Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
If you didn’t meander through the streets from the Central Library to the Tobin Center last night, this evening brings another opportunity to experience the art, lights and sounds of Luminaria San Antonio 2014. Los Angeles-based La Santa Cecilia plays the main stage tonight. Had the opportunity to enjoy this group performing at the International Accordion Festival a couple of years ago. For a preview, watch the Tiny Desk Concert provided by National Public Radio.
So easy to be lazy about something when you know you have ten years to see it. Plus, I must confess, I feared Xavier de Richemont’s San Antonio Saga might be a sanitized, preachy-teachy version of San Antonio’s history.
But the painterly projections of the Algerian-born Frenchman are accompanied by music as they sweep masterfully across the façade of San Fernando Cathedral. The massive kaleidoscopic collages quiet the crowd, mesmerized by the colorful images dominating Main Plaza.
The Main Plaza Conservancy has made a major contribution to the downtown landscape with this installation, and the Archdiocese of San Antonio is wonderful to offer the Cathedral as a canvas for the light show four nights a week. A video is not the same as being there, but hopefully will convince you to drag everyone you know downtown for the admission-free show.
Inartistic graffiti scrawled on walls plagues most urban centers, and Lisboa is no exception. But Lisboa also has an abundance of interesting street art, some volunteer and others authorized through a program called Galeria de Arte Urbana.
For some reason, I take comfort in the words “Every idiot should serve a purpose.” Hey, I try.
To see urban art from other cities featured on this blog, click here.
July 26, 2013, Update: Street-art photographer Stephen Kelley explores Lisbon for Huffington Post.
Postcards from Barton Springs 