We have a local artist, Isaiah Zagar, that works all over the city and makes these amazing Mosaic murals on the side of businesses, houses, etc. This is a local coffee house down the street from my house that has some work on the side. I admit that I’ve not gotten anything here yet. They tend to have these weird cleansing and wellness events so I’ve not strolled in but I go to the one that you can sort of see on the corner in the background called, B2. Mostly, I go to B2 because I love their prices, they’re fast, and they have soy everything available (even soy cream cheese omg!).
There are some copies of his work around town too. He also has a giant Magic Garden on South Street that is just amazing and something that pictures never do justice. – All the mosaics around town can be seen in this set -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindalunacy/tags/mosaic/ But also you can go directly to his Magic Garden Set here -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucindalunacy/sets/72157605289144103/
Thats awesome. It reminds me of the old Cuban part of town in Tampa where the earlier (pre-Castor) immigrants settled. There are tons of cafès and other businesses with that sort of colorful mosaic walls.
He and his wife spent a lot of time in Mexico and various Islands in the 60s. That’s where they got this inspiration. I really admire people who get a passion like this and just go with it their whole lives. In fact, when he moved back, they bought a lot of real estate on South Street, helped revitalize it, and save it from Bacon wanting to put the Interstate there.
You can tour his magic gardens for about $3, I think.
I want to go back sometime again now that I’m better with my camera. I also think it’d be a great place for portraits or even someone to do album cover art.
Local color is right! What a beautiful wall and equally beautiful rendering by your camera. I wish we had more stuff like that by local artists around Prague Town, but not so much.
I love how he mixes in found objects and mirrors to the wall to really make it shine. Check out the links of more of the work on my Flickr, you’ll be stunned! I know I was when I first began noticing it.
See JD’s comment about this guy. Philly seems to be lucky to always have some kind of art scene around. We also have all sorts of rules in place that make sure to keep art all over town. For example, anytime some major construction or renovation happens in the city, we have a law that says they must contribute some sort of public art to the city. That’s why you may notice a lot of Mural photos in my pictures on Flickr Philly has the most murals out of any city in the US and maybe the world from what I remember. We also have sculpture all over the city in random places too because of it.
I’ve been too shy and self conscious to find a local art scene. Plus, I have an inferior camera than most of those. Granted, I pride myself with being able to take decent photos with the lower quality cameras or film but people seem to prefer flashy/highly edited photography and that’s just not what I am interested in at all. I tend to prefer untouched work. More documentary style than glitz.