Following up on a post here (reblogged below)–that got me thinking more about the work of art (and a project I’m working on regarding Henri Lefebvre’s thoughts on what he calls ‘the work’ combined with his thoughts on alienation) and its potential, I looked more into the street artist Gaia’s work in Baltimore on Howard Street. Images that form part of the artist’s “legacy series” are above–large images of Robert Moses and James Rouse.
The artist states that ‘I am calling this series Legacy and it is a very basic attempt to reinscribe the figures who have shaped our landscape back onto the surface of their legacy, the infrastructure and policies that we have inherited and must navigate.’
Images taken from: http://www.unurth.com/filter/Baltimore#ixzz1vt2t4qHj
It seems to me that art realizes its potential–Lefebvre talks about the “creative capacity” of the artist, by which he means something quite specific–when it “starts with experience,” and when it brings together what are normally seen as separate, fragmented areas of experience (social, political, economic, etc.). Only in this way can it serve a disalienating function. Gaia’s work is such a great example of what Lefebvre points out.
urbanculturalstudies 
thank you!
Thanks for the article! And for making the Lefebvre connection… I was thinking of the Baltimore street art activism in terms of the Deleuze & Guattari, bodies without organs, reterritorializing, articulations.. but sometimes simpler is better! This documentary/ street art project I’m helping out with may interest you as well (featuring Gaia and 14 other artists).
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wallhunters-the-slumlord-project?c=home