Eviction night at City Hall. Occupy LA was forced out by a small army of heavily armed para-militarized local police force. In this image a young man and his little doggy fearfully await the inevitable of being shot by a police officer using a shotgun at a lethal close range. From what I heard the man was injured. Apparently the LAPD denies this but hey whose watching when the media they allow on the premises was carefully selected. Some of the signs displayed on the Occupy LA Tree Fort were pieces from my OccupyFlag project. This simple image amazingly depicts the overall discussion of extremely heavy handed violent measures executed by police to crush a peaceful display of the 1st Amendment rights nation wide. Welcome to our U.S. of police state…………

Opening under cover of night somewhere in Paris, four stories beneath la rue, a secret subterranean gallery in a sealed tunnel appears suddenly. While activity on the street overhead is hectic and dense with cars, trucks and pedestrians, the dry dust is ankle-high here in this darkened silent morgue, its cool dank air now permeated with fresh aerosol. The Underbelly has been here, and if you discover this curated collection of Street Art and graffiti in the chilled dim light, you are officially lost. And lucky……..

READ MORE AND SEE MORE IMAGES HERE

On Saturday, November 19, graffiti artist POSE and photojournalist KC Ortiz will unveil Whitewash, their second exhibition at Known Gallery, and their most cohesive to date.

For POSE, Whitewash references society’s attempt to eradicate graffiti and stifle human expression. “Shortly after I started writing graffiti, Chicago took an extremely hard-line stance on its eradication, outlawing the sale of spraypaint and implementing Mayor Dayley’s Graffiti Blasters program,” POSE explains.

With this exhibition, POSE will recall a time before the buff. “I am digging into my fondest childhood memories of riding the train and seeing all the colors, letters and cartoon characters along the lines. Making these paintings has been an incredibly rich process, and it makes me thankful that no city official can eradicate my memories.”

POSE will show 15 new works in the main gallery. The work is rendered in his signature style—aggressive, hand-painted collages of pop-culture icons and ephemera—but feature deeper abstractions and new mediums. “I have six paintings on Plexiglass that were kind of an experiment,” POSE explains. “I wanted to be challenged by a new medium and process.”

For KC, Whitewash is about the people and places he photographs. “Much of the work I do covers those who have been ‘whitewashed,’ so to speak, by history and policy,” KC notes. “Specifically, the work I will be exhibiting is from West Papua and Burma. You won’t find either of those ‘nations’ on the map, as both have been essentially ‘whitewashed’ away. Burma has been renamed Myanmar by its ruling junta in order to establish the fantasy of a unified nation, and West Papua has been occupied by Indonesia since 1963 after a very controversial handover from the Dutch that was orchestrated by the United States.”

In the project room, KC will show 12 photographs of West Papua and Burma’s armed struggles. “The struggles are unified in their nature under the theme of resistance, the victimhood of whitewashing by the world at large, the beauty of their people, and the strength of the human spirit and dignity,” KC notes.

About the artists:

POSE
Hailing from The Windy City, POSE has made an indelible mark on a multitude of cities around the globe. Best known for his progressive letter style and technical precision, POSE is an influential contributor to the contemporary graffiti movement, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines, books and films. POSE grew up a half block from the CTA’s elevated train line, and started sneaking out to practice graffiti there in 1992. Coming of age during the golden era of Chicago graffiti, POSE put in endless work on the streets. His prolific output led him to become a local legend, and the city’s most internationally recognized graffiti artist. In addition to his achievements in graffiti, POSE set out to conquer every medium visual art has to offer—both on and off the streets. His artistic exploration led him to become a jack of all creative trades, with successful endeavors in the commercial and fine art worlds. POSE currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the acclaimed West Coast artist collective The Seventh Letter, as well as a founder of his own Chicago based design and art firm We Are Supervision. He has traveled internationally on his own and with The Seventh Letter, specifically to showcase his skills as one of the best graffiti artists out there. Almost two decades into his artistic career, POSE shows no signs of slowing down.

