Plan to sell South Street lot brings artist support
Isaiah Zagar received more than $1,000 from the community. He is also backed by a U.S. representative and a city councilman.

By Stephan Salisbury

Inquirer Staff Writer


Allison Weiss knew it was not going to be an ordinary day Tuesday when a trolley pulled up in front of artist Isaiah Zagar's garden of mosaics on South Street and more than 50 women poured out, all oohing and ahhing, admiring and commiserating.

The women had learned that the garden - a wild ceramic concatenation of sculptured walls and mosaic murals, figures and installations - is being threatened with destruction.

The owner of the ground - 1024-26 South St. - where the nationally known Zagar has been busy creating and building for more than a decade, plans to sell and has ordered the artist to remove everything by May 23.

Zagar, 66, and a growing group of supporters - including Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert A. Brady - are dismayed. Brady has written the owner, seeking reconsideration of the sale plans. Councilman Frank DiCicco has offered to help out with tax credits. Small contributions have started coming in should Zagar try to purchase the land, and a Save the South Street Magic Garden fund has been established at the United Savings Bank at 10th and Fitzwater Streets.

But it's the sheer number of people e-mailing, telephoning, and coming around to the lot to offer support and sign petitions that Weiss says is most encouraging.

"A whole trolley-load of people read about it and wanted to see it - a whole trolley-load of women came by and got out - and Isaiah gave them a little tour," said Weiss, who is Zagar's assistant. "It was amazing."

The reports of the possible demise of Zagar's mosaic heartland have apparently struck a nerve in the city and in the South Street community, where the artist has lived and worked for 35 years.

His ceramic and mirror mosaics - which sheathe the Painted Bride Art Center and other buildings around the city - are instantly recognizable on the cityscape and are particularly associated with South Street.

"I live behind his studio and am grateful to wake up every morning, get out on the deck, and be surrounded by such beautiful imagery," said Heather Shaw, who lives on Bainbridge Street. Zagar's Kater Street studio backs onto the southern portion of the threatened lot.

"Every weekend on South Street, handfuls of people ask me to take their picture in front of the wall they're threatening to tear down," Shaw wrote in an e-mail.

The spontaneous outpouring of community support has been accompanied by contributions to help buy the lot - even though no fund-raising campaign has been announced. The owner, a Boston-based real estate partnership, wants $300,000, according to Lou Orocofsky, the owner's agent in the area.

Small contributions have come in so quickly - more than $1,000 so far, Weiss said - that there is no nonprofit charitable organization prepared to serve as a repository for donations yet.

Vernon Anastasio, president of the Bella Vista United Civic Association, said yesterday that his neighborhood group was prepared to serve in that capacity. He also said he was trying to put together a "mediation team" that could bring Zagar and the owner together for negotiations.

Anastasio said that "property rights" needed to be honored but that the team hoped to appeal to the owner's "sense of civic responsibility and the beauty of the art."

Brady, whose district includes South Street, sent a letter to Orocofsky, urging reconsideration of the sale.

"I consider the mosaic to be an artistic landmark and a city treasure," Brady wrote. "Mr. Zagar has turned a trash and weed-filled lot into an urban sculpture garden. The broken pottery, shards of glass, tiles and found objects that are the foundation of the sculpture have made many of us rethink our notion of art and beauty."

DiCicco, deep into hearings on the city budget, also expressed support for Zagar. He has suggested that tax credits might be employed to save some, if not all, of the property.

Orocofsky could not be reached yesterday. In an earlier interview, he noted that Zagar had been aware that the property was for sale for years. The owners, he said, purchased the lot as "an investment."

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...ia/8661930.htm

South St. icon threatened

While Isaiah Zagar's art has many fans, the owner wants the lot cleared.

By Stephan Salisbury

Inquirer Staff Writer


The mosaic and sculptural heart of artist Isaiah Zagar's South Street homeland - a formerly rat-infested vacant lot he has transfigured with towering glittery murals of ceramic and mirror, structures of multihued bottles and bicycle wheels, and billows of retro ambiance - faces imminent destruction.

Artists, neighbors, preservationists, tour operators and local officials - all caught off guard - are dumbfounded and saddened that the city might lose what has become the aesthetic center of the nationally known Zagar's 35 years of public art making.

The out-of-town owner of the lot, 1024-26 South St., has decided to sell and has given Zagar - whose mosaics cover the Painted Bride Art Center and many other facades around the city - until May 23 to remove a decade's artwork from the property.

Removal of the art will not simply tear the neighborhood fabric, disheartened advocates say.

"Let me give you an image of what happens when I come up that street," said Andrew Larson, a tour guide with Philadelphia Trolley Works. "We are coming down South Street and we start seeing some of Isaiah's work, and I start hearing, 'Wow! Wow! Wow!' And when we pull in adjacent to that lot, they are totally speechless.

"The artwork itself and the personality behind it are unique to Philadelphia."

Sale and development of the site would lead not only to the destruction of free-standing sculptural installations, but also to the obliteration of an abutting three-story mosaic mural that proclaims, in spiraling script, that "Philadelphia is the center of the art world."

