Gabriel Villa
   HOME
*





Gabriel Villa
Gabriel Villa (born in El Paso, Texas), is a Chicago-based artist and muralist. Villa arrived in Chicago in the late 1990s. Observations of his neighborhood had a profound visual and conceptual impact on the evolution of his work. Subjects such as public housing, surveillance, the marginalized, gang culture, family, religion and most recently gentrification/displacement all begin to morph and weave into broader ideas. 2009 mural censorship controversy In May 2009, he was commissioned to paint a mural on private property in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood depicting three Chicago Police Department public surveillance cameras that carried the CPD logo along with other images, like a crucified Christ, a deer head and a skull. The mural was painted over completely by the Graffiti Blasters at the behest of 11th ward Alderman James Balcer James A. Balcer (born June 24, 1950) is a former alderman of the 11th Ward of the City of Chicagomap. A member of the Democratic Party, he was ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


James Balcer
James A. Balcer (born June 24, 1950) is a former alderman of the 11th Ward of the City of Chicagomap. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the Chicago City Council by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1997. In May 2015, he was succeeded by former Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner, Patrick Daley Thompson. Military career Balcer served as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and in 2001 was belatedly awarded the Bronze Star. Political career Balcer served as an alderman on six committees: Budget and Government Operations; Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities; Finance; Human Relations; Police and Fire; and Transportation and Public Way. He was appointed to the Council in the aftermath of a scandal about disclosures about then-Ald. Patrick Huels' private security firm that resulted in Huels' resignation. Ald. Balcer's former ward encompasses part of Chicago's Southwest Side, and includes the neighborhood of Bridgepo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Muralist
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish adjective that is used to refer to what is attached to a wall. The term ''mural'' later became a noun. In art, the word mural began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1906, Dr. Atl issued a manifesto calling for the development of a monumental public art movement in Mexico; he named it in Spanish ''pintura mural'' (English: ''wall painting''). In ancient Roman times, a mural crown was given to the fighter who was first to scale the wall of a besieged town. "Mural" comes from the Latin ''muralis'', meaning "wall painting". History Antique art Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the cave paintings in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in Borneo (40,000-52,000 BP), Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Private Property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or cooperative property, which is owned by a group of non-governmental entities. Private property is foundational to capitalism, an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. The distinction between private and personal property varies depending on political philosophy, with socialist perspectives making a hard distinction between the two. As a legal concept, private property is defined and enforced by a country's political system. History Ideas about and discussion of private property date back to the Persian Empire, and emerge in the Western tradition at least as far back as Plato. Prior to the 18th century, English speakers generally used the word "property" in reference ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. CPD currently has 11,710 sworn officers on duty, and over 1,925 other employees. Tracing its roots back to the year of 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police departments in the world. The Chicago Police Department has a history of police brutality, particularly targeting the African-American community in Chicago. In 2017, the United States Department of Justice strongly criticized the department for poor training, lack of oversight and routine use of excessive force. Department structure Office of the Superintendent The Superintendent of Police leads the Chicago Police Department. David O. Brown, former Chief of the Dallas Police Department, is the current Superin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. It can also include simple technical methods, such as Human intelligence (intelligence gathering), human intelligence gathering and postal interception. Surveillance is used by citizens for protecting their neighborhoods. And by governments for intelligence gathering - including espionage, prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. It is also used by criminal organizations to plan and commit crimes, and by businesses to Industrial espionage, gather intelligence on criminals, their competitors, suppliers or customers. Religious organisations charged with detecting he ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was a first-century Jews, Jewish preacher and religious leader; he is the central figure of Christianity, the Major religious groups, world's largest religion. Most Christians believe he is the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah#Christianity, Messiah (the Christ (title), Christ) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Historicity of Jesus, Jesus existed historically. Quest for the historical Jesus, Research into the historical Jesus has yielded some uncertainty on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how closely the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament reflects the historical Jesus, as the only detailed records of Jesus' life are contained in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, these two parts are the neurocranium and the viscerocranium ( facial skeleton) that includes the mandible as its largest bone. The skull forms the anterior-most portion of the skeleton and is a product of cephalisation—housing the brain, and several sensory structures such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. In humans these sensory structures are part of the facial skeleton. Functions of the skull include protection of the brain, fixing the distance between the eyes to allow stereoscopic vision, and fixing the position of the ears to enable sound localisation of the direction and distance of sounds. In some animals, such as horned ungulates (mammals with hooves), the skull also has a defensive function by providing the mount (on the front ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Graffiti Blasters
Graffiti Blasters is a program to eliminate graffiti, street art and gang-related vandalism in Chicago, Illinois. The program is structured as a privately owned business based in the city government. It uses soluble abrasives ( baking soda combined with high pressure water) and paints matching the city's official color scheme to erase all varieties of graffiti. History Mayor Richard M. Daley started the initiative in 1993. Since then it has run at a cost of about $4 million a year, rising to $7.8 million in 2008 and $9 million in 2010 The scheme promises free cleanup within 24 hours of a phone call to 3-1-1. Prior to the program's inception, the city considered itself responsible for removing graffiti if it was on city property, but private property owners had to shoulder the cleanup costs for graffiti on their own property. In May 2009, on the instructions of Alderman Jim Balcer, Graffiti Blasters painted over a commissioned mural by artist Gabriel Villa on private propert ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by Direct election, popular vote, or a council member elected by voters. Etymology The title is derived from the Old English title of ''ealdorman'', literally meaning "elder man", and was used by the chief nobles presiding over shires. Similar titles exist in some Germanic countries, such as the Sweden, Swedish language ', the Danish language, Danish, Low German, Low German language ', and West Frisia, West Frisian language ', the Netherlands, Dutch language ', the (non-Germanic) Finland, Finnish language ' (a borrowing from the Germanic Swedes next door), and the German language, High German ', which all mean "elder man" or "wise man". Usage by country Australia Many local government ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Operation Virtual Shield
Operation Virtual Shield is a program implemented by Chicago, IL mayor Richard M. Daley, which created the most extensive video surveillance network in the United States by linking more than 3000 surveillance cameras to a centralized monitoring system, which captures and processes camera feeds in real time. It also includes sensors such as biological, chemical, and radiological sensors. It is able to detect suspicious or dangerous activity and identify its location, and now incorporates facial recognition. Virtual Shield is also used to record activity at a potential crime scene before police arrive at a call. The cost of the program was $217 million, much of which came from Homeland Security grants. The retention time of technical data collected is 30 days. Daley stated that Chicago will have a surveillance camera on every street corner by the year 2016. See also * Closed-circuit television * Human Identification At a Distance * MATRIX * Total Information Awareness * Gabr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]