Painting over the cracks - When good isn't enough

I saw a mural being painted on one of my feeds today. It was by no means bad, and i do not write this to disparage the artist, but it stood out to me as an example of this; What art has become to those granting government grants and sitting on town councils, and by extension what art is becoming in the everyday eyes of the many, either by design or accident.

It was an inoffensive piece of design, clean geometric patterns, bright happy colours, no soul or statement, no voice, no link to an area, awareness of heritage, or even a nod to reality. Now sure there are times when that's exactly what the brief calls for, just a little dash of colour and composition to add a touch of life to grey walls. But more often than not the volume of those large public spaces could be turned to amplifying something real.

It doesn't have to be some doom and gloom statement on our own impending extinction, i'm not asking anyone to make the commuters views more bleak as they pass by grey walls, clouds, and faces. But if you want to add beauty to an area then do so whole heartedly, with an awareness of the place in which that artwork sits, with knowledge of the fact that beauty is only truly made so by its contrast and fragility.

These murals of empty colour and form feel like someone just telling you to be happy, yet without actually giving you a reason to be so. They feel like art by committee, attempting to speak in so many voices they say nothing at all. They water down what art could be, what art is, truth. The truth of the foundations cracks are still present no matter how many layers of emulsion you throw atop them, painting a wall green doesn't replant the trees cut down to build it, and no amount of geometric pattern work can make up for the systems patterns that limit growth and social mobility.

The walls should speak to us of an area and its life, not obfuscate its challenges and its beauty in 21st century glamourflage.

I'd rather see flowers hung than faux joy foisted upon us.