A sculptural wall composed of bottles, wheels and other cast-offs would also most likely be destroyed.

The rear of Zagar's Kater Street studio, which backs onto the lot and is encrusted with ceramics and mirrors, would be obscured; another sculpted wall would be obliterated.

A front chain-link fence on South Street, which Zagar has bejeweled with ceramics, rusted wheels, and relics of the city, would be torn down as well.

A for-sale sign would be all that remained.

"The lot is for sale, and it has been for sale," said Lou Orocofsky, agent for the owner, a Boston-based real estate partnership. "The owner wants to clear the site and show a full view... . With all the artwork there, it's difficult to visualize what the lot is."

To Zagar, 66, and his many admirers, the artwork is the lot, not a "visual obstruction," as Orocofsky characterized it.

Zagar said he began active work there more than 10 years ago, with Orocofsky's acquiescence. Orocofsky called it "a courtesy."

Said Zagar: "I put up a fence in back, and I told Lou I was tired of seeing people sleeping in the lot and defecating in the lot, and that I was tired of rats in the lot. It seemed like a good idea to Lou...

"I'm a man who works hard, so I've accomplished a lot. But it's only the beginning. My dreams of what I want to do, with the skills I have now, are amazing!"

The vacant lot with its murals, sculptures and imaginative vision is emblematic of Zagar's public work. He has created about 70 mosaic murals, largely in the South Street area, where he has lived and worked since 1968.

David W. O'Donnell, president of the Queen Village Neighbors Association, said area residents would be "very upset" by the leveling of the lot.

Zagar, he pointed out, was a pioneer on South Street in the 1960s. At that time, the city was seeking to route a crosstown expressway down the street. But artists, who acquired inexpensive, seemingly doomed property, and other residents defeated the plan and laid the groundwork for the transformation of the area.

"He is one of the original artisans, one of the few who remain," O'Donnell said. "The community feels he's a local treasure. He's sort of a South Street legend, harking back to the early days of the renaissance."

Orocofsky, who has invited Zagar to mosaic the rear walls and yard areas of several other properties he represents, said the owner of the vacant lot - whom he declined to identify - wanted to sell the site for $300,000.

According to records at the Board of Revision of Taxes, Gaston-Serge Realty Trust is the registered owner. Tax records indicate that 1024 and 1026 South St. were acquired for $65,000 each in 1988.

"My clients bought property as a business investment," Orocofsky said. "Isaiah has known for years that the property would be developed or sold."

He said he had encouraged Zagar to buy the property.

Zagar said he did not have that kind of money. Virtually all of the artwork he has created around the city, he said, has been done without payment.

"People don't pay me to do these things," he said. "I do them for Philadelphia."

The Philadelphia Neighborhood Gardens Association is exploring the possibility of assisting Zagar if a fund-raising campaign is mounted to buy the property.

"We don't have a lot of resources," said Terry Mushovic, director of the association. "But Isaiah Zagar's mosaics... have become such a really integral part of that neighborhood, they need to be preserved in the way that other kinds of plants and gardens need to be preserved."

John Gallery, head of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said he was considering what action might be taken to block destruction of the site.

Beyond the fact that Zagar does not own the property, the lot is not a building or structure, which the city Historical Commission is empowered to protect.

One possibility, Gallery said, might be to designate the whole site as a "historic object." Such a designation blocked removal of the Maxfield Parrish-Louis Tiffany mosaic from the Curtis Center a few years ago.

Joanne Phillips, a lawyer with Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll who is helping Zagar, said she is exploring legal options.

"At the same time," she said, "we're working with Mr. Orocofsky and his client to see if we can resolve this."


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Contact staff writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/8635884.htm

there's already a thread on this.

Isaiah and the students of his craft have brought great beauty to some of the saddest city streets. I have some wonderful murals on the side of my house that were done as part of one of his weekend classes. This was at no cost to me, as were the many murals done along the garden walls on the streets surrounding my house. People passing by often stop and take pictures. What a great gift he has given us. We need to help him continue.

WHERE?
-Positive Vibrations
Akabak

akabak, i gues no one reads the art forum.

Sorry eldonre I wasn't able to spot the thread.
I've had an interest in this artist's work for years.
As the other post indicated he does murals largely free of charge!
The closest mural to me is the Physicians for Social
Responsibility-exterior mosaic facade in Fairmount, and it's fantastic.
This artist is a local treasure!
He does have a site where one can donate;
http://www.isaiahzagar.org
PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!
Positive Vibrations,
Akabak

To say that Isaiah is a "local treasure" is a bit too simplistic. The reality is much more complicated.

Once upon a time South Street was down and out, and any sign of life was welcome. Isaiah's first few mosaics were novel, they showed that someone cared about the neighborhood, and they were so loud and exhuberant, superimposed on plain old walls, that you had to smile.

A lot of people who live in Bella Vista aren't smiling any more. The neighborhood is no longer down and out, the buildings are no longer abandoned or uncared for, and the mosaics are no longer few, or novel. They have spread from the commercial strip to residential blocks - dozens of them, thousands upon thousands of square feet. If you live here (as I do) you can hardly turn a corner without seeing one. There is already more than enough Zagar for one neighborhood, but he is steadfast and determined in putting up more and more.

