Expressionism

Neighborhood Beautification

Photo by Beau Carpenter on Unsplash

The wall, someone noted, was pure white when Anson Beverages Limited donated it for inner city black artists to create a mural.

City Creators, the non-profit in charge split the wall up into eight sections, and chose the artists by jury. The eighth section was rumored to go to Candle.

“That is some Grade A public relations, a horse that can talk out his asshole bullshit,” Sedyard told everyone in St. Mike’s Valley, the neighborhood adjacent to the bottling plant. “Candle ain’t doing corporate sponsored work. No, nope.”

“All the other brothers and sisters painted right out in the open,” Tony Willard said. “They charging ten bucks to watch Candle paint.”

Sedyard laughed, both mean and hearty.

“He ain’t showing up. No way. My man is strictly water towers and train cars in the cloak of night. No way.”

“He might show up,” Tony Willard said, and he sounded confident for a statement with the word might in it.

“Bet you that 442 engine in my garage he don’t.”

Tony Willard reached and shook hands with Sedyard, asked Audra to take a photo of the shake.

Two hours after the handshake Austen LaMore Markeith, known in the street art world as Candle, got out of the passenger side of a lifted matte black Blazer carrying a black vinyl case and no paint.

Didn’t matter if you paid 10 bucks to see Candle paint.

The tarped in privacy enclosure City Creators had erected was moot.

Candle didn’t paint.

He climbed the old wooden light pole at the corner of Farnsworth and Dequindre with his vinyl case full of knives.

He came back the next day too.

By day three you could see the likeness of Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and a third image.

Sedyard and Tony Willard had argued for two days over whether the bet was that Candle would paint or that Candle would show up.

The handshake photo Audra had on her phone didn’t help that part of the argument.

They decided to decide the bet on who was the third image carved into the old wooden light pole.

Sedyard, who was a history aficionado, thought it was Black Panther founder Bobby Seale.

Tony Willard thought it looked like Celtics legend Robert Parish.

Sedyard was trying to spit words through his laugh that no kid who grew up in Detroit would carve a damn Boston Celtic into a light pole or anywhere else.

It was a week later on public radio that Sedyard found out who the third image was. It was during a report on the warrant for the arrest of Austen LaMore Markeith, who did not have permission to alter public utility property.

Sam Freyman, CEO of Anson Beverages offered to pay any form of restitution and buy the pole outright, but DPD wanted Candle to turn himself in before they discussed any deals.

Sedyard was on his porch, looking at the mural wall and the pole when Tony Willard walked up.

“Nelson Markeith,” Sedyard said.

“Huh?” Tony said

“We was both wrong. The third image carved in the pole is Candle’s Uncle Nelson who passed a few years back.”

They both looked over at the 8th section of soft drink company mural wall.

Someone had painted Fuck tha Police on it overnight.

“Ain’t no way Candle snuck back here and painted that,” Tony Willard said.

“Naw, that crude shit ain’t Candle’s work,” Sedyard said. “ But I bet you I know who did it.”

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