April 12, 2017
“LET’S GET FREE”
by Douglas Miles
Of the wall running along the side of the Bentley Projects the Phoenix New Times says "Topped by barbed wire, it once looked like a stark separation point between the neighborhood it borders and the arts and event venues operated by Bentley Calverley." Douglas Miles believes that "artists move the culture forward" and New Times credits this 2016 wall, painted with the help of his son as part of the PaintPHX Festival, with providing a good bridge between the gallery and the community. Miles says Native people give Phoenix its real flavor and this tribute to them features Geronimo (taller section of wall at far right) who fought incursions into what eventually became Arizona and New Mexico. This "poetic mix of art and politics" on 2nd St. S. is a gift to an older Phoenix community that has been a last holdout against gentrification. @dmiles1_apache @paintphx @bentleygallery
