Search

nashville public art

Nashville murals, street art, graffiti, signs, sculptures and more

Open Search
Category

Murals

R. Crumb and Pink Tags at Cahal

Cahal Graffiti Nashville Street art

The building at Cahal and Gallatin has been empty and unused for some time. It’s attached to The Cobra Bar (which itself has some murals) and has had its share of minor graffiti tags. This large installation went in sometime back in the spring. Its longevity is uncertain, for the building is for sale, and presumably, future owners will want to brand the building in their own way. For that matter, these kinds of installations are generally not thought of as “permanent,” even in the sense that word usually means in the mural world, which is only kind-of-sort-of permanent. It carries tags from the UH Crew and may include the work of others. The large banner at the top on the black wall reads “Under Hypnosis.”

Cahal Graffiti mural Nashville street art

One interesting feature is the inclusion of three figures (and one human head) based on the work of Robert Crumb, often known simply as R. Crumb, which is how he signs his work. The one image of his that people are most likely to know is the “Keep on Truckin’” man, a figure who leans back at an extraordinary angle as he walks, with one leg jutting far forward. Crumb’s work has been thought of as revolutionary, but also has been very controversial. Not surprisingly, the homage here is pretty tame. It can be seen from Gallatin Road, after all.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cahal Graffiti mural Nashville street art

Located at 2521 Gallatin Avenue, at the corner with Cahal Avenue. The black mural faces north towards Cahal, and the pink mural faces east, on the opposite side from Gallatin. Parking is available in a lot beside the building.

0

Re-Spun – The Big Shirt Mural

Re-Spun Mural Nashville street art

This mural, which dates back to last April and is found in the heart of 12 South,  took a little research because it’s unsigned. It looks something like the style of a couple of artists I know, but I struck out with them. I just had to wait for the Google crawlers to do their thing and index the right page. Turns out it’s by a California artist who bills himself as The Hyste. He does a lot of signage, and so a fair amount of his work is unsigned. That the artist is from California makes some sense because the mural is on the side of the local branch of the Califonia-based clothing line Marine Layer. Re-spun (the words in the upper left of the mural)  is a line of theirs of t-shirts made from other recycled t-shirts. (Warning: There’s an autoplay video on that link.) This explains the jokey tags on the big mural shirts.

“Made from 43% Country Music Hall of Fame souvenir shirts.”

“Made from 23% old 80s hair band concert tees.”

“Made from 14% Vote for Pedro shirts.”

“Made from 17% free shirts from an energy drink hype squad.”

I can tell you I have none of those teeshirts.

This is actually an example of a national chain retail store putting a mural on their building, though it’s not as surprising as when Kroger did it. I’ll believe that corporate America is fully on board with public art when all the local Walmarts are done up in murals.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Located at 2705 12th Avenue South. This is 12 South, so a lot of available parking is paid, though side streets are generally free (but give a thought to local residents when you park on those streets).

0

NLGOY – Anderson Group

NLGOY Anderson mural Nashville street art

I’ve written about the one on Nolensville Pike. I’ve written about the one in 12 South. And now it’s time for the one on 21st Avenue South, the one at The Anderson Group, a real estate agency. All three are by the same artist, who signs his work  NASH.TN. On one level, they are quite similar – black background and white text, a simple message, the artist’s signature, and his Instagram account. But each has its own features. The Nolensville Pike version is much larger, includes an outline of Tennessee, and has some subtle graffiti art as well. The 12 South and 21st Ave versions both have the white box, which the one on Nolensville doesn’t, but 12 South is the wider of the two and usually has a lot of tourists, while the one on 21st Avenue is dramatically curved, and mostly is a backdrop for real estate agents, not tourists. And I have recently learned that there is at least one more outdoor version (there are also at least a couple indoor versions) in East Nashville that its own unique features. Sometimes limitation is a powerful spur for creativity. They are also all now un-bannered. For some time after the March tornadoes, “Nashville” was replaced with a banner reading “Volunteering,” but those came down for good earlier this summer. I imagine that by the time I write about the East Nashville one, another will have appeared.

UPDATE: And here’s one at Marathon Village.

Located at 2313 21st Ave South, at the corner with Sunset Place. I doubt if the Anderson people mind if you park in their lot to take a picture, but they might try to get you to list your house while you’re there!

0

Kobe and Gianna Bryant (The Nations)

Kobe Bryant Mural Nashville street art

There are now at least three Kobe Bryant memorial murals in town – the ones featured in Strength and mourning and Kobe Bryant (Nolensville Pike), and also this one, by Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun, at the branch of Red Bicycle Coffee on 51st Avenue.  Like the Nolensville one (by José Fernando Vargas), it also features Gianna Bryant, Kobe’s daughter, who was one of the seven other people killed in that January helicopter crash. Also, like the Nolensville piece, this one features a quotation from Bryant. There’s also a wide geographic dispersal of the three, with one at Lafayette and 2nd close to the city’s inner core, another well south near Nolensville and Harding, and this one on the west side of town in The Nations, at Red Bicycle. It’s interesting that of all the celebrity deaths, this one has inspired so much art in Nashville.

