A Estria Miyashiro and Shar K Toof street art piece at Continental Art Supply in Reseda, one of 'Urban Legends' kick-off murals.
ADD 4.22 I 4pm: Monday brings more murals, including Man One painting one up next to his gallery, Crewest, at Winston and Main. There will be nine other works in strategic locations, according to "Urban Legends" word crew.
“Urban Legends” is preparing for its April 27 opening by having street art murals painted throughout Los Angeles County, announced organizers. From the international contingent of artists arriving to attend opening weekend, a number will be “creating colorfully spray painted walls to the existing open air museums that are once again starting to increase” in response to the “public outcry to remove the ban on the commission of murals on private property.”
‘Urban Legends’ is uniting traditional muralists, who began beautifying the city through cultural and sociopolitical story telling in the late ‘60’s along with today’s generation of street artists. This global movement and the revival of the muralist rising up again in the city once known as Mural Capital of the World, is as important to today’s society as the pop art movement that began in the 1950’s.
In an article written on the business of street art for KCET Departures, Estria Miyashiro, founder of the Estria Foundation, said: "Despite [graffiti] writing being around for over 40 years, artists are only now being recognized and paid for their skills. Galleries, museums and art fairs are jumping on the bandwagon." In that same interview, Miyashiro also stated:
"We are now at a point in time where in most countries, anyone under the age of 28 has never seen a city without the people's voices on its walls. This means for the younger generation, public art has won its hearts, minds and eyes.
"Zero tolerance of (graffitti) writing has clearly failed, and now it is commonplace for city departments to consider and implement pro-art programs as a cheaper, more effective alternative to fighting the war on graffiti writing."
Tickets for Urban Legends’ Public Art Exhibition can purchased at www.publicartlegends.eventbrite.com. It will be held from April 27 to May 26, 2012 at LA Mart Design Center (1933 South Broadway 12th Floor Suite).
News will be also updated here and at VFAL Urban Legends.
Artists schedule to appear at the VIP opening are Alexander D.C.D., Alfredo Libre, Aly Kourouma + dj ndebele, Andrew Hem, Bryan Kieffer + WOIER, CANLOVE, Cern One, Christina Angelina, Codak, Eriberto Oriol + ForbiddenArtLA.com, Estria, Evan Mendelson, Hans Haveron, Itzio Barberena/Kidghe, Jher451, john park, Kent Twitchell, MEAR ONE, NEFF + LEV3L, Pablo Cristi, sand one, Shark Toof, Judith F. Baca, Shark Toof, Van Saro, Vyal One, YOU Davis, and Erin Yoshi