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psykosis · 10-30-2009, 05:54 AM

I was walking around town, admiring the fall colors, when I stumbled on some hearts painted on a sidewalk and railing. Found some more later. So now I'm working on a photo series as I find them. Here's a taste:

seamaiden · 10-30-2009, 06:29 AM

These are great! A refreshing break from the all too common Fuck You, Fuck off, Fuck This, Fuck That graffiti that pollutes our daily vision. Hope you find more.

thirdsun · 10-30-2009, 09:45 AM

Cool! Thanks for sharing these!

psykosis · 10-30-2009, 12:12 PM

spotted more today, but I don't have my camera with me (plus it's raining out). Going back tomorrow to shoot them when I have more time and the weather should have cleared.

paddyjoe · 10-30-2009, 04:32 PM

real good photos!

nice thread......

dlish · 10-30-2009, 07:03 PM

maybe its a trail leading somewhere?

i hope it didnt end on that ledge though...

interesting thread

Lady Bear Cub · 11-26-2009, 04:16 PM

That's really neat. I wonder what the story is behind them.

LoganSnake · 11-26-2009, 08:09 PM

Reminds me of the stuff my friend and I did around Chicago.

Magpie_1 · 11-27-2009, 07:40 AM

Well that's fun. Wish we knew why they were painted.

little_tippler · 11-28-2009, 06:35 AM

how interesting. And great photos too, thanks for sharing!

psykosis · 12-11-2009, 07:55 AM

Still have no idea who or why. I seem to have missed a few though, and the blizzard I'm living in right now is not conducive to walking around and finding them.

Here is an article about the hearts from the local paper:

Quote:

Northern People: Someone hearts TC

Graffiti shows up everywhere -- who's behind it?
By vanessa Mccray

TRAVERSE CITY -- Mystery cupid, who are you?

You let loose a quiver full of spray paint, covering Traverse City in graffiti hearts. Are you young or old; working alone or with a lover/accomplice?

Hey, are you that girl from grade school? The one who dotted all her 'i's with hearts?

Whoever you are, people are noticing your signature symbol scattered across the city's facades.

You painted a single blue heart on a drinking water fountain at State and Union streets. There's a flock of hearts taking wing in a downtown doorway. A cement building in a field off Barney Road is plastered with them. And, on a flesh-colored brick wall, a lone red heart tops a fire hydrant, like a tattoo just above a waistband.

Your hearts vary in size and color but are similar in design. Each is elongated, as if stretched from its "m"-shaped top to the "v"-shaped point. The recent invasion prompted some to ask who you are and if your work is art or vandalism.

"They would be considered graffiti, and it is illegal to do. If you have the building owner's permission then it might be different," said Loyd Morris, the city's code enforcement officer.

So technically, dear heart, you could be in some trouble. City police received two or three complaints from targeted downtown businesses. Morris fielded calls from the curious who have seen the shapes on public and private property.

"It's not like they are, you know, bad words or anything like that. They are just little hearts," Morris said.

He still wishes you would stop.

Rebecca Vander Sys also is intrigued. She has a studio and gallery in the Warehouse District that you tagged with a trio of florescent hearts. They appeared mysteriously overnight at least a month ago. She spotted black hearts in other places and wondered if meant anything that hers were vibrantly hued.

"I'm cool, so mine are colored?" she mused.

She's thankful you didn't get paint on a bench beneath the wall you sprayed, but she'd like to know what the hearts mean. Vander Sys knows it's not a gang sign, or "not a bad gang, anyways. A love gang."

You were pretty busy in the Warehouse District. Mike Curths of InsideOut Gallery discovered your work, a large panel of primary colored hearts, on an outside wall he reserves for "invitation-only" graffiti. This guy knows graffiti. His gallery is dedicated to outsider and street art and pop surrealism. He admires the medium as "political statement" as well as art, but even he doesn't know who you are.

Curths' reaction is complicated. He respects your moxie, but thinks you're "too cutesy."

"I am not real happy with all the hearts on the side of my building," he said. "If somebody in the middle of the night would have done just an amazing tag I would have probably (said) 'Wow.'"

Still, Curths said maybe the town should just embrace it, make the heart a symbol of Traverse City, so long as it doesn't "get out of hand."

"The heart thing, I think it's kind of fun. I've only noticed them on smaller items, on bridges. At least it's a heart not a hand grenade," he said.

That's a common observation. Chris Rogers of Traverse City blogged about the phenomenon, which he first noticed in a plaza off East Front Street.

Since then, he has spotted the hearts frequently. Like others, he said your creations straddle "a fine line."

"I think it adds an interesting texture, and, fortunately, they are hearts and something not more controversial," he said.

10-30-2009, 05:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
psykosis Tilted Location: Under a shitpatty in the field of life	Follow Your Heart I was walking around town, admiring the fall colors, when I stumbled on some hearts painted on a sidewalk and railing. Found some more later. So now I'm working on a photo series as I find them. Here's a taste: __________________ One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching...

10-30-2009, 12:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
psykosis Tilted Location: Under a shitpatty in the field of life	spotted more today, but I don't have my camera with me (plus it's raining out). Going back tomorrow to shoot them when I have more time and the weather should have cleared. __________________ One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching...

10-30-2009, 07:03 PM	#6 (permalink)
dlish Currently sour but formerly Dlishs Super Moderator Location: Australia/UAE	maybe its a trail leading somewhere? i hope it didnt end on that ledge though... interesting thread __________________ An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay? - Filthy

11-26-2009, 04:16 PM	#7 (permalink)
Lady Bear Cub Crazy Location: north carolina	That's really neat. I wonder what the story is behind them. __________________ "I give myself very good advice, But I very seldom follow it, Will I ever learn to do the things I should?"

11-26-2009, 08:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
LoganSnake We work alone Location: Cake Town	Reminds me of the stuff my friend and I did around Chicago. __________________ Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

10-30-2009, 06:29 AM	#2 (permalink)
seamaiden Psycho Location: With the man of my dreams in Halifax Nova Scotia	These are great! A refreshing break from the all too common Fuck You, Fuck off, Fuck This, Fuck That graffiti that pollutes our daily vision. Hope you find more.

10-30-2009, 09:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
thirdsun rolls good	Cool! Thanks for sharing these!

10-30-2009, 04:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
paddyjoe through charlatans phone Location: Northcoast	real good photos! nice thread......

11-27-2009, 07:40 AM	#9 (permalink)
Magpie_1 Insane Location: Ontario, Canada	Well that's fun. Wish we knew why they were painted. __________________ "Art is what you can get away with." - Andy Warhol

11-28-2009, 06:35 AM	#10 (permalink)
little_tippler Leaning against the -Sun- Super Moderator Location: on the other side	how interesting. And great photos too, thanks for sharing! __________________ Whether we write or speak or do but look We are ever unapparent. What we are Cannot be transfused into word or book. Our soul from us is infinitely far. However much we give our thoughts the will To be our soul and gesture it abroad, Our hearts are incommunicable still. In what we show ourselves we are ignored. The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged By any skill of thought or trick of seeming. Unto our very selves we are abridged When we would utter to our thought our being. We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams, And each to each other dreams of others' dreams. Fernando Pessoa, 1918