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KC Ortiz is an award-winning, self taught photojournalist with a split base between his hometown of Chicago, Illinois and Western Thailand. Ortiz’s work focuses on the world’s forgotten and overlooked people and issues. He has covered conflict throughout Southeast Asia, focusing on the human suffering and the policies that enable conflict, as well as humanitarian issues throughout the world. The aim of his photography is to bring awareness to the masses of those that are suffering most, often times completely unseen by the majority. His work has appeared in A-Magasinet, Global Post, Juxtapoz, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications across the globe. Ortiz’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries including The Newseum, The Corcoran, The Frontline Club, Known Gallery, Rivera and Rivera Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, and others. In 2011, Ortiz’s work was recognized with a first place award from the prestigious Pictures of The Year International.

POSE & KC Ortiz | Whitewash

Opening Reception Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 8‑11pm
On View November 19 – December 10, 2011

Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T: 310-860-6263

KNOWN GALLERY

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KC ORTIZ

Artist/activist Saber has never been one to do anything in a “small” way as evidenced by his world record holding graffiti piece on the L.A. River — done in 1997 and visible from space before it was buffed last year. His latest projects are no exception. A couple weeks ago he unleashed a genius skywriting campaign over city hall to try to end the L.A. County mural moratorium and this week he joined forces with Occupy L.A. to contribute his Protest Flag, a 32 x 16 ft flag that divides into 64 separate protest signs, with slogans like “Bail Out Skid Row,” “Ass, Cash or Grass, Republicans Ride For Free” and “Art Is Not a Crime.”……………… MORE FROM Shelly Leopold at LA WEEKLY

AAAHH The Splendor Of Pareee……….. No place better to get twacked out on Cafe Au Lait and Spliffs….

Risky and I recently stumbled upon this amazing mural in the Terminal Annex building on Alameda in Downtown Los Angeles. Boris Deutsch painted the mural, from 1941 to 1944 during the tale end of the Great Depression and in the run up to the Second World War. This mural was made possible by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which put Americans to work during difficult times. The WPA is responsible for a variety of projects throughout the country including hiring artists to create beautiful historical pieces of artwork.

Without the WPA we wouldn’t have this amazing mural in LA, not to mention hundreds of other amazing murals all over the country. This particular mural reflects what was happening historically at the time. The artwork ends with a visual description of the beginning of World War Two, leaving the viewer with a sense of anxiety knowing what was ahead for our country.

Now fast forward to my generation. The timeline we reside in is coined ”The Great Recession”. We are facing severe economic difficulties due to the decisions of current and previous lawmakers that created a wealth gap so vast that there seems to be no end in site. To put things in perspective the current city government of Los Angeles actually spent millions of dollars each year to remove art and criminalize artists. New laws have been put in place that actually ban public murals and deem them signage and not art. Groups of sheriff go to local business to harass them for having murals on their premises and threaten them with fines and jail time if the owner does not comply and remove the artwork. Basically taxpayer’s are providing the funds to pay many private “Graffiti Removal” companies to censor art at will.

The supposed war on graffiti is actually a war on small business and freedom of expression. The City Of Los Angeles, once known as “The Mural Capitol Of The World”, is now specializing in the criminalization of public art. In 2011 its more probable that an artist will go to jail to quench the private prison industry’s feeding frenzy then a tax paying citizen of the city actually get a permit to paint a beautiful mural.

As we left, a group of security guards told us terminal annex is no longer a federal building, and we needed permission to film the murals that once belonged to the people of the USA. It seems a private company that doesn’t appreciate visitors enjoying the historical artwork that was originally for everyone now owns Terminal Annex. Of course as we leave we acknowledge the generic large corporate sign “corpocorp” displayed outside that basically is equal to a no trespassing sign. Is this the future of America?…………………………

Here we come to the end of the Art In the Streets show at Museum Of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. Over two hundred thousand people came to see the show. I would say the show was a huge success!  Over ten years ago I can remember scratching my name on the toilet seats in the museum restroom hoping that someone would notice my name. Now I can say I painted a huge mural on the museum walls with many of my friends working besides me.  Thank You to the people at MOCA for allowing us this opportunity to share our art work with the people…. This may be the end of “Art In The Streets” but its only the beginning for art in the street.

Art Work Rebels In The MOCA

“Outside In” Trailer

As Their Work Gains Notice, These Painters Suffer For Their Art

The Devil Wears A Pink Suit: A Response To “Radical Graffiti Chic”

Citing Finances, The Brooklyn Museum Cancels Plans For Graffiti Exhibit

Estevan Oriol X Spaghetto: Art in the Streets collab short film from Levi's Film Workshop on Vimeo.

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