Adam: How do you feel about the Love Letter Project as you take the bus home?
Steve: I'm on Amtrak on the quiet car, trying to whisper and I got people complaining at me, "Your on the quiet car!" I say, "What" they repeat themselves louder, and I say, "Why are you yelling on the quiet car?" People just want a reason to be the police. Oh, the Love Letter? That's amazing. You notice how loud Philly sirens are? As loud as New York with NONE of the constant ambient noise NYC has. I'm trying to take a Philly ambulance on Amtrak quiet car, then you'll seeee. (The interview continues here)
Love Letter is a project by Stephen Powers with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and is sponsored by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. Generous support provided by the Brownstein Group and Septa.
Stephen J. Powers is a New York City artist who at one time wrote graffiti in Philadelphia and New York under the name ESPO ("Exterior Surface Painting Outreach"). He was most well known during the late 1990s for his conceptual pieces as well as his role as the editor and publisher of On the Go Magazine. He has shown at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, The 49th Venice Bienalle, The Luggage Store in San Francisco, and had his first museum solo show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in 2007. In 2003, He founded the Dreamland Artist Club and partnered with Creative Time to commission over 45 artists to paint signs and rides in Coney Island. This past summer he returned to Coney Island with Creative Time and opened The Waterboard Thrill Ride. As a 2008 Fulbright Scholar, Powers painted a love story in the streets of Dublin and Belfast. He lives and works in Manhattan.
To view more of the Philly murals, check here.
Interview and photography by Adam Wallacavage.
