By Ally BernsteinÂ
By creating paintings around the city that are free for anyone to see and appiate Bataclan has introduced a new element into the Boston art scene.Paintings meant purely for the enjoyment of others reveals the selfless side of art. The original characters that Bataclan has been drawing since he was young have since found their way to South.
Bataclan’s work has been featured at other schools as well. A fence in Somerville, near the Kennedy School playground, was attacked by vandals this year. When the inappropriate graffiti was spotted, the police were called and the wall was eventually painted black.
Bataclan was soon commissioned to paint a mural over this fence, and the once-marred wall is now brightly adorned with five of his characters.
When Principal Brian Salzer saw Bataclan’s work in the Somerville Journal, he immediately thought of hallways at South that were drastically in need of a change.
Bataclan began work on the Newton South mural on September 12. By the time students were returning from a brief vacation on Friday, the mural was completely finished. Another purpose of the project was to encourage students to paint murals more quickly.
Students passing by while the project materialzed right before them were intrigued.”I’ve heard so many people saying, ‘Oh, it’s so cute!’” Bataclan said while taking a break from painting.
And the characters are certainly cute. The big, bright eyes, goofy smiles and radically bright hues are almost unheard of in any high school.
“It really brightens up that section of the school, which was made in the 70′s or something,” junior Troy Eilertson commented.
“The best thing I’ve been hearing,” Bataclan said before resuming work on his creation, “is people walking by and saying ‘oh, this is making me smile.’”
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