Halloween or not, my partner Sara and I have long called our basement the “dungeon.” Dark, damp, and dirt-floored, it’s one place in our house we’ve tried to avoid—a space only the seriously undead would want to endure on any remotely regular basis.
So when I returned from Pennsylvania this weekend to find our cellar transformed by Sara’s new found fascination with graffiti, I couldn’t decide for a moment if this was trick or treat—street art alive and well on the walls of our basement or some sad graffiti-ed commentary meant merely to mask the grit, grime, and ugly that had been our dearly departed dungeon.
Having gathered family stories that have haunted me for decades and survived the earliest winter snow storm Pennsylvania has seen in nearly a century, I’ll let you be the judge.
While I was gone on a memoir, fact-finding mission, Sara, along with my nephew Drew, covered the dirt floor with pea gravel, sorted the junk, and left the walls Halloween-ing a new, street-art-inspired look:
Yesterday, Sara even got me in on the graffiti transformation:
Just as Halloween is a great equalizer, reminding the living how they’re haunted by death, so graffiti brings art out onto the street and into the gutters, to ordinary people who might never darken the doorway of a gallery or museum. Though Halloween has long been associated with vandalism, graphic or otherwise, the street art revolution has elevated the tagging of city streets to, perhaps, the most exciting and powerful movement the art world has seen in centuries.
Perhaps, it’s this that Sara has brought to our “dungeon” in time for the Halloween holiday, masking what we’d deemed terminally ugly with the stunning studio of graffiti-ed streets.
(To read posts I wrote about street art in Haiti click here and here.)
Banksy, look out!
Your street art looks like the real deal to this New Yorker.
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How funny. Sara will certainly appreciate the comparison. And you should know, right?
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I want Sara to re-do my personal dungeon, and I am especially esxcited to hear your family stories!
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Thanks, Renee. I’ll send Sara your way once the snow melts and power is back on in your neck of the North. I’m excited to share details of my trip. Happy Halloween.
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it looks great. A most cheerful change.
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Thanks, Deb. I was certainly surprised. I share your approval with Sara, as she is pretty proud of the “transformation.”
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Haha! Love it. I think a black light is in order!
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How funny, Tori. I don’t dare mention that idea to Sara. Yikes!
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What a great idea! Love it!
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Thanks, Tara. I’m so glad you like it. It’s great to hear from you. Hope you are dong well. I know Mark misses you like mad.
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What fun! And I love the colours. 🙂
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Thanks, my dear. It was fun to come home to and even more fun to try myself–even it I wasn’t all that good in that particular medium. Hope you had a great weekend.
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Hope you two don’t decide to get in trouble this Halloween by dressing up the walls of Wall Street. 😉
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LOL I promise, Charlie, we’ll be on our good behaviour.
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Wow – to have a space where you can have this kind of artistic freedom is super. Looks like it was great fun!
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It was fun. I suspect most people can find a place to do this sort of thing. They just don’t have the guts–or the stupidity, for that matter. You should try it.
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Wow, your basement is such an interesting space. The farmhouse where I grew up had a cellar like this. How does it feel down there now after graffiti-izing it?
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I can promise it feels better having the graffiti. Granted it’s still a faily dungeon-like space, but now, at least, it’s interesting, as well. Thanks for reading, Sandy.
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Great pics!
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Thanks so much. Glad you like them. Hope you’ll come back.
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What a brilliant idea! I’m half tempted to transform my own dungeon…only I don’t have a dungeon to transform, and I’ll be damned if I’m spray painting the living room…
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So you’re implying that your living room is your dungeon–one in need of a makeover? No need to change it by using graffiti. Just grab a gallon of latex and get painting. Color alone will help.
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These are very lovely. Colorful. Brilliant!
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I’m so glad you like them, Jay. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for subscribing. Hope you’ll come back soon. Have a great week.
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Crazy how “easy” it is to transform a space, and retransform as needed. What an interesting surprise to come home to!
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You’re right. It was, indeed, interesting, especially since I didn’t have a clue, and she didn’t hint at anything at all like this over the phone. It was fun, for sure. Thanks for reading, Rose–though I don’t think this is one of those days you said you were going to allow yourself to comment. But, it is good to hear from you, selfishly, I might add.
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How’d I know you’d catch that? 🙂
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Ah, you’re getting to know me too well.
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Dungeon no more! That graffiti sure brightens up the place.
The basement in my apartment building is very scary, complete with a big, loud boiler room and bare, flickering light bulbs. Sara to the rescue! Please!
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Sara would be happy to return to New York, where she used to live, for a dungeon renovation. I’ll get her right on it. LOL
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The new digs look great! It’s amazing what a bit of colour can do to liven up the place… literally and figuratively! (No more tales from the crypt coming from your dungeon)
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I’ve determined one thing for sure. If the place is bad enough, then even minimal changes have a massive impact. Our space is still bad, but, at least, you can’t help but notice the graffiti.
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I love it!
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Thanks Robin. I’ll tell Sara. I think she did a great job.
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Cheerful and fresh…I love bursts of creative energy like this!
Do you know about the Halloween room at the Biltmore Estate? Cornelia Vanderbilt (daughter of Edith and George), threw a fabulous party during the twenties that resulted in the painting of the brick walls in the cavernous basement. It’s still there, and it’s fabulous: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/images/biltmo17.jpg
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What an amazing story. No, I know notinging about it. Thanks so much for the link. I will share it with Sara, as well.
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So creative!
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Thanks so much, Char. Hope you’ll come back sometime soon!
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