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…………
The reason I hired five jet planes to sky write over City Hall and downtown Los Angeles is to bring awareness to how ridiculous a moratorium on public art is.
The city states that all public murals are signage, effectively banning art from the walls of Los Angeles. And it is removed at the taxpayers’ expense. Money is given to private graffiti removal companies, who have broken onto private property to paint murals beige. The owners of small businesses where murals have been painted have been harassed and threatened with fines if they do not remove the artwork. Police officers raid homes and places of work, intimidating artists and building owners. During this time of economic crisis, “mural signs” are an easy target for the city to extract money. This moratorium is a clear violation of the first amendment right to free speech and enforcement for these unreasonable laws is a complete waste of taxpayer funds.
To put things in perspective I recently visited the beautiful set of murals inside the Terminal Annex Building on Alameda. This mural was painted in 1941-44 and was funded by the “Works Progress Administration” (WPA). Murals are just a part of the legacy of a national program that put the country to work during the Great Depression.
Fast-forward to the Great Recession, taxpayer money is now used to obliterate all traces of the artwork my generation have created. I believe this is city-funded censorship pushed by lawmakers with personal vendettas. Potential jail time is more probable for us than the opportunity of creating an artistic legacy for the next generation. In a city that used to proudly call itself the “Mural Capitol Of The World,” the officials who enforce this ban should be ashamed to call themselves “Angelinos.”
Art Is Not A Crime… End Mural Moratorium.
- SABER
Tell Mayor Villagaigosa and the L.A. City Attorney’s office to end the mural moratorium now:
* In 2007, the graffiti gallery Crewest, along with help from the activist group Friends of the L.A. River (FoLAR) organized “Meeting of Styles: LA.” The event brought together over 100 graffiti artists to spray paint a 10,000 square foot section of the L.A. River at the Arroyo Seco Confluence in Highland Park. Despite the fact that the organizers secured all necessary permits for the mural project, and that the event was fully licensed by the county; supervisor Gloria Molina objected to the work after the fact and introduced an emergency measure to the County Board of Supervisors that forced the mural to be whitewashed from the flood walls. A spokeswoman for Molina called the legal graffiti murals a “public nuisance and a potential safety hazard,” and justified Molina’s decision to introduce the mural’s removal by saying the county was “trying to save lives.”
A view of “America Tropical,” partly whitewashed. (Credit: PBS)
* Of course, this sort of thing has a long history in Los Angeles. In 1932, David Alfaro Siqueiros painted America Tropical in a rooftop beer garden on Olvera Street. The mural’s centerpiece featured a crucified Indian, hovered over by an imperial American eagle. The part of the offending mural that could be seen from the street was covered almost immediately; the rest was whitewashed within a year.
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?…………………………
In 2008, a deco-style fortress built in the ’50s and originally belonging to a prominent family in Santa Monica fell into foreclosure in the middle of an extensive renovation. Until three months ago it stood vacant, an eerie house on a bluff with a homeless woman squatting the top floor. The terraced gardens in back had overgrown and were infested with rats. The neighbors on this otherwise upscale block wondered and complained.
Then came Adam Corlin, with a cause, a dare, and an endless supply of tarps. Corlin, a successful builder and a fourth generation Santa Monica resident, had his eye on this property, and when the price dropped to 50 percent of its original asking price, he jumped at the opportunity to own it.
But this was no ordinary flip — Corlin had some time in his hacienda rehab schedule and wanted to raise awareness for his favorite charity, Heal the Bay, the environmental group working to restore Santa Monica Bay. In speaking to the organization, he knew it had to be different than the usual donation or doing volunteer work. He had a blank house in Santa Monica, he had resources to do something big, and he had just met a graf artist appropriately named Risk………..
