Brick Woman by Lady Pink

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She's a Brick (bah,bah,bah)House...

We first found a reference to this mural online. A little detective work and some time spent looking at street views on Google maps and we thought we had a good idea of where it was located. Eureka! We found this lady reclining along an underpass wall at the boundary of Braddock and North Braddock. Under the train bridge near 445 Library Street in Braddock, she rests a short distance uphill from the nation's first Carnegie Library.

We were somewhat fascinated by this mural. There must be some deep, social message in this. We see elements that hint to references of industry, ecology, nurturing, devouring... We're not quite sure what to make of it.

An email to Lady Pink (born Sandra Fabara, Ambato, Ecuador, 1964) with some of those theories brought this response:

"You sound like you're overly analyzing my mural.... WOW! I meant nothing of the sort, Industry Mom, comfort.... none of that. It's insane what other see in my work! It's just a sexy nude lady that happened to fit the space I had to.

I like doing brick ladies and even one man. I had just come from doing an instillation at the Denver Botanical Gardens in Co. where I did a brick lady and a brick man reclining, it was for their Japanese garden. Then I was invited to go to Braddock, little did I know what a sorry little town that was, I cried when I first saw it. I painted the same brick lady as fast as I could, in collaboration with Cycle that I brought along to help. Then I jetted out of there, it took us a day and a half to do that wall. I rarely paint such decrepit walls, I've been seriously spoiled by working on much nicer walls, walls that don't crumble before my eyes..... so sad. That had to have been the most depressing site I've ever done!

I really appreciate the hospitality show to us by Swoon and the Mayor and I admire their conviction to raise Braddock from the ashes. I wish them the best.

My brick people are based on the song She's a Brick House, an old Disco tune. She's sexy and voluptuous, sometimes also fat and decaying yet still lovable. It's really simple, I've always liked doing nude ladies and making them outta brick gives me an excuse to put some graffiti on them :)

It's unfair to expect an artist to explain their work when they can't always verbalize the visual images they see and create. It's funny to me how people always overanalyze the artwork, way too intellectual, Art school will mess with ya that way. I don't really care how folks understand my work either."

"I just need to create these images, it's what artists do, and I don't have to explain anything beyond a title for a piece.... maybe. An artist statement is crazy painful for me. Since you reached out and asked then I'll explain it some. The flower is a MAN eating Columbine flower and I grow them in my garden. I'm into gardening hence all the organic stuff around the brick lady. I've painted that flower a few times before. The vintage subway is a tribute to my graffiti roots, I love painting subway trains. Anyway that's all I have for now. Thanks for taking an interest in my work."

More information for Lady Pink and her art:website, bio, wiki, article1, article2, Facebook, Lady Pink and the Brick Lady, Brick Woman Reclining, Brick Man and Brick Woman (Denver, CO, 2008)

Summary:

Artist(s): Lady Pink
Address: Library St & Jones Ave
City: Braddock
Zip: 15104

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Twitter: @PghMurals