Against The Wall

The Ruin and Renewal of LA's Murals

Morono Kiang Gallery

June 14, 2008

This was a well attended and interesting program that featured a panel of artists, art admin and government mural experts. Judith Baca, Yreina Cervantez Pat Gomez, Man One, Michael Woo and Sonia Mak as moderator. Eloy Torrez opened the event with a few words about his work on the "Pope of Broadway" mural and the current efforts to raise money to restore and repair this great mural. 

Questions posed to the panel included; what the panel thought were the greatest threats to LA's murals, what some solutions might be, what could be done differently and what the future might hold for LA's murals. The serious problem behind the concerns is that LA is not currently funding murals in any organized way, no new mural programs, no real organized restoration and no consistent maintenance program. For muralists the problem is their own survival as well as the survival of the work. We were recently known as the Mural Capital of the world. Given the scope of the problems and the very personal threat to some of the participant's life work, everyone was quite polite.

Everyone there saw value in the great, historic murals. Not a big surprise given the crowd and venue. It was a who's who of mural supporters in LA, whether because of their personal investment, political or philosophical agendas and the gallery is across the street from "the Pope of Broadway". The big question, how do we create, build community or maintain work without money, was unanswered, but there were some serious attempts. Good murals cost money and are additive, should be budgeted for in the community that "owns" them. That ownership may be because the murals are historic, reflective of the community and it's values or because they have become an important landmark associated with good times, or because the community did the work, paid for the work or is reflected directly in the work. 

How do we protect the murals we love? How do we support public art in our community? How do we involve young artists and street artists in the work and show them respect so that they may respect the murals? Where will funding for future murals come from? Who decides what is worth saving? 

These are good questions. Each artist/muralist, each site and each community is working through this or will be soon. Will we divide along lines of taste, age, ethnicity and income? I hope not. Art, thoughtful, caring and with real meaning should have value for everyone in the community even if each mural is not by or for them. More murals should allow for a wider audience to feel that they have been included. New murals need to consider maintenance as well as aesthetics and politics. It's a complex world out there. 

I'm going to keep looking at how various murals have survived, how some communities answer these questions and what strategies diverse muralists use. 

What do you think? I'm going to reflect on this and maybe offer some ideas in the future. I'm glad I attended the event and am grateful to the gallery and participants for keeping this topic alive and in the air.