Exploring Saginaw's Vibrant Silo Murals and Their Colorful Impact
- m01827
- Jul 17
- 2 min read
Well now, if you've been down by the Saginaw River lately, you can't help but notice something truly eye-popping. Old, rusty grain silos that used to just sit there, an eyesore for years, have been given a brand new lease on life. They're now giant, colorful canvas, and folks, it's a monumental sight!
This grand transformation is the entire artistic gift of a fellow named Okuda San Miguel. Now, Okuda, he's not from around here – he hails from Spain, where he was born in Santander, 1980. Okuda calls himself a "citizen of the world."
You can see that big, wide-world thinking in his art, too. He's known for the bold, patterns and bright, lively colors. His work often features these sort of blocky, almost cubist figures, all mixed up to a tapestry of different designs and textures.
He's done his art all over the globe, but he's pretty proud of this Saginaw piece, says it's one of his favorites. And you can see why! It's his biggest one yet, stretching way up into the sky.
The whole idea behind these murals, from what Okuda says, is about freedom, diversity of shapes and colors. He's woven together a tapestry of of patterns, few old-fashioned, and many modern like pixels. Some are his unique geometric designs. And a rainbow of colors
It's like he's trying to get all kinds of folks, all kinds of cultures, to come together in one big, happy picture.
In our era of postmodern art, stretching from Art Basel to ExpoChicago, it's a wonderful thing when a novel object of artwork takes something that was just sitting there forgotten, and turns it into something that makes you stop in awe and smile. These murals are doing just that for Saginaw.
They're an awesome bold welcome to anyone passing by - a reminder that even plain abandoned silos can be transformed into stunning artistic installations with creative imagination and lots of flashy paint!
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