Photos by ert o'hara

San Francisco was recently presented with a series of installations of life-size posters of doors and windows on abandoned buildings, an exhibition of sorts for the masses. The work created by Milwaukee-based artist Jeremy Novy, addresses the social issues caused by abandoned boarded-up buildings in the City of Milwaukee. The work is currently installed at 907 Post Street but his second installation at 1820 Market Street has already been buffed.

White walls...

The artist posits that once a neighborhood has one or two boarded-up houses in plain view, that things change. One's pride for one's neighborhood starts to diminish, and crime starts to climb since others know no one is going to tell them to get off their property since no one lives there. Things like drug dealing and prostitution move in.

This is an interesting tack for a street artist to take since this concept is the main thrust of practically every graffiti abatement program. It advocates removing any trace of artwork or tagging on anything, reasoning that leaving it up will only invite more contributions by other taggers and/or artists.

Who's right?

Stenciled door

Handpainted window

There are pictures of previous installations throughout Milwaukee as well as past maps of locations online at www.uwm.edu/People/jbnovy/publicArt.html.

Jeremy is currently working with IN:SITE on a larger storefront window to be installed in late April on the 3700 block of West North Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

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