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David Bowie Mural

Andrew Columbro

Arizona State University

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The mural I picked for my rhetorical analysis was a David Bowie mural in Downtown

Phoenix. The mural caught my eye as I had recognized that face before. ​The mural is located at

1715 N 7th Street in Phoenix​. The mural takes place in a parking lot. The artist of the mural is

named Maggie Keane. Maggie Keane is a local artist and Phoenix native. ​By the way, if Keane's

name sounds familiar, it's probably because you've seen some her other work on Fox ​10 News,

according to a Fox 10 news article.​ ​Keane received her bachelor's degree with a focus in

painting and drawing from the University of Arizona. ​She's also a court sketch artist and has

covered some big federal trials, including Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Jared Loughner, according to a

Fox 10 news article. My attitude towards this mural is all positive because the mural has an

implicit timeline shown through a visual representation of portraits that everyone remembers of

David Bowie, The David Bowie mural shows a timeline of his career and life by displaying

multiple characters of Bowie.

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David Bowie was a trailblazer in the music industry. ​He was more of a rockstar than

anyone else in his era because Bowie knew what a rock star was, before any of us​. ​According

to an article by Billboard, the album ​Ziggy Stardust ​is known to be one of the greatest science

fiction albums of all time. He also helped bring rock n’ roll to fame. Although he was known as a

rockstar, he influenced a lot of other music genres.​ ​Bowie was a pioneer of glam rock, according

to music historians Schinder and Schwartz, who credited Marc Bolan and Bowie with creating

the genre. In fact, David Bowie did a lot of work with R&B music as well. Bowie was an English

singer that was loved by the entire world.

The mural included content from his hero shoot, the album Scary Monster, Aladdin

Sane, the movie Labyrinth, and the album Low. All of the paintings were self-portraits of David

Bowie from his most popular albums and movies. The paintings had Bowie in his costumes

such as his costume from the movie The Labyrinth. The artist used a lot of bright colors in her

paintings to create a positive message from the mural. The bright colors helped create a pathos

appeal to the mural. The mural creating a positive tribute to ​an iconic figure in the music world

for a period that spanned decades. The purple, red, orange, yellow, gray, sky blue, and white

interlaced intricately to form pictures of this iconic artist. Within those colors, she throws in

shades of pastel colors to catch the viewer's eye. The pastel colors also create a gloomy feel to

the mural about a topic that could be viewed as sad. The death of an icon like David Bowie was

hard for a lot of people, but the mural makes people view his passing in a more positive manner.

Rather than feeling sad that he is gone, the mural makes people feel happy that he was with us

and impacted our lives for the better. The mural sure caught my eye as I could see it from a mile

away. The portraits that related to his music were the album covers with his best music ever
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made. All of the portraits shapes are of his face and it displays what the murals are about very

well.

As for the rhetorical situation, Maggie Keane has a lot of prior experience with drawing

faces with her work as a court sketch artist. Maggie also has experience with drawing on large

objects. The audience for this mural is David Bowie fans. In which Maggie Keane does a

tremendous job at appealing logos into the mural. She does this by using characters that all

David Bowie fans know of and can relate to. The assumption made by Maggie Keane is that

the audience can easily recognize these characters of David Bowie to better commemorate his

life and contributions to the entertainment industry. As for ethos, Maggie has established strong

credibility to her name as she has other murals in the valley. According to an NBC 12 News

article, ​Maggie Keane has contributed more street art to the Valley, such as a wall in her

neighborhood for Khalsa Elementary School and her Ninja Sex Party mural on Oak Street.

This tribute to David Bowie also appeals to the rhetoric known as kairos. This mural

was made in July 2016. The same year that David Bowie died of liver cancer at the age of 69.

The timeliness of this mural was spot on as the death of Bowie was still very relevant at the

time. During a time in which many people were devastated by his death, the mural brought a

positive perspective to his career and life at the perfect time possible. The mural also appeals to

the rhetorical device known as pathos due to that the mural brings back memories to people of

some of his best performances. The mural made me wish that David Bowie was still alive and

creating music. While also making me happy that his career even happened.

All of the rhetorical appeals were used effectively at creating a purpose for this mural.

The mural today is a place where people can come and remorse over the life of David Bowie.

The self-portraits have a huge importance on showing the career of David Bowie. By displaying

recognizable characters of Bowie, the audience can easily connect and relate to the mural. I
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experienced a sense of nostalgia when viewing this mural. Each self-portrait I viewed brought

back memories to me that I remember being very positive about David Bowie. This tribute mural

of him helps remind the audience why David Bowie was so significant to the entertainment

industry. To make sure that no one forgets about Bowie and the impact he had on society. This

piece is worth viewing because of the positive vibe it resembles while paying respect to a huge

icon. This mural will help keep David Bowie’s legacy live on forever.
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References:

Galus, J. (2018, November 07). Local artist paints tribute mural to late David Bowie. Retrieved

from

https://www.azfamily.com/local-artist-paints-tribute-mural-to-late-david-bowie/article_bf6b920e

-5a34-5c1f-817f-d039bc3e88e8.html

Lynch, J. (2016, January 14). David Bowie Influenced More Musical Genres Than Any Other

Rock Star. Retrieved from

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6843061/david-bowie-influence-genres-rock-star

News, F. (2016, July 5th). Woman pays tribute to David Bowie with a mural in Phoenix.

Retrieved from

http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/woman-pays-tribute-to-david-bowie-with-mu

ral-in-phoenix

A news report

12 News, N. (2018, April 30). Support this Valley mural artist if you're a David Bowie fan.

Retrieved from

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/support-this-valley-mural-artist-if-youre-a-da

vid-bowie-fan/75-547329516

A news article
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