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It’s just amazing to see those old, abandoned military jetplanes being reused as canvases for some of the most talented graffiti artists!.Take a look at this graffiti painted on World War II military planes. via
An exhibit like “The Boneyard Project” doesn’t just happen – it takes planning, money and luck. Here’s how it played out for the key figures in bringing the exhibit to the Pima Air & Space Museum.
Tucson’s dry climate helps prevent corrosion. Two to three decades ago, the government routinely auctioned off the aircraft. Most were bought by privately owned salvage yards, which resold them for parts and scrap. The Pima Air & Space Museum offers guided bus tours of the Air Force facility. Security concerns means walking on the grounds is prohibited by civilians.
Pima Air & Space Museum is one of the world’s largest air and space museums, and the largest non-government funded aviation museum. Its collection includes more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft.
It all started in December 2010. Firestone was at Art Basel Miami Beach, a massive art show that pulls together art, artists and galleries from around the world. “I was working with a lot of street artists there,” said Firestone, who has a gallery in Tucson as well as one in East Hampton on New York’s Long Island.
The boneyard – a generic name for most scrap yards – is what Tucsonans call the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It’s where government planes are sent to be rejuvenated, or to be sold as scrap.
Firestone went to a private salvage yard in Tucson and purchased nose cones, which he sent to artists for what would become a show in at his gallery in East Hampton. He also e bought five planes.
Last summer he opened “Nose Job,” which featured 24 cones transformed by artists with national and international reputations.
Meanwhile, Firestone began to plan for something bigger. He brought artists to Tucson to paint the five planes he had bought
The tradition of using the massive surface of a plane as a canvas has been a tradition in the united states air force for generations. ‘Nose art’ became a popular form of graffiti painting in the WWII era as soldiers decorated the fronts of the planes which would carry them into battle. ‘the boneyard project: return trip’ is the second installation of the series in which the artists created a semi-sculptural, painted expression of his/her associations with the history of air travel and warfare.
If you wanna check it out, the Pima Air & Space Museum is located 6000 East Valencia Road, Tucson, AZ
Andrew Brow, left, and Eric Firestone, move a painted F-4 Phantom nose cone painted by artist Tristan Eaton.
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