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

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Bubbles

Bubbles Mural street art Nashville

Many people have seen the hemp mural by Mobe Oner (No of course it’s not marijuana! Why would you think that?) on Gallatin on the north side of the CBD oil dispensary LabCanna. Less visible is the much larger mural on the backside of the building, done around the same time. This mural has many artists, including Mobe Oner but also Chris “Zidekahedron” Zidek and Folek, and apparently others. There are some signature tags on the west side (see detail below). The bespectacled man with the two laser-eyed kittens on his shoulder is Bubbles, part of the cast of the Trailer Park Boys, something of a multi-media comedy crew. I’m calling this hidden art just because you’re unlikely to see it if you don’t drive down the alley behind LabCanna. There’s a lot of art in town found in less visible places.

Bubbles mural graffiti street art NashvilleBubbles mural graffiti street art NashvilleBubbles mural graffiti street art Nashville

Located at 1006 Gallatin Ave. There is parking in front and behind, as well as on side streets.

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Eat Like a Champion

Fish & Pig mural street art Nashville

Sometimes art can be near a very busy spot and still be a little hidden. This piece by @maczorgan apparently went up in August 2017 and lies on a very busy stretch of Charlotte I drive down a lot. But, it faces away from Charlotte. Had I not had to take a detour, I would not have seen it. I thought about titling this post based on some riff about lipstick on a pig, but I couldn’t figure how to get the catfish in. So I went with The Ridge’s slogan instead. The Ridge is a primarily a pork barbeque and fried catfish place, but they have other stuff as well, like fish tacos. I can personally vouch for their Mexican street style corn.

Located on 333 54th Avenue North, just south of Charlotte Avenue. Technically, the mural is on the property of the Citgo next door, which is on the corner of 54th and Charlotte. There is street parking on 54th and parking at The Ridge, so grab some grub and enjoy the art!

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Get your tickets!

Tickets mural street art Nashville

Sometimes, art sneaks up on you. I’ve driven by this wall of giant ticket stubs at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium/Musician’s Hall of Fame and Museum many times and it took a while for it to register as art. If you peruse the many, many articles out there about the “20 Murals You Must See In Nashville!” you’ll be hard pressed to find it. Yet given all the concertgoers who pass by it, it has definitely been in a lot of Instagram shots. Indeed, it seems a little unnatural to post a daytime photo of it because nighttime is when people usually saddle up next to it for a photo, though Nashville Ballet was there in the daylight a couple years ago for some publicity shots. The mural seems to have gone up probably in 2016 and certainly wasn’t there in 2013. The oldest ticket shown is from an April 4, 1965 Peter Paul & Mary show, while the newest is a Lady Antebellum ticket for a February 22, 2012 show. Both are found in the collum next to the doors,  near the top. The mural is printed, not painted. There are individual giant stubs inside.

Tickets mural street art Nashville

Tickets mural street art Nashville

Located at 417 4th Avenue North. The mural actually faces James Roberston Parkway, on the auditorium’s east side. This is downtown, so parking is nearby, none of it free.

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El Metate

Mexican Restaurant street art mural Nashville

Ordinarily, I try to put the full art experience in the header photo and put the details in photos down below. But the art on El Metate Authentic Mexican Restaurant is placed in a way that makes that impractical. Here, artist José F. Vargas gives us a romanticized scene of Old Mexico. Just below, on the windows, are images of actual metates, the traditional curved stones used in Mexico and Central America to grind corn and seeds. On another window, there’s a simple cactus, and around the corner, you’ll find a beach scene. Vargas’s signature is hard to see, but it’s in the lower right, just behind the woman in the mural. And includes his phone number!

Located at 1805 Dickerson Pike. There’s plenty of parking, so fill up on tacos and enjoy the art!

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Windows and rooms

Abstract mural street art Nashville

This one has been up for a while, and I photographed it ages ago, but I had mistakenly filed it as something I had already blogged about. Certainly, anyone who walks down Church Street anywhere near Fifth is going to have seen it. It’s a Nashville Walls Project sponsored piece, done by the Mexican artist Favio Martinez, who goes by Curiot. (Learn a little more about him here – his own page doesn’t have biographical information.) There’s no title for this work, but Curiot makes clever use of the building’s features in a way that suggests windows into strange rooms and landscapes, hence the title for this blog post. I have seen it misattributed to Rone, who did not this one but the one right next to it featured in Forget the past.

Located at 530 Church Street. There’s a parking lot right in front (common for downtown art), but like most of the nearby parking, it is not free. There is free parking for patrons of the downtown branch of Nashville Public Library which is just down the street to the east, but you need validation. So do some research and enjoy the art!

 

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Sing, sing, sing

R&B portraits mural street art Nashville

These Thaxton Waters portraits on the boarded-up building on Jefferson across from Knock-Out Wings have been there for a while. I remember posting to them to Facebook well before I started this blog two and a half years ago. However, for the longest time, there has been a “No Parking” sign plastered across Ray Charles’s face, which is finally gone. Alongside him are James Brown, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. I think Franklin was still alive when these portraits went up, but now the mural serves as a memorial for all of them. They are very much in the style of other portrait murals Waters has done, such as those featured in Heroes (Norf Wall gallery, part 11) and A Soul Break. I’ve included the whole building in this photograph because I think the artistic experience requires it. Hanging in a gallery, these would still be great portraits, but the experience would be quite different.

Located at what is probably 1307 Jefferson Street, though there is no number. Street parking is available across the street. And you can always enjoy the art after grabbing some grub at Knock-Out Wings!

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El Nuevo Amanecer

Bar mural street art Nashville

The new dawn – that’s what El Nuevo Amanecer means. An interesting name for a bar, particularly since it’s not clear it’s even a going concern. Their Facebook page shows that they had a couple of shows last year, but nothing since September. The only review is from someone complaining about the noise. And this site that keeps track of business licenses lists Nuevo Amanecer as “Inactive Dissolved.” The artist is also mysterious. While I would guess whoever did this is likely one of the artists who specialize in decorating Latino businesses, those artists not only usually sign their work but add their phone number as well, in case you want to hire them. There’s nothing on this one. Given this is just a few blocks from the future soccer stadium, I imagine some developer will snatch it up soon enough. Get your selfies soon.

Located at 398 Rosedale Avenue. This is at the corner of Nolensville Road, along the 2200 block behind Restaurante El Paraiso. There is plenty of parking.

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