Total Pageviews

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Mural Capital of the World


According the the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, "L.A. is often singled out as the Mural Capital of the World because of the number, variety and quality of murals here. Not to mention the Southern California weather, which lets muralists create pretty much year round."


This mural is fairly typical of murals in Los Angeles. It's located at the corner of Robertson Blvd & Kincardine Ave. in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, just south of Beverly Hills.


While the "urban" or "hip hop" style of this mural is not unique to Los Angeles, what is unique is the sheer quantity of murals throughout the city - conservatively numbered at over 2,000.


This mural is located behind the Chevron Gas Station, just a block from Hamilton High School in L.A. Not sure if there is any connection with the High School. While maybe not my personal style, I appreciate the bright colors and design. Certainly a huge improvement over a cinder block wall.


Whoever painted this wall knew what they were doing. They actually included the diagonal casings to the electric wires as well. Nice touch. I like to think that those responsible for this mural got permission from the owners of the wall (maybe I'm living in fantasy land).


More, much more, information in murals throughout Los Angeles, including an alphabetical listing of every mural in the city, can be found at www.lamurals.org.


.

5 comments:

Cafe Observer said...

Why do you think we're the mural capital of the world, besides weather? We're not the only area with good, mild climate

David in Los Angeles said...

I was just quoting the Mural Conservancy of L.A. . . . not sure if I fully agree. But I think the weather and the huge population base, and Hollywood all help to surface tons of good (and not so good) murals.

I think L.A. could and would have more public art if they weren't getting destroyed by "taggers" and vandals. I'm thinking of several along the freeways that that been simply destroyed, including at least two (one by the airport on the 405 and another by Griffith Park by the 5) by artist Kent Twitchell.

Anonymous said...

Nice blog, David. I just kept scrolling down, reading your various posts. Very interesting.

Scott Oslund

Scott M. Haskins said...

Interesting choice of photos to represent murals in LA. Perhaps you were inspired by the MoCA show. I personally was hugely disappointed in the curatorial message of that show, still up and running.

Here are my comments on my blog: http://bit.ly/kuAh0J

Scott M. Haskins
www.fineartconservationlab.com

David from L.A. said...

thanks for your comments, Scott, and the link. I haven't seen the MOCA show.