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The Angry Cloud reuses materials to keep his art environmentally friendly. (The Angry Cloud/Instagram)
Most of the time you'll see the sour clouds on telephone poles or sticker-covered walls, exactly where the artist, who goes by the name Angry Cloud, put them for all to see. Angry Cloud, who declined to use his real name, said his clouds are a good receptacle for uncomfortable emotions and encourage onlookers to give their own negative thoughts to the cloud.
"I have kids and I had a job and I wanted—I don't want to be a rageaholic all the time," Angry Cloud said. "The world gets to you and (making art with clouds) was kind of a vehicle for me to express rage and other emotions that I didn't want to live and sit with all the time."
Originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Angry Cloud told Austonia he moved from "corporate" New York to the "sleepy hippie town" of Austin in 2011 looking for live music and new opportunities. Seeing what he says was a town on the verge of a tech boom inspired him to use street art as a way to take back a small piece of the city.
Upon arriving in Austin, Angry Cloud said he was immediately inspired by the city's wealth of space, telephone poles and live music.
"That space, it almost became sort of like public access television for me, like this is a public space, why can't people use this for art?" he said. "That's when I really got into putting things on the street. That was my specialty—the telephone poles—they still kind of are."
Clouds, used frequently in the graffiti community because of their simple design, have been rendered unique by Angry Cloud. The unpleasant faces, rounded teeth and keywords, like "fear," added onto those clouds are what draw the eyes on the street.
A man of many talents, Angry Cloud works as a professional artist aside from his alter ego and said he found community with plenty of other local artists, often collaborating with them.
Angry Cloud's art is available to view for free on the streets if you're adventurous enough to find it in its natural habitat, but some never-before-seen pieces will be featured at the Art From the Streets show at the Georgetown Art Center from July 23-August 22.
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Childish Gambino's 2019 performance was so crowded, it was nearly impossible to see the stage. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
Longtime Austinite Robert Reeves, a lover of live music who spent years working on the Vans Warped Tour, has been living in the city since 1992. Reeves said he wants ACL out of Zilker Park, not just to save a few minutes driving on the weekend, but also to keep Austin local.
ACL is run by C3 presents, an Austin entertainment company. However, in 2014, 51% of the company was acquired by Live Nation, a Beverly Hills-based company. While C3 puts on the festival, Live Nation has a big say on how the show is run.
"It is no longer the showcase for Austin and Austin talent," Reeves said. "You don't get credit for being homegrown Austin when you're no longer a homegrown Austin company, when you're catering to people outside and you're causing problems for the residents here."
Reeves is not the only resident who feels this way. Austinites took to Twitter and a recent Towers survey to share their displeasure with the festival's location.
Since shit in Austin flows downhill, expect Roy Guerrero Park to soon be publicly talked about as a new location for the ACL Festival. Because of all that diversity, equity and inclusion n' stuff. It should move to COTA.https://t.co/nQ9GwqrpVp
— Fred McGhee (@fred_mcghee) July 4, 2021
I actually do think Zilker is too small for ACL now. So the next logical place for it to move would of course be Muny. https://t.co/E4G3QogIB9
— sarianrogue (@sarianrogue) July 2, 2021
The problem, Reeves says, is that the festival no longer supports the community. C3 has donated more than $35 million to Austin Parks and Recreation over the years. But Reeves thinks Live Nation needs to give back more to the community if it wants to use it.
"It's not how much we think something is worth, it's how much the other person thinks it's worth," Reeves said. "Look, I love ACL, but I've got to tell you, it has lost its way. Regardless of how much value (ACL) adds to Zilker Park, it's a park, whatever. If we told Live Nation to fuck off… they would have to take a charge on their next earnings report to Wall Street, their stock would plummet."
Reeves acknowledges that ACL was a huge economic boom during its inception but says that Austin has more economic freedom now. On top of that, Reeves said residents of Barton Hills, Rollingwood and Bouldin Creek neighborhoods have had enough of the traffic, rental problems and commotion.
Juiceland is one of the businesses to benefit from business ACL brings in. (Nick Amoscato/CC)
"It takes inventory out of the real estate market, which in turn raises prices," Reeves said. "There's assholes in LA that have mansions in Malibu at Live Nation because of this."
Reeves' argument: Live Nation needs ACL more than Austinites do. So if not Zilker Park, where should the festival be held?
"Not my fucking problem," Reeves said. "If you're not changing, you're dying."
Few businesses in the area share the same opinion—ACL is a huge revenue driver. Barton Springs Juiceland Manager Kaley, who declined to give a last name, said the two weekends are the best shifts of the year.
"Employees will make over $100 in tips a day, it's the best time for us," Kaley said. "We didn't have ACL last year and we're still fine but that being said, it is definitely something that I think everyone around here looks forward to. It really drives up revenue for us and Chuy's and Juliet (Italian Kitchen)."
Beyond that, Kaley, a lifelong Austinite, said ACL just wouldn't be the same festival if it was held elsewhere.
"Quite frankly if it wasn't at Zilker Park anymore, it wouldn't be ACL anymore," Kaley said.
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