Kobe Bryant Mural Nashville street art

Aka-Bashorun’s work should be familiar to anyone who has participated in the Downtown First Saturday Art Crawl. His gallery, DBO Gallery, which features his work and that of others, is in The Nashville Arcade, where many galleries featured in the crawl are found. One his Instagram page, you can watch a time-lapse video of him creating this mural.

Kobe and Gianna mural Nashville street art

Located at 712 51st Avenue North. The mural is on the north side of the building, facing Indiana Avenue. Red Bicycle has some parking, and a little further east on Indiana, there is street parking available. The strip of parking across the street from the mural is private.

0

One Way

One Way Mural Nashville street art

Apparently, the Berry Hill Square shopping center has been having some trouble in its parking lot. The entrance off Thompson Lane is a little oddly designed, so it wouldn’t be surprising if traffic flow weren’t some kind of issue. So what’s the answer? Build a fence right at the entrance, and get a muralist to paint it. Or how about two, or even three? This mural is signed by Tarabella Aversa, and it features large images of lush flowers found in some of her other work, such as the murals featured in Flowers of Walden. But she must have gotten help from WHAT.Creative Group (Jake and Hana Elliot), as their signature is on the bottom as well. This went in back in February, and if you compare an image from back then to the mural now, it’s obvious it’s taken a little damage. One of the hazards of being in the middle of a parking lot, no doubt. Somebody probably backed into it.

Located at 718 Thompson Lane, right in front of the Applebee’s, and across the street from Guitar Center. It’s in a parking lot, so of course parking nearby is available.

0

Beer Strong (New Heights Brewing)

New Heights Mural Nashville street art

How can a mural on a little-used side street be seen by thousands of people every day? If that little-used street faces the interstate. Up on a knoll along Carrol Street, this Eastside Murals work faces I-40, on the south side of the downtown loop, at the very north end of Chestnut Hill. I only knew of it recently because I’ve been staying home a lot and I stay off Nashville interstates as much as I can under any circumstances. Because of the tight sightlines, it’s impossible to get a traditional straight-on photograph. I took the photo at the bottom of this post from across the interstate, through a fence (near Mulberry and 5th). If it looks a little fuzzy, it’s because I blew it up a great deal.

New Heights Mural Nashville street art

The mural features the logo and motto of New Heights Brewing Company. New Heights was founded by people who came from San Diego, CA, and the logo includes not only the Nashville skyline (with its iconic Batman Building), but also San Diego’s North Park Water Tower. The Chestnut Hill neighborhood New Heights is in of course has its own iconic water tower, at 4th and Chestnut. The mural doesn’t actually lie on New Heights’ building, which is located about half a block away down 5th Avenue. The building it is on, which has a large three-dimensional sign in its front yard that says “GPI,” is currently vacant.

New Heights Interstate

Located at 915 5th Ave South. The mural faces Caroll Street, facing north towards downtown. It’s most easily accessed using either 6th Ave South coming from downtown, or coming from Oak Street, off of 4th Avenue South. Street parking on Carrol is prohibited, but for the moment you can park in front of the GPI building.

0

Spread Love

Spead Love Mural Nashville street art

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a Music City Murals work found a little hidden away at the Capitol View project in a post I called Riding!. This is another of their works, just around the corner and much more visible. Unlike the “Riding!” mural, this one is signed, not just by Music City Murals, but also specifically by one of their artists, Anthony Billups. I had seen this mural on social media a few times in the last few months (it was put up back in January), but perhaps because Capitol View is not completely rented out and Google still hasn’t fully incorporated this massive project into its maps, folks were a little vague as to where to find it. If you think of the downtown Publix on Charlotte as the “front” of the building in question, this is on the “back,” on Nelson Merry Street, next to the entrance of the Residences at Capitol View.

The hands incorporate several Nashville icons, such as the State Capitol, the Batman Building, Nissan Stadium, and the Sheraton Hotel with its distinctive round top. The imagery certainly lends itself to the message of “Spread Love,” as the mural is titled. Billups himself used it in a heartfelt post about Nashville’s resiliency in the face of the March 3 tornadoes. When I went to photograph it, I had to wait for a couple who seemed to be clearly taking engagement photos in front of it (Mazel tov!). No doubt it will be the backdrop for many similar photos.

Spread Love Hands mural Nashville street art

Located at 1015 Nelson Merry Street. You can access free parking (meant for the businesses in the building) off the alley on the east side of the building, towards the State Capitol. Some street parking is available.

0

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