THE GREATEST STREET ART IN THE WORLD is currently in Kingsland, Arkansas about 150 miles away from where I graduated from college. See it now, while you can. It is... Remarkable.
One of the things that I love about street art is its fleeting nature. The best street art is temporary. It is impermanent. It will quickly degrade, be altered, or simply fixed, which is what I expect will happen to the Johnny Cash silhouette that was leveled up by a talented and hilarious marksman.
I'm sure the city or the county will swoop in to fix the water tank pretty quickly. My advice to them would be don't.
Hear me out. Obviously, I know that something will need to be done, but what if they recognized the gift that this well-aimed artist gave them. This could easily be a tourism draw. When was the last time that Kingsland got this much attention? Probably not in my lifetime. Much like the response to Shepard Fairy's original Obama piece that he put on the side of a building in Washington, DC or literally ANY of Banksy's pieces anywhere in the world, people will travel to see them. This could be a boom for the local restaurants and other businesses. This is also the best shooting news to find it's way into the media in well over a decade. That has to appeal to a lot of Arkansans too.
I think they should make it a fountain of some kind: Install a collection tank on the ground to collect the stream. Install a pump to return the water to a fountain which could be installed in a compartment built in the water tank, behind The Man in Black. Water made Hot Springs, Arkansas famous.
It could totally work and I'd be willing to bet that the city could get a grant from the Walton Arts Foundation to pay to build and maintain the fountain. I really want to see this happen and if anyone in central Arkansas wants to take this project on, I would be willing. to help in whatever ways I can, including helping write your grant proposal.
Do you have other ideas of how the town could capitalize on its new recognition? Johnny Cash keeps on giving to his hometown.

https://lnkd.in/d625wpHz

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