When I arrived to look at the amazing work my friends have done, the police were all ready there. The Santa Monica Police were actually really cool and thought the project was awesome. Once they got on the phone, the deminor suddenly changed. Their chief was contacted by some “higher ups” all the way from downtown LA, apparently forcing them to harass the people involved. They couldn’t find a reason why they were called then left. Right after, a city & code representative showed up and said he was told from those “higher ups” to figure out some sort of citation to write against the project. Even he was amazed on why he was called to harass this project so he basically had to make up a citation. Then the police came back and still couldn’t believe the pressure that was put on them to cause any sort of problem for the people involved. A couple hours past and another city & code person showed up this time armed with a $5000 dollar a day citation fee for the resident’s owner, basically the violation was working with the artist Risky. No laws were broken on this private property, the install is up to code and safety standards were clean. The Sheriffs even sent an undercover over in the morning posing as a journalist, of course that was a waste of their time as well.
So two local artist come together to raise awarness and possibly money for a great cause to help clean up the local beach and what unfolds is a complete abuse of local city power, sending multiple departments over to shut this amazing project down. That’s four different agencies spending hours of their day running around harassing private citizens to fine an organization $5000 a day when the goal was to raise money for a great cause. This abuse stems from city hall and even went as far as using other jurisdictions man hours to satisfy some assholes with sticks up his asses. If this is how the City Attorney spends his time on his daily basis then know wonder this city is falling apart. First Amendment rights were clearly violated not to mention taking the money away from a positive cause. This is a perfect example on why we should vote these assholes out of office…….
“I just finished a wall in LA with Rime, Askew and Deus from Auckland, Vans from Australia, Score from Berlin, Dabs & Myla, and Witnes…
“Instead of the typical bullshit, everyone decided on the phrase ‘Only time will tell’ with the wall being divided into four sections, with each section representing a change of season… Using that as a starting point, everybody built on that and went in their own direction, some of us getting dumber and more retarded than others.
“The assignment went as follows… VANS/ RIME/WITNES; Winter, with VANS on letter detail painting the phrase ‘ONLY’.
“DABS/MYLA/SCORE; Spring, With SCORE on letter detail painting ‘TIME’.
“REVOK/RIME; Summer, REVOK on letter/background detail painting ‘WILL’
“ASKEW/DEUS; Fall, ASKEW on letter detail painting ‘TELL’.
“I’m pretty proud of the outcome, as I’m sure so is everyone else involved… There are a lot of stupid little details and jokes throughout the wall we all had a lot of laughs coming up with both intentionally and by accident.
“A big thanks to ASKEW for shooting the final shot and putting in the labor stiching it all together.” -Revok.
Here’s Rime’s account of the “stupid little details”;
Dysfunctional points of interest:
* Coked up Charlie Bronson Yeti saying “AAAAARRRGGGHHHH” to a timid young chick.
* Santa says yes to 4LOKO.
* Jesus turning tranny was unintentional. The legs were on the wall first. Intended to come randomly from behind the “Will” piece. Later I sketched up Jesus chillin’ at the beach. Revok said I sketched it too small and too far over to the left. I ended up buffing the first Jesus sketch out and painted it larger and more to the right. It took us a good two hours before we connected the possibility that the legs could be Jesus’s. Tired and late as fuck we laughed about it and embraced the idea… Fuckin’ Tranny Jesus!”
Music Credits:
Jesus I was evil by Darcy Clay
The Flame by Black Keys
Numb by Portishead
Cops, tickets, arrests and a sea of skateboarders charging the streets of downtown Los Angeles…….MORE
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A skateboarding event Tuesday called “Wild in the Streets” turned out just that way when skateboarders clashed with Los Angeles police in the Westlake District……MORE
Photos by Sam Muller- For More Photos Click Image
BRAVO!!!!!! This is how its done . A complete demonstration of transit anarchy all while having a great time. No one was hurt, no serious laws were broken. Just two thousand skateboarders owning the street. In my wildest dreams as a kid I could never fathom how far skateboarding has come. I remember when ten skaters in a parking lot was many. Of course only lasting for a short moment as we were chased away from pretty much every place we went. Now keep in mind this was when dudes were rocking mullets and we were rolling on OJ2 with Jimmy z shorts on. Good Show guys. Keep it up!!!!!
(Ha! What up Chris, saw you cruse by in the Channel 7 News clip)
The Brooklyn Museum has canceled plans to mount a controversial exhibition of graffiti art, citing financial constraints. The show, “Art in the Streets,” is currently at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, where it has drawn large crowds but has also attracted criticism for prompting an increase in graffiti in the surrounding neighborhood…….