The mosaics cover historic buildings, like the 1902 firehouse by Phillip Johnson at Alder and South. They cover prosaic brick rowhouses and factory walls, storefronts, and alleyways. Well, who cares, right? I care, and I think you should care. This architectural heritage is the true treasure of our neighborhood. It is rare (except to some Philadelphians who are so accustomed to it that they don't appreciate it), simple, classic, and beautiful. Zagar's mosaics are flagrantly disrespectful to this context in their style, materials, color, theme, and scale. This kind of wholesale, radical change to a streetscape that has been passed down largely unchanged for generations makes you ask -- who is planning this, the community or one individual? Aren't there some places a mosaic isn't appropriate? And how much of one artist's work is desirable in a single neighborhood?

Zagar says that he wants to make Philadlephia a "city of mosaics". He is not telling the whole truth. He wants to make Bella Vista and Queen Village a showplace of Zagar mosaics. He is not going to the parts of the city that are still plagued by abandonment and disinvestment, and he is not fostering variety in artists, styles, or materials. We see the same thing over and over with minor variations on a theme. The neighborhood is saturated with it, and it has begun to change the look and feel of the streetscape in a negative way. Zagar refuses to meet with neighbors to get their input or feedback. He deals with individual property owners and so is able, piecemeal, to alter the view on our blocks -- the view that we all share, and should all have a say in -- to his own liking.

Granted, some people like it, and these generally fall into a few categories. First are the tourists and visitors, who think the mosaics are funky and fun. In the same way, tourists will also flock to see painted cows in Manhattan and the Rocky statue in front of the Art Museum. The Zagar murals provide the same thrill -- a rebellious poke at convention, and the easy, fleeting inner chuckle of kitsch. When you install something like that in a residential neighborhood, though, where homeowners have to look at it every day, the fun soon turns to frustration and anger.

Which brings us to the second group of supporters, the property owners who allow Zagar to cover their walls -- not just the inner walls, where only they are exposed to this aesthetic choice -- but the outer walls, where their taste is imposed on all of their neighbors. The fact that Zagar does much of his work free of charge has greatly increased this group. If I were to go around offering free vinyl siding, I'm sure I'd get many takers, and a lot of neighbors wouldn't like it, but at least future owners would have the option of taking it down later. Zagar and his supporters, by contrast, aim to make these changes permanent, threatening lawsuits in at least two cases that I have heard of. To make matters worse, Zagar frequently operates under a "get an inch, take a mile" philosophy. An owner will ask for a limited area to be covered by a mosaic, but Zagar will go well beyond those limits, working quickly to prevent anyone stopping him before it's too late. And once the damage is done, the owners (and neighbors and passersby) are stuck, unless they want to appear as vulgar enemies of "art" and risk a lawsuit.

The last group of supporters I will call the aesthetes and brothers-in-arms. These people include other artists, often of Zagar's generation, who feel that an attack on Zagar is an attack on them. They inevitably point to Zagar's role (among many, many other people) in fighting the Crosstown Expressway along South Street in the 1960s, as if his participation somehow gives him a greater claim than other neighbors in determining the appearance of the neighborhood (it doesn't, but Zagar is convinced that it does.) This group also esteem Zagar's art out of all proportion to its actual merit. As an example, a recent letter to the editor of the Inquirer compared the mosaics to the Bamiyan Buddha carvings that the Taliban destroyed. Zagar may be popular with the tourists on the Duck Boats, but I wouldn't hold my breath for UNESCO designation.

So. If Zagar and his supporters want to cough up $300,000 to buy the studio lot, I don't have any objection to them doing that (on a square-footage basis, I suppose that's a lot of art for your dollar.) But please don't try to elevate Zagar, his work, or his contribution to the appearance of the neighborhood to something it's not. If you like his mosaics, get one yourself -- cover the whole inside of your living room, kitchen, and bedroom ceiling. But I wouldn't presume to choose for you what kind of art you look at every day, and I wish Zagar would stop making that choice for me and my neighborhood.

garycomdev

i didn't think we were talking about a whoel neighborhood but his place on south st. where i think it not only fits in but adds to the streetscape. that area of south even to this day has not seen much activity from its nearby bella vista neighbors or cc. given that if he were truly betting on a ocmeback for the street, he shoulda bought the land for a songway back when.

All right here is the thing. I am an artist, went to an art school and work in a creative position. To say I am an avid supporter of the arts would be an understatement. I am also familar with the work in question on South Street for years I have driven by it, and can even remember when it was in a horrid state, with trash littering the lot.

Realizing this, I have one simple question that hopefully Akabak or others can answer.

This property is unquestionably someone elses property than Mr. Zagar's. Taxes have been paid yearly for this land and after years of Mr. Zagar in effect squatting on it - it has been sold.

Legally what argument can be made for keeping this land in its current condition? Moreover is the city willing to purchase this property and to allow Mr. Zagar to continue to present his art?