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Street Dialogues: Art Inspired by Homeless Signs
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We all have a story about an encounter with the homeless. Once as I was walking around in the Haight, a raucous group of homeless people who appeared time warped in the sixties were hanging out on the street. Though I tried appear nonchalant as I made my way by, it seemed as if this group could sense my unease and immediatley focused their attention on me. I was halted by one of the homeless men who, with a wide grin on his face, demanded that I read his sign, adding, "this is how desperate I am." Curious, I glanced at the sign and it read, "will eat p****y for food." (note: the word did not refer to the chocolate-dipped Asian candy known as "Pocky"). The group erupted in laughter as I walked away. I was not so much offended as I was amused and I couldn't help but grin as well at the absurdity of the situation and the boldness of the homeless man's sign.
All amusement aside however, homelessness is no light matter and is a grave issue in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that the city spends nearly 200 million dollars a year to get homeless people off the street. Despite the combined effort of public programs and the city budget however, thousands remain on the sidewalks.
I often wonder what decisions and circumstances lead homeless people to a life on the street and wonder about their personal histories. While many homeless people choose to keep to themselves, others venture to speak with passersby, attempting to communicate across economic and social disvisions through signage. Though most cardboard signs are very similar in nature, typically asking for money and or attempting to invoke sympathy by citing purported veteran status and or physical handicaps, others take a more direct and tongue-in-cheek approach, informing passerbys that they need money for booze or marijuana. There are some homeless people, however, who do not explicitly seek money or pity but offer advice or share self-penned poetry in their signs. In signs like these, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the homess are human beings too--with emotions, thoughts, and feelings.
San Francisco-born artist, Ray Beldner, addresses the poetic and human qualities of homeless signage in his series of neon signs entitled The Word on the Street, which was installed at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art this spring. Inspired by thoughts and conversations shared with homeless people he met on the street, Beldner uses the neon sign, a staple in urban landscapes, to bring to light the underlying human truths present in these cardboard signs and the striking universality of their ideas. Hearkening back to Bruce Nauman's neon piece, The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (1967), Beldner's work not only pays homage to the conceptual art of the sixties but also raises questions regarding the role of art and the artist in social justice.
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