Moist, Fleek, Cabbage, Donald Trump — I’ve always wanted to put those four in one sentence together, and Even Stevens off Washington and 22nd has made it possible.
On June 7, Even Stevens of Ogden invited local artists from across the community to participate in a one day art exhibit. The exhibit revolved around an old, decrepit building owned by the sandwich establishment. With expansion in mind, they needed the building gone, so what better way to take a building down than to let anyone who wanted to “vandalize” it first?
“We are going to tear out all the asphalt and relay it,” said Ashlee Hartman, assistant manager at Even Stevens. “And we’re gonna have lighting and a fire pit out here for the patio.”
Hartman explained that the event was spur of the moment with only one day to plan it. Even with little planning, with the help from Indie Ogden, the event had a great turnout. Artists of all ages were able to put their marks on the building, simply to have it torn down in the coming days.
Carena Sawyer, 32, and her kids came to the event to be able to express themselves. She heard about the event from Indie Ogden on Instagram.
With the little kids, she avoided the spray-paint and instead opted for using oil pastels. But the event wasn’t really about the tools used, but instead bringing in local artists — experienced or first-timers — from across the community.
Chris Firmage, artist of “The All Seeing Jesus Fish” and “Yuk Yak,” explained why he decided to come out and paint. “I had spray paint in my hands,” he said.
Not everything, however, focused on the works of the artists. On one wall were words which the artists would like to see destroyed in society. Words on this wall included the likes of moist, fleek, cabbage and Donald Trump (I told you, they made it possible for me to appropriately use those words in a sentence).
Even though the artists knew their art was temporary, many were still keen on adding as many details as possible to make their art beautiful. They were creating one-day masterpieces.
A deeper meaning, aside from just creating beautiful art, could be perceived from all this — I mean people are always trying to create deeper meanings from art — but to some, that would ruin all the fun of just being there. When explaining his art, Marley Nelson, who has taken some art classes at Salt Lake Community College, said “So there’s a squid thing… well I can’t explain it because that would ruin ALL of it. I’m just gonna leave it there.”
As of June 11, the demolition has been delayed, and new artists are still showing up. If you have the time, head on down to see where the process is, and if the building is still up, add some art of your own.
