Fri 9/18 @ 5PM
Recently, former graffiti artist Victor Ving and his girlfriend, photographer Lisa Beggs, pulled into Cleveland in their RV, which they parked behind Loren Naji’s studio/gallery in Ohio City. Their goal: to pain a blank wall on Chatham Avenue just off W. 25th, across the street from the Naji Gallery.
Since starting the project, called the “Greetings Tour,” last year, the duo has been to eight locations, including Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Canton, Ohio. At each stop, Ving creates an image based on the old tourist postcards that said “Greetings from … and depicted local landmarks in the lettering of the city’s name.” Ving and Beggs work with local artists and others to raise funding, determine the images to go in the letters and do some of the actual painting (Naji will be painting a letter). In Cleveland, they have partnered with Graffiti HeArt.
Originally, Ving said, he used spray paints a la graffiti art but has now progressed to hand painting much of the images. He began work in Ohio City on Mon 9/14 and will be finished by Fri 9/18 to dedicate the mural. Festivities begin at 5pm at the mural site at the corner of W. 25th and Chatham, one block south of the West Side Market. The unveiling takes place at 5:30.
Afterward there will be a rooftop fundraiser, sponsored by Graffiti HeArt, at the nearby Cleveland Hostel to support scholarships for financially challenged students to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art. Minimum donations is $50. For more information on that, go to Graffiti HeArt.
Cleveland, OH 44113
Cleveland, OH 44113