The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
–Marcel Proust
One of the most powerful changes for humanity is to see the world with new perspective. Yes there is tingling excitement in experiencing the momentary splendor of aesthetic beauty but growth comes from changing preconceived notions. Art possesses the powerful ability to give humanity new eyes. It is with this in mind that Michael Owen, the creator and visionary behind the Baltimore Love Project, is working on a new series called “Explore”.
Although not a native of Baltimore, Michael is very much a product of Baltimore. He has made the city his home for the past 12 years, having landed here, like many others, for higher education and not quite able or ready to leave upon graduating. For the past decade, Michael has been working on the streets of Baltimore. He is not hawking something illegal, nor is he a vigilante with spray paint. Michael is commissioned to express ideas on wall-sized canvases. Michael is a professional mural artist. He has hustled enough that he is now implementing his own visions like the Love Project and Explore.
With a studio on the streets and the ambition to make provocative statements, Michael has experienced Baltimore in ways that few others have. Michael has taken flight from “Smalltimore.” He has expended his understanding beyond MICA, the Inner Harbor, Bolton Hill, and Station North. He has even gone beyond Canton, Fell’s, Mount Vernon and Hampden.
Michael knows that the city is not just the areas around the water and the Charles Street Corridor. He has seen beautiful pockets of greenery. (Anyone heard of Leakin park on the west side? Bigger than Patterson and Druid Hill combined.) He has seen that Pittsburgh is not the only town to have produced steel. He has seen that as a caucasian male he is actually a minority in Baltimore. He has seen that his emerging artist income far exceeds that of many in Charm City. Through experiencing the vast landscape of Baltimore, Michael knows himself differently and he knows the city differently.
“Explore” is an effort to share the city of Baltimore. Explore is an effort to share landscapes that many would not experience on their own. Explore is an effort to help people birth new eyes.
Much like the Love Project, Michael is seeking out walls spread geographically across the city. Once a wall is found he creates depth and nuance in the image by layering numerous brilliant colors in a graffiti-esqe fashion on the surface. The patches of vibrance appear to be revealed by peeling away the surface as he utilizes much of the native background in the canvas.
Each wall has an ethereal human figure created in the vibrant hues that seems to be floating in a vast unknown. Finally, to draw connections to the larger project, each wall contains one of the letters from the word “explore”. The combination of the colors, the technique, the content and the concept put out a strong appeal to look deeper.
Michael has put out a call to experience a city that he has come to know. His work is birthing not only new aesthetic gifts to Baltimore, but quite possibly something far more valuable — new perspective.
