Mural Reclamation at Piedmont and Fig
Ξ January 18th, 2008 | → | ∇ Highland Park |
In the vein of my previous article on graffiti in Northeast Los Angeles, I was curious when I saw a new mural going up on the corner of Piedmont and Figueroa next to the Arroyo Seco Library. Painted by local artist Raul Baltazar, the mural was originally intended to honor those who marched against 1994’s Proposition 187.
Baltazar is also famous, at least in my circle of friends, for the grotesque characters painted on the walls of Tacos La Estrella. Over the past year however, the Prop 187 mural has been increasingly obscured by tagging. I’ve filled out more than a few graffiti removal requests online but retouching a mural probably isn’t something we want the city having DUI offenders do to fulfill community service hours. Based on this picture, it looks as though some changes had been made to the original mural before the most recent group of taggers completely choked the images out:
If JET and his buddies read this please feel free to punch yourselves in the groin repeatedly. Why someone would feel painting over a commissioned work of public art is beyond me. As much as I hate the defacement of public and private property, I can marginally understand (and occasionally appreciate) graffiti that finds itself onto impossible surfaces. Covering a work of art that took someone else a significant amount of time and effort is akin to coming into my home, ripping out the closet I just installed, and kicking my dog on the way out.
Naturally, I was curious to see last weekend a man on a ladder painting over the graffiti with what looks to be the beginnings of a new mural. I’m not sure if Baltazar is reclaiming the space or if it’s someone else, but if anyone has any info, I’d love to hear about it.
