible.
Anything but those reams of fabric banners.
Thanks for your comments. How’s it going in your exile?
February 5th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I’m glad you liked that graffitti artist. Isn’t he just amazing? I think God’s got plans for him…he just doesn’t know it yet.
“Exile” is nice, actually. LOL It is good to be able to surf around at leisure to yours and everybody else’s blogs, without having the obligation of writing on my own!!
I’m glad you found Tea At Trianon very insightful too. That lady is really amazing…in her faith (she had been a novice in Carmel til she was informed she didn’t have a vocation, but her Carmelite spirituality still is very strong)and in her writing. I’m so glad she finally got a blog herself…and that you and others are discovering her as well!
God bless you always,
Georgette