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Here to See the Graff Pieces By Nuke and Chose One @ SPARC
Censorship and Aerosol Murals
by Posh One
Purpose statement:
The purpose of this page is to educate the public how murals (regardless of medium used) beautify and benefit business, giving youths a forum for expressing creative ideas, to alter some of the misconceptions about aerosol muralists, and to promote the idea that public art should be controlled by the people in the community rather than face unjust censorship of social concepts/issues at the hands of the government afraid of facing those same issues.
Definition of "Mural":
Mural as defined by Webster’s Dictionary™:
Mural- n. a picture esp. a large one, painted directly on a wall or ceiling, or a large photograph, etc. attached directly to a wall.
Aerosol Muralists:
Many graffiti artists who do legal production of images and lettering consider themselves artists and the work they produce public art. As aerosol spray paint is the traditional tool of the graffiti artist, the crossover of the medium into their legal murals is to be expected. Most of these artists also use house paint, rollers, and occasionally brushes to achieve the intended effect. Aerosol paint works similarly to an airbrush. Artists are able to cover large areas quickly, manipulate the spray, and apply different tips for different effects. Even the artist Wyland™ has been known to use a commercial spraying device to accomplish his enormous murals.
Artists often portray very commercially viable images that promote business and attract customers. They also often consider the community in and for which they are painting their murals. An example of an aerosol mural on a Honduran restaurant on Wilton and Melrose:
click on the image to see a large-scale version
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The community nearby has a large number of persons of Central American descent or origin so the link to the cultural link to the Mixtec/Mayan artwork is obvious. The wall was plagued by gang graffiti until the placement of this mural. Since it’s placement the wall has remained nearly untouched by the gang graffiti. Business in the restaurant has increased, and neighbors are asking for references to the artists, rather than asking for the mural to be removed.
Community conscious aerosol artists normally obtain the property owners permission in written form, show them examples of the images to be portrayed on their property, and refrain from displaying profanity, obscenity, or anything of truly questionable content. Many of these artists are attempting to beautify the community they live in, communicate messages about social problems and concerns, and just find a positive creative outlet for the many frustrations facing youths today. The assault on the freedom of expression and the first amendment is a very real problem facing artists on the streets of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Legal artists are being judged by the medium they use, rather than the images and the quality of social statements they portray.
Destroyed Mural Preservation:
The cities of North Hollywood, Pomona, and Huntington Beach all have business or zoning laws governing the production of murals on private property. Many more cities are adopting similar policies to prevent "unwanted" murals. Normally the police are given free reign to render judgment on the murals which often cost the business owner and artists thousands of dollars to create.
In the hopes of allowing the images, messages and concepts of these talented artists to continue to be seen despite tactics to suppress them, this section contains the stories and photos of three murals that were destroyed by the cities in which they were painted. These are three examples of the campaign to control the images you see on privately owned but publicly viewed walls as well as public space. Freedom of speech is a right granted to the people by the Constitution of this country, and should be protected at all costs. When the state begins to govern what information is available to its citizenry democracy fails. As the cliché says, "A picture’s worth a thousand words".
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Here to See the Graff Piece Done By Posh and Man One @ SPARC
Below are three stories about Aerosol Murals being censored and ultimately removed. Click on the topics to read the stories and view images of the aerosol murals.
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