No. 34/ Boyle Heights stashaway [2007]

Housepaint and spraypaint on cinderblock.

Painted in the summer of 2007, this piece is located behind a brownstone apartment complex in Boyle Heights, basically my backyard at the time. The wall was  virgin cinderblock with chicken scratch chalk markings and a few mosquito bites from the local youth. As is usually the case, I asked no ones permission to paint this Softblock mural, it just had to be done. A selection of earth red/orange and burnt browns were chosen to play off of the natural brick framing the long narrow yard.  The local families enjoyed watching it come about and appreciated the gesture.

No. 33/ Berkeley Bowl in Oakland, CA [2007]

House paint & Acrylic.

I have been scoping this wall since i started visiting Oakland towards the end of 07.  It’s on the boarder of Berkeley & Oakland and it was constantly tagged on, so there were Graffiti removal blocks in that burnt red tone. I matched the red tone and thinned out the color with grey’s & creams. I actually didn’t know who to speak with the get the wall ‘legitimately’ so i just took it upon myself to rock it. I was about an 1.5 hours into it when the management of the local health food store came across the street to ask me how i could just go and paint it without asking. they liked it, but perplexed by my blatant lack of authority. I proceeded to let them know i was doing a public service by creating a painting that will prevent the continued act of malicious vandalism to their property. They firmly felt that it would still get painted over. It’s been about about 8 months and it hasn’t been touched.

No. 29/ Fairfax district [2004]

 House paint on wood panel, weekday afternoon.

Some of the best construction wood walls I have ever tapped. This was a 2 day hit. First day was the light green, second was the outline. It rode for a month or so.

No. 27/ La Brea, North Miracle Mile [2004]

 House paint on wood panel, weekday afternoon.

It was like the construction gods were raining down on north Miracle Mile that month. This one was simple and light. Right about the time I  I finished up this one Steve Grody caught me and snapped a photo that ended up as a 2 page spread in his book Graffit LA.

No. 26/ Silver Lake Via Hyperion [2003]

 House Paint, weekday afternoon.

This was completed immediately after #25. It’s the back of the Nursery and looked beautiful, especially this day. The area was so virgin and untouched. I normally wouldn’t paint over old typography signage, but I wanted to leave something fitting. It lasted about 4 months and is now a Trader Joes parking lot.

No. 23/ Linda Lea Theater, DTLA [2004]

 Housepaint & Spraypaint on wood, weekend afternoon.

There was an art walk as well as a small show at the Enshalla Gallery in Downtown Los Angles. Across the street was this abandoned Japanese theater once called the Linda Lea. I had been wanting this doorway for as long as I could remember. Lasted a month. 

Public installation No. 22; 4493 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90004

Acrylic polymers on abandoned storefront panels; weekday afternoon, 2004.

This one was the first time I was approached by anyone for painting one of these. The owner of the property’s sister saw me painting the panels & called him immediately. He actually came through and was expecting a negative confrontation, but after a short talk, he understood what i was doing and gave me the blessing. He wasn’t mad, especially after i inquired about the history of the property as well as the amazing tile installation above, which I borrowed references from for my color direction.

No. 20/ Beverly Blvd y Martell [2003]

 Housepaint & Acrylic on wood panel, weekday morning.

I always was fond of this one. One reason, it was across the street from my old studio. And second, it just flowed nicely on that corner. It lasted for almost 2 months. The contractors even drilled it back up unevenly and crooked and it still rocked. I screwed up & didn’t take a picture of that interaction. The store became an upscale boutique.

No. 18/ Fairfax Blvd. [2003].

Housepaint on wood panel, early weekday morning.

This building suffered a small fire one evening & was located in the heart of an Orthodox Jewish Community. The corporate movie poster crew that pastes these panels beat me to this spot. The morning I went to paint, it was still a touch damp with paste.

No. 17/ UNION Store rear parking lot [2003]

Acrylic, house & domestic spray paint on wood.

Weekend afternoon. This was a permission wall.

The rear parking lot for UNION & Stussy Employees was a bit of a free for all. This was a nice overlap block style that playd well with the wood slates.

Melrose Blvd. East of La Brea 2003

Latex house paint & spray paint on wood construction panels.

weekday afternoon/ daytime illegal. 

This was my first block style pieces on Melrose and it stayed up for almost 2 months. There was a great patchwork of wood panels I was drawn to and there weren’t that many advertisements littering the grain. Green was a color I always had on deck & felt this was fitting and comforting for the environment. Frankly, this is one of my favorite pieces from the series and was just about everyones favorite as well based on the feedback.

No. 15, 2003
House paint and Spray paint on wood.

The Modernica store off of Beverly Blvd in the North Miracle Mile district carries modern furniture as well as artwork and industrial style lighting. The store was still in business, a bitt different as most of my previous wood panel murals were on spaces in mid transition or abandoned. I kinda had to ask for permission on this one since space was still in operation. They were very supportive of the project and the piece ran for a week… couldn’t say where it went after that.

Street tech Panel #11

6th Street & La Brea Blvd.

House paint on wood panel, 2003

Early weekday morning.

This was just west of La Brea & used to be a well known street wear boutique in the 90’s. I was a bit overwhelmed with the size of this one, so I was going to be a bit more minimal to the best of my control, and it was, but only because I was cut short. The lead contractor working on the sight drove up and were kinda bigging on me. I gave him some run-around talk about why I was doing it without permission & then informed me that they were taking the wall down soon. Truth was it stayed up for 2 more weeks due to delays in construction.

2002

House paint & domestic spray paint on stucco

Early weekday afternoon

Back alley of a building for lease off La Brea. I was drawn to this wall because of the purple buff paint that someone used to cover some existing graffiti. that same buff ultimately became a part of my wall mural. I had not gotten permission to paint this piece and I was kind of sweating this one. The neighborhood was primarily ran by Orthodox Jews & they’re kind of hard cats to read. All in all it stayed for almost 4 months without a problem.

2001

House paint & domestic spray paint on plaster

Weekday afternoon

This was a street side wall to a Spanish apartment’s garage. A local neighborhood mural had adorned the wall perviously, but had been vandalized repeatedly. This style derived after the mural I completed for the Charizmatik store. It all revolved around the idea of movement, flow & layers. There is a ‘K’ in the center, which was intended, but the rest was a complete freestyle. Took about 2 hours & lasted a number of years.