Euclid car wash graffiti near Noble Rd, East Cleveland

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 18:38.

This image is on the remains of a building wall behind a car wash on Euclid in East Cleveland, Ohio, just east of Noble Road.

Euclid car wash graffiti near Noble Rd, East Cleveland
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hood fantasy

Seems to me there's a similar mural somewhere around Quincy and Woodhill. Something also on the verge of the fantasy realm, (a dragon?) with a long poem. I think the fly agaric mushrooms were in this one too, but I could be very wrong.

Have you seen the mural at the "Babe Wash"? Different kind of fantasy. I can't quite remember where that one is either...

Laura may know

Laura commented on the Woodhill Quincy mural saying that it was by Sano. This looks like his work, too. He moved to LA.

Considerable People Sano, Mural Master by Adam Skolnick  

Sketch. Fill. Outline. Highlight. This four-step approach lifts Sano into a Zen state where the battle scars of a struggling artist  — fade beneath paint clouds. In the past two years, he has collaborated with fellow artists on numerous “mostly legal” murals on buildings, retaining walls and freight trains throughout the city. The gritty yet positive images he gilds, such as a Hiroshima girl emerging from an atomic haze (GV4:Basic Techniques for Creating Graffiti Art on Walls and Canvas), “is my perspective on the truth,” says Sano. “Hopefully it helps people see that graffiti is not just gang tags.” 

Sano, who was born in an eclectic Cleveland neighborhood sandwiched between a ghetto and an arts district, grew up during graffiti’s golden age. “The ’80s was the Wild Style decade, when ‘writers’ distorted letters into urban hieroglyphics,” says Sano, who took on his moniker in 1985. “I thought it was a pretty abstract set of letters and thought I would define it as an acronym, now meaning ‘Simple Art Nice Outlines.’ Sometimes I write it in kanji [Japanese script] and it means ‘spiritual ground’ or ‘essential foundation.’” He counts old-school writers Vulcan and Kase 2, who were among the first to turn NYC subway trains into canvases, and European masters Klimt and Cézanne as influences. 

After gaining local notoriety by organizing Cleveland’s first hip-hop conference and graffiti workshop at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he moved to L.A. “to paint outdoors year-round.” To make ends meet, he also endeavors in graphic design, teaches graffiti workshops, including a recent seminar at SCI-Arc, and he was featured in Bob Bryan’s acclaimed film series, Graffiti Vérité. After 20 years of guerrilla art, Sano remains inspired: “It feels really good to paint big on any surface — wall, canvas or train. To put your ideas out there that big, that fast, is definitely a rush. It’s almost euphoric.” 
(Photo by Wild Don Lewis) 

Laura doesn't know

  But I know who to ask---I will get back to you.  But, really, can I say that I hate graffiti art?  Will I become uncool for saying so? When you live with it, it's not that exciting or edgy.  It's just noise.

MUSHROOMS IN EUCLID COULD BE SANO


Yes, the two murals - the one above and the one off Woodhill/Quincy - both have the mushroom motif and, could be by SANO,   The Woodhill piece could be 10 years old, but the Euclid car wash scene looked only a year or so old. 

 

What I read on Realneo about SANO, he hasn’t been around Cleveland for a decade – or does he visit from time to time and still need a color fix while he’s here – so he blasts off some anonymous lacquer. 

Was SANO a Cleveland Arts Prize candidate?

Ah, cool, yes -- that's the wall I was talking about. Didn't know you'd already posted about it.

The poem's shown (too small to read) in this pic.

...

Seems to me there's an old abandoned bakery with a lot of walls -- commissions or summer camp for burgeoning Young Artists?

I don't know

The Cleveland Arts Prize back in 1980s and 90s was before my time. Back then I just went to the awards ceremonies. I believe that unless someone won a prize then, they would have had to be renominated again and again annually. There was no online form then either.

Now SANO is in LA.

Now Young Park and Ezra Houser are in Toronto, or they were last I heard. Does anyone know? I can recall the early work of SAFMOD (subatomic frequency modulation overdose) here in Clevo. They were great. Here's a good interview with Young and Ezra from a missed publication Hotel Bruce (by our friened Marc Lefkowitz). The writer/interviewer is Chris Auerbach-Brown, a talented NEO composer. Hers's the exit interview from Coolcleveland.

SAFMOD's website now says this, "SAFMOD was founded in 1991 by dancer Young Park and percussionist Neil Chastain as a collaborative experimental fusion of music and dance. In 1993 the collaborative based itself in Cleveland, Ohio and Alexandra Underhill joined the artistic team. Adding her amazing talents of sculpture, costuming, and aesthetic style, the triad of music, dance, and visual artistry that SAFMOD is known for today became complete." They offer a link to Underhill and Chastain's group Pureplex, but Young Park is forgotten. There is also no mention of Sano.

Well in my book they may be gone but they are not forgotten. Sano left his mark though... Young left her mark on my muscle memory. The interviews are instructive for Cleveland leaders who wish to exploit creativity in NEO. Nurture creativity, retain the stories -- artists have to leave when they are starved out.

sano y salvo

The question of whether SANO was nominated was meant to be hypothetical, and was probably an unfair assumption.

Young and Ezra returned (for a moment) last weekend for the gathering in memory of Zoe Schultz (of SAFMOD.) I believe they're still in Toronto.

MUSHROOMS IN EUCLID COULD BE SANO

This is not a SANO mural. From the looks of the signature or tag in the lower right , it says CEPSONE. The whole wall looks to be done by him and would be the largest piece around that area. I don't think it was commissioned but i've seen other impressive work produced by him.  Just wanted to give credit where credit is due.  

THANKS GINA24 AND CEPSONE

It would be great if you could get photos of the other Cepsone blasts and put them up here on Realneo where they will be preserved and available for others to appreciate. 

These images ARE our Community Images - down behind the car wash, on the bridge beams, across the bricks... 

And if you would like any help, between me and others (Norm Roulet, Susan Miller, etc)  here on Realneo, I know you could get it.

just hit the contact link on any of our names and email us.

best,

jeff