Walking in to this I have to say I was pretty nervous. I really had no plan on what I was going to paint other than I needed to paint a piece that represented what I was working on currently. I envisioned this fuzzy White Piece swirling around in the back of my head. When I arrived to check out the space the wall seemed even more challenging considering the size. Of course Revok was already ahead laying out his mural. First he created grid across the space. This gave him some structure to build his cluster of letters. Revok basically built his piece as he went. As long as I can remember he has been free-styling every piece he paints. It is very interesting to watch him paint. Revok spends quite a bit of time on the computer building complex logos and letters using Illustrator program. His approach to painting walls is like as if he was possessed by Illustrator, it’s like watching a human printer. His idea behind his piece was to include a few bold statements and names of other artists or friends who aren’t with us anymore. The more Revok layered the letters, the more it turned into this big complex puzzle piece, giving the viewer an opportunity to piece together the hidden names. He didn’t want to be selfish by focusing on his name solely. Rime came in and filled in some of the negative spaces with his looney style characters. Joe’s personality can sometimes remind me of a punched out cars sales men with the precise hand of a heart surgeon. If you look closely at Rimes lines you’ll see there is no wasted strokes. He paints his lines with one clean shot each time.
I on the other hand, usually only focus on the letter structures of my name. To me when you freestyle a piece you stumble onto a path of discovery. I find I feel limited when I paint from a sketch. Free-styling allows you an opportunity to whip a letter differently or discover new connections. My name to me is like capturing movement and flow using the essence of the letters characteristics. Saber isn’t my name as my identity but a mantra to tap into a free flow of abstraction. As a kid I was obsessed with Robotech, Transformers and Gothic churches, I guess it eventually evolved into an energized moving liquid glass battleship. That actually sounds kind of crazy but that’s what’s so intriguing about Wildstyle. Once you dive down into the puzzle, little secrets reveal themselves. You also have to put yourself under the mindset that you are going to paint your best piece, as if you were going to burn the wall to the ground. That level of confidence definitely comes in handy under pressure, especially in a situation like painting on the museum walls.
Risky is one of the founders and trailblazers of Los Angeles style and a world wide representative of Graffiti Art. He is an originator of founded styles and has painted more pieces than anyone. He was painting full color burners on the freeways when people were catching up on Calicovision. Painting next to Risky is intimating because his energy is huge on the wall. Risky chose to break up the mural space in an interesting way by taking on the alphabet. A to Z is always more daunting then you anticipate. 24 individual stylized letters is no easy task, of course Risky makes it look easy. I can tell you he didn’t sleep for days. These two guys were pulling all niters back to back. Abel came to lend a hand a painted the L. That guy is the one of the cleanest painters ever. Risky finished his mural off with a beautiful, white and blue chrome piece right in the center that seemed to tie everything together nicely.
Cartoon is another great painter to watch. He chunked outs his mural with spray paint and later goes in and airbrushes an entire detailed scene. Cartoon also freestyles his murals. He kept adding little details to his painting until it turned into little groups of Los Angeles inspired street life narratives. Cartoons skill level lends him the ability to airbrush beautiful classic, candied low riders to jumping on a tall ladder and pulling long hours painting murals. He has proven himself to be the best at what he does, anywhere.
On of my best friend Push had the task of collaborating with Lee, Futura on the large mural in the parking lot. He worked on the massive geometric color patterns, a trademark for him. His strain of Graffiti is one of my favorites. His path has led him so far out of the letter structure base, it morphed into a simplistic geo-pattern style. The beauty of his style is the more simplistic it becomes the more he manages to hide letters in these patterns. He obsesses over his color pallets like a composer with notes. I would definitely characterize Push as obsessive-compulsive, this is what makes his art so unique.
