This mural is at 34th Street and Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose, California. I have not found out who painted it yet.
My youngest and I had a good morning taking photos together and adventuring. I’ll post some of those photos the youngest took in the future.
As for now…
This is the 500th post here on 825mph.com!
And now, we are going to take a break.
Not sure for how long but we are going to disconnect from the digital world for a bit. We plan to keep adventuring, exploring San Jose and the surrounding area, and taking photos. We are just not going to be posting for a while. It’s time for a break. Breaks are the best way to provide space to contemplate. And it is time for some more contemplation.
Good Luck Forever is a mural by Taki Ryudaibori Kitamura and can be found in Japantown in San Jose on 7th Street. There is a good write up of the symbolism used here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cik4TLnJKsA/.
Leyendas de San José is a mural by the Timeless Art Collective formed by artists Steven Martinez, Eduardo Herrera, and Ariana Hansen. You will find it at Santa Cara and 19th Street in San Jose.
At first, my favorite part about this mural was the color and the artistry of it. Now however, after hours of internet searches, I am enjoying most the new things I am learning as I try to learn who these seven people are. Who are these people of San Jose, Leyendas – Legends, who made a difference by contributing to the culture of our society?
Below are a few words to give context to each individual chosen for this mural. These are oversimplifications and do not do the lives of these individuals justice. It is easier to find info online for some of these San Jose contributors than others. What I did find was fascinating and inspiring and I have enjoyed the trails and research and thoughts inspired that have resulted for me because of these searches. This art appreciation has turned into a history lesson and cultural appreciation experience for me.
Jesus Valenzuela – San Jose radio voice of KSJO Ricardo Santa Fe – Singer, musician, composer Daniel Valdez – Actor, musician, composer, activist Art Rodriguez – Author Jose Martinez – Lowrider culture legend Luis Valdez – Writer, actor, director, teacher, activist – this guy’s life should be a book and movie for sure Sonny Madrid – One of the founders of Lowrider Magazine, started by San Jose State University students
As a child seeing Lowrider Magazine for sale in stores I never knew that it was started here in San Jose. I had no idea that I was living in a Lowrider culture-generator that was represented in a national magazine, rather than the other way around.
I’m still learning more about these Leyendas de San José, enjoying the web searches. I look forward to seeing a mural for women Leyendas of San José and learning about their lives.
I asked DALL-E 2 to show me “downtown San Jose, California painting by Van Gough.” Here is what it created:
These are pretty good. I asked DALL-E to show me what murals in San Jose would look like if the murals were by Van Gough and it came up with these:
Interesting.
Here is one more that has nothing to do with Van Gough. The San Jose State University mascot downtown is the Spartans. I asked DALL-E, technically this is DALL-E2 that I have been working with, to show me a “photo of a Spartan soldier walking through San Jose, California” and it created this:
Ok, that was the fun with Artificial Intelligence for today. You can create your own at: https://openai.com/dall-e-2/
DALL-E 2, the artificial intelligence graphic software, is now free for all to use on the internet. It turns your text prompts into graphics. I asked it to show me a “downtown San Jose, California painting by Vermeer” and here is what the AI generated:
Pretty impressive! Vermeer is most famous for his Girl with a Pearl Earring. That is this one:
I asked DALL-E to show me what it would look like to see “the Girl with a Pearl Earring as a modern business woman portrait…” and it created this:
This mural is by Jacquelin de Leon (https://www.jacquelindeleon.com/). It is under Park Ave. on the Guadalupe River Trail and is really comforting to me.
Maybe this is why I am including so many photos and can not settle on fewer; I appreciate this comfort right now.
The artist said that this is inspired from being a kid in the bath with all of her sea animal toys and imagining herself in the sea with them all around her and then recently going to the ocean and wanting to sit in there with all of the sea animals (https://www.instagram.com/p/CdeHF4IPWbu/). That makes me smile.
