A couple of weeks ago Mister and I took part in an organized tour of street art in downtown L.A. I thought it would be cool. Turned out it was amaze-balls. (The image shown above is the mural that started it all, as far as large-scale works go in the Arts District. And for the record, Mister took most of these photos.)
Our guides – Galo and Shandu – were established, known artists themselves. And they could not have been more lovely.
We saw art in every direction, including beneath our feet…
And above our heads.
The rain was dumping buckets. (Did I mention it was raining during the tour?) And you’d think that would have detracted from the experience, but you’d be wrong.
Somehow the rain made the art more alive. There was more grit to it, more beauty, too.
This next work is one of my favorites. Had I not been given specific information about the piece, I still would have liked it but maybe not as much as I do. We were told Royyal Dog came over from Asia and got to work. He didn’t grid the building for drawing his design, nor did he use a projector. He just got in a cherry picker and looked at the phone in his hand and took off. The entire piece was done with spray paint and was finished in 3 days. 3 days, y’all! I mean really. Just look at those gorgeous faces…
We saw piece…
after piece…
And our minds were blown.
The next piece I want to tell you about is the metal art attached to the pole (below). This work is by Blake Shane and from what I understand, he’s a homeless artist working with found materials. Surrounded by such large-scale works, it would be easy to miss. I’m so glad I didn’t…
Some of the works are easily recognizable, like these by Its a Living…
Others, not so much…
There were so many artists represented…
so many styles…
Some may have felt overwhelmed by the works.
I felt awe.
After our walking tour ended, we headed to The Container Yard for a lesson in spray-painting.
Now, a lot of us may have zero-point-zero experience making wall art with spray paint, but a lot of us have at least used the stuff for various tasks and projects. But I have to tell you – there were a few folks in our group who seemed to have never even held a can of paint. For reals. Watching them applying color to the paper set before us was so joyful, I was a grinning fool. It was as if those adults were getting in touch with their inner children and playing. I kind of loved it.
Not only that, but Shandu, who is a fabulous stencil artist…
demonstrated some of his own stencil work in action…
And he was gracious enough to talk to me about the stencils themselves. I don’t know why, but it had never occurred to me that one might need two stencils for a single project, representing the positive and the negative space of the work. That may mean nothing to you, but to me it was revelatory.
And then we got an impromptu tour of The Container Yard itself…
While there, I talked with a working street artist whose likeness is obscured…
I asked him about this and he said he’s still one of the cats out there working in darkness, usually without permission. Nice kid. Talented, too.
We took in as much art as we could…
And then our day was over.
If you find yourself in Los Angeles and you’re looking for something fun to do for a few hours, I highly recommend a tour with L.A. Art Tours. These folks are legit and they offer multiple options for experiencing and learning about street art and graffiti in the Arts District. Personally, I can hardly wait to go back and do the Craft Beer and Urban Art/Graffiti Tour. In fact, had it not been smack-dab in the middle of Dry-uary, a beer (or two) would have paired quite nicely with taking in the art. Damn.
And if you’re still unconvinced, please remember that my rag-tag group walked around together in the rain…
Rain! And we loved it so freaking much.
I am still in awe.
Surprised you (of all people) didn’t manage a Valentine’s Day post when I (of all people) did (see the Country Girl pub post). Hope all is well or as well as it can be in that country. DB
Or, should that be, “in that country, girl”?