observing san diego-tijuana urban life 
In the forgotten back streets of Tijuana, Rod Villa’s angular geometric forms and the wide eyes of his characters beckon. The bold, heavy lines of their plaintive faces convey the gravitas of woodcut engravings, leaving a lasting impression. A prolific street artist, Rod Villa Osuna has been painting large-scale murals […]
Last winter, Jay Porter of the Linkery was issued a citation by the City of San Diego’s neighborhood code compliance office for maintaining graffiti on a public wall on their property. The only problem–the offending piece was a commissioned, large-scale work. Not illegal. In fact, Jay Porter commissions artists to […]
One thing that he’s learned, says local artist Crol, is “intention.” When he was 13, local San Diego-based artist Isaias Crow, or Crol, started tagging and bombing his hometown streets of El Paso, Texas. “My intention was, ‘I’m gonna F-ing ruin this space.’ Like I had this very dark energy […]
Contemporary architecture tends to get a bad rap in San Diego. The city lost another piece of contemporary architecture just last month when one of San Diego State University’s most iconic buildings—the historic Aztec Center designed in 1964 by Mosher & Drew Architects—was leveled. For its new student center, SDSU […]
In the poorest colonias along the border in Tijuana, everywhere there are traces of ingenuity and the sparks of creativity born of necessity. This is the vision Maria Teresa Fernandez brings us in her new show at Art Produce Gallery on University Avenue in North Park. “Architects by Force” documents […]
This piece was originally published in San Diego CityBeat San Diego – In downtown El Cajon, empty storefronts stare out at the street. Despite massive public and private investment in the city’s urban development during the past 20 years, growth on Main Street is creeping too slowly for some. Yet others […]
What can you do with a Geo Prism? Tim O’Neill asked his friend Eyemax Threedee to use it as a canvas. So I went over to the parking lot next to Queen Bees Art and Cultural Center today to hang out with Eyemax Threedee and Tim O’Neill while Eyemax finished […]
Originally published in San Diego CityBeat May 24, 2011 by Jill Holslin The UCSD campus can feel really gray. Widely celebrated for its cutting-edge architecture and world-class collection of conceptual art, the campus can also feel “too high-techie” and “too modern,” students say. Concerned for years about low enrollment of […]
by Jill Holslin There’s some new color on Iowa Street this week. A couple of weeks ago, a crew of artists threw up some scaffolding and covered the Thrift Trader buildings on 3937 and 3939 Iowa Street in San Diego’s North Park with vibrant graffiti pieces. And so, our already […]