When I paint a large wall I usually try to whip out a base structure with the roller. With some practice you can actually whip around some nice calligraphy lines with the roller on an extension pole. It just really, really sucks when you blast out the base structure and it doesn’t fit. Talk about the frustrating task of painting it all back over again. I really have to be in a good flow or other wise I end up fighting it the whole time and a day gets wasted. This is the challenge of free-styling your piece; you can end up painting yourself into a corner. Because everything in the show was screaming color, I went with the no color look to give my space a sense of calm. I love working in the grey tones pallet. At the bottom of the “R” leg, I painted layered piled on tags ripping out from underneath the white buff as a subtle gesture to the movement itself. The layered tags were names of friends and people who have influenced me or friends who are not with us. People at the museum asked what the title was and the first thing that popped in my head was “Sacred Trash”. I chose this title because it represented the conflicting ideas, Graffiti as sacred, or Graffiti as something disposable and malicious. That Graffiti is something that is reviled and hated by the authorities. Some would claim this a virus designed to deplete property values spawning higher crime rates. Exaggerated stories describing hoards of taggers participating in the urban plight like hungry locusts. Unfortunately, the reality is some of the current recycled press would attest to that point of view including some right wing think tanks. Some of the artists in the show have been targeted by news organizations and the Authority to perpetuate the idea that this museum show is bad for society. My best friend Revok is now locked away serving 180 days with an outrages $320,000 bail amount yet isn’t charged with any crime. Houses and business have been harassed and raided by armed task forces looking for these “criminal art assailants” and then the story hits front page. Going in to this show I knew some of the powers that be would be furious over a museum institution giving us any credit, let alone open their doors to us. My personal mission was to paint the best piece I could and let the artwork speak for itself.
The last image in this blog is a portrait of Revok and I taking a quick break from painting standing outside the museum early in the morning. Both of us were taking in the crisp fresh air thinking of the long road we’ve been on together. In the back of my mind I wanted to celebrate in the moment for making it there together. What kept me from celebrating was the sick feeling I had twisting in my stomach. It’s a humbling feeling. We knew the authorities would make someone an example for this show. We knew there was a dark cloud hovering. I just want people to understand that there is a price to pay. That debt comes in many forms and my best friend paid with his freedom. The piece Revok painted is more valuable then museum walls itself. It represents one artist struggle against a Leviathan. His life’s path has been altered and that piece is left behind for the museum and public to enjoy. Revok is what gives this show its legitimacy. He is the artist who is locked away in a maze of dangerous halls. His real crime? Being an artist who is misunderstood. If certain people want to criticize the “legitimacy” of “Art In The Streets” as a valid museum show then they need to reflect on Revok’s artistic contributions to the movement. For those who write us off as malicious vandals, they should pause and ask themselves what they are willing to sacrifice for what they believe in. Before they can pass judgment they would have to walk in our shoes for a block.
To me art is something that is always Sacred. Especially in an art movement that was spawned from a young spirit where you are blinded from corrupt ideas and have no understanding of consequences. In essence it begins pure. The passion is the drive. This passion to create art is Sacred. It leads that young person on a creative path steering them away from societies little boxes. Is this a safe path for everybody? I would say no. Along this path are difficult lessons learned and tragedies. But through the entire journey a dialogue between the creative spirit and the world as we know begins. Contemporary Graffiti movement has opened up a new strain of art and ideas. If I am a criminal, then I willingly chose to be so for the sake of the idea.
Graffiti is something that is Sacred, something that I love. Something that connects me to so many people. Either way, everyone is watching…… #FREEREVOK
The ongoing whitewashing of street art adds to the Los Angeles’ growing reputation as an intolerant mural curator, an unfortunate tag for a city once known as the mural capitol of the world.
One could make a case that it is an 80-year tradition that continued this week.
It dates back to 1932, when David Alfaro Siqueiros unveiled “Tropical America” at El Pueblo, a masterpiece that was quickly painted over by the order of Olvera Street founder Christine Sterling.
Forward to Friday, when a graffiti abatement crew was busy recovering a mural they painted over just days before, under their orders passed down by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. The street art style work is located at Fairfax and Rosemead, hosted by nearby Known Gallery, and features a background by Renta, highlighted with graffiti style signatures by artists Saber, Os Gemeos, Revok, Norm and Rime. The eradication was preempted by Casey Zoltan from Known, the gallery that first commissioned the piece over a year ago…………………
