Barely Human: psychylustro's Katharina Grosse

In case you don't know what that new graffiti is across from Boathouse Row, it's part of Katherina Grosse's joint venture between Amtrak and the Mural Arts Program. psychylustro, according to the German artist, is part of a need for day glo neon paint in order to "get close to people."

I know I won't make any friends in the Outsider Art community by saying this, but that's art speak for "I'm not talented enough to paint a good horse."

The installations involve spraying thousands of gallons of paint along Philadelphia's Amtrak and SEPTA lines in an effort to offer passengers a view of what amounts to the aftermath of a paintball battle or an Electric Run. It essentially covers our blighted corridors in bright colors to mask the squalor, much like the Favela Paintings in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. 

It looks kinda cool, like something from The Cell. But just think what this will look like in twelve months.

psychylustro is everything true talent hates: it's entitled, arrogant, and worst of all, its explanation is more creative than what anyone is actually looking at. But being an overrated artist is nothing new. Look at Zoe Strauss or Andy Warhol. 

What's truly disgusting about Grosse's work is that, in six months, it will no longer be maintained. Leaving our rail corridors lined with endless chemicals melting into the already polluted ground and views of fading pinks and oranges covering the trees and grass. All at a cost of nearly $300,000.

Way to think it through, Mural Arts and Amtrak. And thank you, Katherina Grosse, for using Philadelphia as your Third World canvas before retreating back to Europe. 

Mural Arts Program Paints Amtrak

Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program has teamed up with German artist Katharina Grosse to make Amtrak's journey through Philadelphia a little less bleak. Grosse has been legally tagging the line's corridor with a project called "psychylustro" thanks to $291,978 in contributions from various organizations including Amtrak itself.

It's an interesting enough idea. Amtrak's northeast corridor winds through some of the nation's most unsightly slums and industrial arteries. And it's high time that the Mural Arts Program ventures into new territories while revisiting their original vision: transforming blight through art.

But still, much like the Favela paintings of Brazil or similar efforts along Germantown Avenue's abandoned storefronts, "psycholustro" is art speak for hiding blight by jingling a set of shiny keys. People don't avoid Amtrak because of the view, they avoid it because of the cost.

Were Grosse's paintings to be maintained with the same level of effort that maintains the murals throughout the city, it might be worth the nearly $300,000 investment. But the paintings will not be applied with the same standard as other murals throughout the city, and after six months they'll be left to the elements. Perhaps if the Mural Arts Program pairs the exhibit with information about the city's huge collection of public murals, it may attract a bit of attention from passengers incidentally paying attention to the view.