In DT Jersey City, where our design studio is, one can see a nice smattering of old hand-painted murals. Most of these have faded but they all have a story and represent yet another craft trade that has nearly become extinct, falling to technology, innovation and the almighty dollar.

The documentary, "Up There" by Malcolm Murray and presented by Stella Artoise really captures the emotion, pride and sheer hard work that goes into these massive paintings.

A poignant quote from the documentary:

"They (vinyl mural guys) can't print what we paint. They print in pixels you know...they mix colors optically...little dots...little dots...you know blue and yellow together make green but we paint green so we can make it a lot richer."

This quote reminds me of just how watered down our society has become when it comes to "richness, detail and texture." Digital and analog audio (CD's & cassette tapes) replacing records and digital pixels replacing 35MM film are other examples of how we have given up tone, highlights and image quality for convenience, cost and ease. Dont' get me wrong, most of these technological advances are great, especially the new Quad HDTV's but in my opinion some of these new forms of multimedia are actually steps back but are seen by the masses as huge steps forward.

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Sky High Murals

The Ritual Project