Jessica Gamble Reminds Philadelphians to Vote Nov 6 with New Wheatpaste

New wheatpaste this week by Philadelphia-based artist Jessica Gamble reminds passersby to vote on November 6th! “Every election is extremely important and this November’s election is no exception. Every person’s voice and vote matters immensely. I hope everyone uses the power of their voices this election and every election in the future to fight for our democracy,” Jessica responded in an email follow up to learn more about the how and why she created and installed this piece.

The paste, which is located on Girard avenue at Hope street, is the first piece of street art from Jessica, “Since January I’ve been coordinating with an artist from France to host him and the collective he is a part of called Arsmuralis, a group of underground french street artists. During their stay in Philadelphia this past mid-October they encouraged me to create my very first wheatpaste.”

“I’ve created a number of very large outdoor installations with fabrics and sculptures along with painting murals but I had not created a wheatpaste before. While thinking of ideas of what to create understanding the importance of the upcoming mid-term election I decided to create a wheatpaste that would hopefully be encouraging and a great reminder of the fast approaching election on November 6th.”

“In 2006 I created a series of 14 paintings called Silent Essense Becomes… The series created a platform for individuals of different sexes, ethnicities, and ages to come forward with a story about an experience they had in their lives. During the telling of their stories I painted on each individual’s body allowing line and color to be my only reactions to their experience. Each interaction was filmed and three projectors of the videos were exhibited along with the 14 paintings. One of the offshoots from this project I created struck me as being very appropriate to use for an election reminder of the fast approaching mid-term election.”

“This wheat paste is hand painted with acrylics along with the use of one of the pigments I used when I was painting on the project participants forms for the project Silent Essense Becomes…”