(Photos provided by Streets Dept reader, Shay Rutkowski)
It appears South Street’s “Angel” mural is going away. Located at 5th and Bainbridge Streets, this mural has been a bit of a mystery from its beginning. Known mostly for its religious themes that are best summed up as “God is love,” the mural was painted in 2018 after a pair of adjacent rowhomes were demolished to make way for a six-story apartment building with a Target on the first floor.
When I first saw it rise, I assumed someone was painting something quick on the wall while it was visible to the busy intersection. Kind of like how graffiti writers will tag a building that’s about to be torn down. I thought maybe, at best, the mural would last a few months. And that would have been the case if construction on the six-story building that was supposed to sit in front of it had moved along at a normal pace. But some initial neighborhood pushback (namely about the building of a Target) followed by the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 halted the project indefinitely.
As best as I can tell, the mural appears to have been painted by an artist by the name of Jack Giovinetti. Which makes sense, the artist’s studio, Giovinetti Studios, is one house in from the mural wall. And the mural is covertly signed “J. Giovinetti,” you can just barely make it out in the waves at the bottom of the painting. On his artist website, Jack’s bio reads: “At some point when he was growing up, Jack realized there was more to life than our relationships on this earth… that there was a celestial realm and spirits that most people did not connect with or understand.”
A mural this large would require some serious equipment, including a lift or scaffolding, and take weeks to complete. So, I have to assume that Jack got permission from at least the wall owner and the owner of the parking lot to paint it. Both being his neighbors, I’m guessing the permissions process was fairly easy.
To be honest, when I first saw this mural go up in 2018, I have to say that it wasn’t my favorite. I think, more than anything, it confused me. Murals rarely include a winding paragraph of text. A quick scan of which you see “God” written multiple times. To me, it felt like a long Facebook rant from a relative I barely knew. I remember orginally telling myself that there was no need to read it. And I’m honestly not sure I ever did, until writing this post.
As I mention, the paragraph in the mural is benign. My initial reaction to it a flashback for me, a queer kid who grew up in the church. But this scripture, after all, was fairly sweet.
It’s not clear why the mural is being painted out. Shay, the Streets Dept reader who emailed me these photos mentioned they heard that someone just bought the building that the mural is painted on.
There are so many murals around Philly that I would fight to preserve, this is not one of them. I think this little angel served its purpose. Perhaps a new mural will be created in its place, or construction at that intersection will finally begin. Either way, it’s always weird to see a mural go. And there’s definitely a part of me that will miss this one.
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