by Katie
Local artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer has been under fire for painting a mural that neighbors find distasteful on a Bloomingdale house. The subject, known as Boxer Girl, is a 34-foot-tall black woman in shorts, a tank top, and boxing gloves. Her arms are raised triumphantly, and she bears black eyes and contusions on her face. She is powerful and somber, even as the mural is vividly colorful. I think it’s awesome.
Unfortunately, some neighbors disagree, and they’ve brought the news and the blogs and the homeowner and the artist in to hear their objections. The City Paper’s Housing Complex blog wonders what the fuss is, as do I. In the news segment posted there, detractors object to… seeing the mural, and the fact that she’s not smiling. (More on that in another post.)
Though I feel a little bad for the old lady whom Boxer Girl watches wherever she goes in her house (must get weird in the bathroom), I’m mostly impressed by self-important people’s ability to turn something they gripe about into news.You know what else is also awful? Mosquitoes! I’m going to petition the Earth to produce fewer mosquitoes in the vicinity of my front yard.
How sad that some people are so obsessed with controlling other people’s expression that they can’t appreciate something so cool and energizing. Either Marissa from The Anti DC has secretly always been right about everyone here being a self-important asshole, or she’s got a bright future in giving curmudgeonly interviews about things she doesn’t like. At least she has reasons!
(image via Lisa Marie’s site)
